Читать книгу The History of Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression - Various - Страница 125

“The popular referendum and the Reichstag election of November 12, 1933, have proved that the German people have attained an indestructible internal unity (unloesliche innere Einheit) superior to all internal subdivisions of political character. Consequently, the Reichstag has enacted the following law which is hereby promulgated with the unanimous vote of the Reichstag after ascertaining that the requirements of the Reich Constitution have been met:

Article I. Popular assemblies of the Laender shall be abolished.

Article II. (1) The sovereign powers (Hoheitsrechte) of the Laender are transferred to the Reich.

(2) The Laender governments are placed under the Reich government.

Article III. The Reich governors are placed under the administrative supervision of the Reich Minister of Interior.

Article IV. The Reich Government may issue new constitutional laws.”

This law was implemented by a regulation, issued by Frick, providing that all Land laws must have the assent of the competent Minister of the Reich, that the highest echelons of the Land Government were to obey the orders of the competent Reich Minister, and that the employees of the Laender might be transferred into the Reich Civil Service. (1653-PS)

The Reichsrat (Reich Council) was abolished by law on 14 February 1934, and all official representation on the part of the Laender in the administration of the central government was at an end (2647-PS). The legislative pattern was complete with the enactment of the Reich Governor Law on 30 January 1935, which solidified the system of centralized control. The Reich Governor was declared to be the official representative of the Reich government, who was to receive orders directly from Hitler (Reichstatthaltergesetz (Reich Governor Law), 30 January 1935, 1935 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 65). The same development was apparent in the provinces, the territorial subdivisions of Prussia. All local powers were concentrated in the Provincial Presidents, who acted solely as representatives of the national administration (2049-PS). Similarly, in the case of the municipalities local self-government was quickly reduced to a minimum and communal affairs were placed under central Reich control. The Nazi Party Delegate was given special functions:

“* * * in order to insure harmony between the communal administration and the Party.” (Art. 6 (2)).

The Reich was given supervision over the municipalities:

“* * * in order to insure that their activities conform with the laws and the aims of national leadership.” (2008-PS)

The Nazi conspirators frequently boasted of their comprehensive program of government centralization. Frick, Minister of the Interior throughout this period, wrote:

“The reconstruction law abolished the sovereign rights and the executive powers of the Laender and made the Reich the sole bearer of the rights of sovereignty. The supreme powers of the Laender do not exist any longer. The natural result of this was the subordination of the Land governments to the Reich government and the Land Ministers to the corresponding Reich Ministers. On 30 January 1934, the German Reich became one state. (2481-PS)

In another article Frick indicated even more clearly the purposes which underlay this program of centralization:

“In the National Socialist revolution of 1933, it was stipulated for the first time in the history of the German nation that the erection of a unified state (Einheitsstaat) would be accomplished. From the early days of his political activity, Adolf Hitler never left a doubt in the mind of anyone that he considered it the first duty of National Socialism to create a German Reich in which the will of the people would be led in a single direction and that the whole strength of the nation, at home and abroad, would be placed on the balance scale.” (2380-PS; 2378-PS.)

D. The Nazi conspirators united the offices of President and Chancellor in the person of Hitler. The merger of the two offices was accomplished by the law of 1 August 1934, signed by the entire cabinet (2003-PS). The official Nazi statement concerning the effect of this statute contains this observation:

“Through this law, the conduct of Party and State has been combined in one hand. * * * He is responsible only to his own conscience and to the German nation.” (1893-PS)

One of the significant consequences of this law was to give to Hitler the supreme command of the German armed forces, always a prerequisite of the Presidency (2050-PS). Accordingly, every soldier was immediately required to take an oath of loyalty and obedience to Hitler. (2061-PS)

E. The Nazi conspirators removed great numbers of civil servants on racial and political grounds and replaced them with party members and supporters.

Hitler publicly announced the conspirators’ purpose:

“We know that two things alone will save us: the end of internal corruption and the cleaning out of all those who owe their existence simply to the protection of members of the same political parties. Through the most brutal ruthlessness towards all officials installed by those political parties we must restore our finances. * * * The body of German officials must once more become what it was.” (2881-PS)

The Nazi legislative machine turned to the task of purging the civil service soon after the accession to power. On 7 April 1933, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service was promulgated (1397-PS). Article 3 of this law applies the Nazi blood theories:

“(1) Officials who are not of Aryan descent are to be retired (See Section 8); where honorary officials are concerned, they are to be discharged from office.

(2) (1) Does not apply to officials who have been in service since August 1, 1914, or who fought in the World War at the front for the German Reich or for its allies or whose fathers or sons were killed in the World War. The Reich Minister of the Interior after consultation with the competent Minister or with the highest state authorities may permit further exceptions in the case of officials who are in foreign countries.”

Article 8 provides that retirement does not carry a pension unless the official has served at least ten years. The political purge provision of this law is contained in Article 4:

“Officials who because of their previous political activity do not offer security that they will exert themselves for the national state without reservations, may be discharged. For three months after dismissal, they will be paid their former salary. From this time on they receive three-quarters of their pensions (see 8) and corresponding annuities for their heirs.”

The provisions of the Act apply to all Reich, Land, and Communal officials (Art. 1 (2)). Civil Servants may be placed on the retired list without any reason, “for the purpose of simplifying the administration” (Art. 6). Discharges and transfers, once decided on by the appropriate administrative chief, are final and are not subject to appeal (Art. 7 (1)).

This basic enactment was followed by a series of decrees, regulations, and amendments. For example, on 11 April 1933, the term “non-Aryan” was defined to include persons with only one non-Aryan grandparent (2012-PS). An amendatory law of 30 June ruled out all civil servants married to non-Aryans. (1400-PS)

The political standards of the “Purge Law” were made more explicit by the supplementary law of 20 July 1933. Officials who belonged to any party or organization which, in the opinion of the Nazis, furthered the aims of Communism, Marxism, or Social Democracy were summarily to be discharged (1398-PS). In the later years, these earlier provisions were enlarged and codified, no longer solely for the purposes of affecting the existing civil service, but rather to set out the qualifications for the appointment of new applicants and for their promotion. Proof of devotion to National Socialism and documentary proof of acceptable “blood” were prescribed as conditions to promotion. (2326-PS)

The comprehensive German Civil Service Law of 26 January 1937 included the discriminatory provisions of the earlier legislation, and prevented the appointment of any applicants opposed or suspected of being opposed to the Nazi program and policy (2340-PS). The legislation dealing with the training and education of civil servants provided that no person can be accepted for an official position unless he is a member of the Nazi Party or one of its formations (Gliederungen). (2341-PS)

The total subjugation of the German civil servant was ultimately accomplished by the following resolution passed by the Reichstag at the request of the Fuehrer.

“* * * without being bound by existing legal provisions, the Fuehrer must therefore in his capacity as Fuehrer of the nation, as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, as Head of the Government and as the highest bearer of all power, as highest Law Lord and as Fuehrer of the Party, always be in a position to require every German—whether a simple soldier or officer, subordinate or higher official, or judge, supervisory or operating functionary of the Party, laborer or employer—to carry out his duties with all the means available to him and to discharge these duties according to a conscientious examination without reference to so-called vested rights, especially without the preambles of pre-existing procedure, by removal of any man from his office, rank or position.” (2755-PS)

F. The Nazi conspirators restricted the independence of the judiciary and rendered it subservient to their ends.

The independence of judges, before the Nazi regime, was guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution. The fundamental principle was stated briefly in Article 102:

“Judges are independent and subject only to the law.” (2050-PS)

Article 104 contained a safeguard against the arbitrary removal or suspension of judges, while Article 105 prohibited “exceptional courts”. The fundamental rights of the individual are set out in Article 109 and include equality before the law. (2050-PS)

Like all other public officials, German judges who failed to meet Nazi racial and political requirements became the subject of a wide-spread purge. Non-Aryans, political opponents of the Nazis, and all persons suspected of antagonism to the aims of the Party were summarily removed (2967-PS). The provisions of the Law for the Restoration of Professional Civil Service of 7 April 1933 applied to all judges. This was declared expressly in the third regulation for the administration of the law. (2867-PS)

To make certain that cases with political ramifications would be dealt with acceptably and in conformity with Party principles, the Nazis granted designated areas of criminal jurisdiction to the so-called Special Courts (Sondergerichte). These constituted a new system of special criminal courts, independent of the regular judiciary and directly subservient to the Party (2076-PS). A later decree considerably broadened the jurisdiction of these courts. (2056-PS)

In 1934, the People’s Court was set up as a trial court “in cases of high treason and treason” (2014-PS). This action was a direct, result of the dissatisfaction of the Nazi rulers with the decision of the Supreme Court (Reichsgericht) in the Reichstag fire trial. Three of the four defendants were acquitted although the Nazi conspirators had expected convictions in all cases (2967-PS). The law which created this new tribunal contained a wide definition of treason which would include most of what were regarded by the Nazis as “political” crimes (Art. 3 (1)). The express denial of any appeal from the decisions of the People’s Court (Art. 5 (2)) was a further indication of the intention of the Nazis to set up a criminal law system totally outside of accepted judicial pattern. The substantive organization of the People’s Court was later established by law in 1936. (2342-PS)

These new tribunals were staffed almost exclusively with Nazis and were used to tighten the Party’s grip on Germany. This control became progressively stronger, due first, to the power of the prosecutor to pick the appropriate court; second, to the restriction of defense counsel in these courts to specially admitted attorneys; and finally, to the absence of appeal from the decisions of these judges. Moreover, there developed along side of the entire judicial system the increasingly powerful police administration, under which persons opposed to the regime were regularly imprisoned in concentration camps without any type of hearing, even after acquittal by the courts. (2967-PS)

Still another group of courts was established within the Party itself. These Party Courts heard cases involving internal party discipline and infractions of the rules of conduct prescribed for members of formations and affiliated organizations. The published rules for the Party judges emphasized the complete dependence of these judges upon the directions and supervision of their Party superiors. (2402-PS)

The Nazi legal theorists freely admitted that there was no place in their scheme of things for the truly independent judge. They controlled all judges through special directives and orders from the central government. Frank underscored the role of the judge as a political functionary and as an administrator in the National Socialist state (2378-PS). Two case histories of this period serve to illustrate the manner in which criminal proceedings were directly suppressed or otherwise affected by order of the Reich government.

In 1935, the Reich Governor of Saxony, Mutschmann, attempted to quash criminal proceedings which, in this exceptional instance, had been brought against officials of the Hohnstein concentration camp for a series of extremely brutal attacks upon inmates. The trial was held and the defendants convicted, but during the trial the governor inquired of the presiding judge whether he did not think the penalty proposed by the prosecutor too severe and whether an acquittal was not indicated. After the conviction, two jurymen were ousted from the NSDAP and the prosecutor was advised by his superior to withdraw from the SA. Although Guertner, the then Minister of Justice, strongly recommended against taking any action to alter the decision, Hitler pardoned all the accused. (783-PS; 784-PS; 785-PS; 786-PS)

In another similar case, Guertner wrote directly to Hitler narrating the horrible details of maltreatment and advising that the case be regularly prosecuted. Nevertheless, Hitler ordered complete suppression of the proceedings. (787-PS; 788-PS)

Under the Nazi regime, it was part of the official duty of many Party functionaries to supervise the administration of justice. The official papers of Hess contain detailed statements concerning his own functions and those of the Gauleiter in deciding criminal cases. (2639-PS)

Another type of governmental interference in judicial matters is evidenced by the confidential letter which the Ministry of Justice sent in early 1938 to the Chief Justices of the Regional Supreme Courts (Oberlandesgerichtspraesidenten). The judges were instructed to submit lists of lawyers who would be sufficiently able and trustworthy to represent in court persons who had been taken into “protective custody”. The main requirement was absolute political reliability. Simple Party membership was not enough; to be selected, the lawyer had to enjoy the confidence of the “Gestapo”. (651-PS)

After the war began, Thierack, Minister of Justice, revealed the low state to which the judiciary had fallen under Nazi rule. He argued that the judge was not the “supervisor” but the “assistant” of the government. He said that the word “independent”, as applied to the judge, was to be eliminated from the vocabulary and that although the judge should retain a certain freedom of decision in particular cases, the government “can and must” give him the “general line” to follow. For this purpose, Thierack decided in 1942 to send confidential Judge’s Letters (Richterbriefe) to all German judges and prosecutors, setting forth the political principles and directives with which all judicial personnel were obligated to comply (2482-PS). The first of these Judge’s Letters clearly expresses the complete subordination of the judges to the Fuehrer and his government. (D-229)

G. The Nazi conspirators greatly enlarged existing State and Party organizations and established an elaborate network of new formations and agencies.

The totalitarian character of the Nazi regime led to the establishment of a great number of new official and semi-official agencies and organizations in the various fields of life which were permeated by Nazi doctrine and practice, including culture, trade, industry, and agriculture.

New agencies had to be created to handle the large number of additional administrative tasks taken over from the Laender and the municipalities. Moreover, the mobilization of the political, economic, and military resources of Germany required the formation of such coordinating “super-agencies” as the Four Year Plan, the Plenipotentiary for Economics, the Plenipotentiary for Administration, and the Ministerial Council for the Defense of the Reich. At the time of the launching of war, the central Reich government was an extremely complicated structure held together under strict Nazi dictatorship. (See Chart Number 18; also 2261-PS; 2194-PS; 2018-PS.)

Simultaneously, in the Party, the growth of agencies and organizations proceeded rapidly. The Party spread, octopus-like, throughout all Germany and into many foreign lands. (See Chart Number 1; also 1725-PS.)

This process of growth was summed up late in 1937 in an official statement of the Party Chancellery:

“In order to control the whole German nation in all spheres of life, the NSDAP, after assuming power, set up under its leadership the new Party formations and affiliated organizations.” (2383-PS)

H. The Nazi conspirators created a dual system of government controls, set up Party agencies to correspond with State agencies, and coordinated their activities, often by uniting corresponding State and Party offices in a single person.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler announced the conspirators’ purpose:

“Such a revolution can and will only be achieved by a movement which itself is already organized in the spirit of such ideas and thus in itself already bears the coming state. Therefore, the National Socialist movement may today become imbued with these ideas and put them into practice in its own organization so that it not only may direct the state according to the same principles, but also may be in a position to put at the state’s disposal the finished organizational structure of its own state.” (2883-PS)

The Nazis attempted to achieve a certain degree of identity between the Party and the State and, at the same time, to maintain two separate organizational structures. After the rise to power, the fundamental principle of unity was translated into “law”:

“Article 1. After the victory of the National Socialistic Revolution, the National Socialistic German Labor Party is the bearer of the concept of the German State and is inseparably the state.” (1395-PS)

The manner in which the Nazis retained a duality of organization despite the theory of unity is graphically portrayed in the charts of the Party and the State (Charts Number 1 and 18). These visual exhibits demonstrate the comprehensive character of the Party organization, which was established on parallel lines with the corresponding government structure. The Party structure remained at all times technically separate and could be used for non-governmental purposes whenever such use best served the needs of the conspirators. In innumerable instances, the corresponding Party and State offices were, in fact, held by the same person. For example, the Gauleiter of the Party in most instances also held the post of Reich Governor (or, in Prussia, that of Provincial President). (2880-PS)

The coordination of the Party and State functions started at the top. The Chief of the Party Chancellery was designated a Reich Minister and endowed with plenary powers in the preparation and approval of legislation. He acted as liaison officer at the highest level between Party officials and cabinet ministers. He was given also the duty of passing on the appointment of all the more important civil servants. (2787-PS)

Many of the same powers were bestowed upon the other Reichsleiter (Leaders composing the Party Directorate). The official Nazi exposition of their position is as follows:

“It is in the Reich Directorate where the strings of the organization of the German people and the State meet. By endowment of the Chief of the Party Chancellery with the powers of a Reich Minister, and by special administrative directives, the penetration of the State apparatus with the political will of the Party is guaranteed. It is the task of the separate organs of the Reich Directorate to maintain as close a contact as possible with the life of the nation through their sub-offices in the Gaus. Observations at the front are to be collected and exploited by the offices of the Reich Directorate.” (1893-PS)

On the regional and local levels, the Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, etc., were also empowered to control the purely governmental authorities on political matters. Hess issued the following order shortly after the war began:

“I, therefore order that the bearer of sovereignty (Hoheitstraeger) of the NSDAP (Gauleiter, Kreisleiter, Ortsgruppenleiter) in the scope of his authority is responsible for the political leadership and the frame of mind (Stimmung) of the population. It is his right and his duty to take or to cause to be taken any measures necessary for the expeditious fulfillment of his political duties and for the elimination of wrong within the Party. He is exclusively responsible to his superior bearers of sovereignty (Hoheitstraeger).” (2383-PS)

In the later years, the functional coordination of Party and State offices became much more common. The appointment of Himmler as Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police is a typical example of the way in which State and Party functions became inextricably merged so as to render any clean lines of demarcation impossible. (2073-PS)