The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.4). International Military Tribunal

close relationship between the SA and the leaders of the Nazi Party is demonstrated by the fact that the Hoheitsträger of the Nazi Leadership Corps were authorized to call upon the SA for assistance in carrying out particular phases of the Party program. This was established yesterday by Document 1893-PS, which, Your Honors will recall, I quoted from a number of times in connection with the presentation of the Leadership Corps. It was declared in that excerpt, Page 11 of the English translation, as Your Honors will recall, that the Hoheitsträger were empowered to call upon the SA for the execution of political missions connected with the movement. This responsibility of the SA to the Party is also shown by Document 2383-PS, which is an ordinance for the execution of the Hitler decree, which I now offer in evidence as Exhibit USA-410. I quote from Page 3 of the English translation. If Your Honors will turn to Page 3 of the English translation, it is the fourth paragraph on Page 3:

      “The affiliates of the NSDAP, with exception of the SS, for whom special provisions apply, are subordinated to the Hoheitsträger politically and for assignment to duty. Responsibility for the leadership of the units rests in the hands of the unit leader.”

      It was in accordance with such authority, as proved yesterday in the Leadership Corps presentation, that the SA was used in the seizure of trade union properties.

      In addition the SA demonstrated its close affiliation to the Nazi Party by participating in various ways in election proceedings. This is shown in Document 2168-PS, which is a pamphlet entitled The SA, which is Exhibit USA-411; and this pamphlet depicts the history and general activities of the SA, written by an SA Sturmführer named Bayer upon orders from SA headquarters. In that pamphlet, and I quote on Page 4 of the English translation, down towards the bottom of the page, the last paragraph, beginning on line 3:

      “The labor and the struggle of the SA was not in vain. They stood at the foremost front of election contests.”

      Adolf Hitler himself, on the 2d of September 1930, took over the leadership of the SA as the Supreme SA Führer. He himself guided his SA in the fateful election fight of the year 1930.

      Further evidence of the interest and participation of Nazi leaders in the activities of the SA is to be found in these five bound volumes, which consist of the issues of the SA newspaper, Der SA-Mann, from the year 1934 to 1939 inclusive; and I should like at this time to ask that each of these bound volumes be marked for identification, because each of them will be referred to from time to time during this presentation. They will begin with Exhibit USA-414, 415, 416, 417, and 418 and they are referred to by appropriate document numbers, which I will refer to when the quoted portions come in the English translation.

      Throughout these volumes there appear photographs portraying the participation of Nazi leaders in SA activities. I should like at this time to describe a few of the photographs, and I will indicate the page numbers upon which they appear.

      If Your Honors please, we set out a number of these pictures and a number of photographs; but I should like, at this time, to exhibit to the Tribunal and pass into evidence one of the photographs appearing in the January 1937 issue. It is a photograph of Göring at the ceremonies held upon the occasion of his being made Obergruppenführer of the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA on the 23rd of January 1937, and we offer in evidence the photograph and the page of the newspaper. We will pass it up to Your Honors if you would like to see it. We offer it in evidence.

      Another photograph of Göring, leading the Feldherrnhalle Regiment of the SA in parade on the 18th of September 1937, is shown at Page 3. The other photograph was at Page 3 of the 1937 January edition of the SA-Mann.

      I call the attention of Your Honors to a few of the other photographs that appear. There is a photograph of Hitler greeting Hühnlein, bearing the caption, “The Führer greets Corps Führer Hühnlein at the opening of the International Automobile Fair—1935.” That is dated the 23rd of March 1935, at Page 6.

      Here is another photograph of Himmler and Hühnlein, who was the Führer of the NSKK, and Lutze, who was Chief of Staff of the SA, bearing the caption, “They lead the soldiers of National Socialism,” 15th of June 1935, Page 1.

      Another photograph of Hitler at an SA ceremony, carrying the SA battle flag; and the picture bears the caption, “As in the fighting years, the Führer, on the Party Day of Freedom, dedicates the new regiments with the Blood Banner,” 21 September 1935, Page 4.

      I pass on. Here is a photograph of Göring in the SA uniform, reviewing SA marching troops, under the caption, “Honor Day of the SA,” 21 September 1935, Page 3.

      THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, is there any doubt that Hitler and Göring were members of the SA?

      COL. STOREY: No, Sir; but the purpose in showing those photographs, if Your Honors please, was to show the militaristic character of the SA. If there is no question about that and it is cumulative, then I will pass on.

      The work of the SA did not end with the seizure by the Nazis of the German Government, but affiliation between the SA and the Nazi leaders was continued after the acquisition by the Nazis of the control of the German State. The importance of the SA in connection with the Nazi Government and control of Germany is shown by the law of December 1, 1933. I have already referred to that, that is, the union of Party and State. However, there is one paragraph that has not been quoted before, if Your Honors please, and I would like to call Your Honors’ attention to it. It is our Document 1395-PS, and it appears in the English translation on Page 1, and I quote Article 2: