Document No. 2373-PS

AUTHOR — International Military Tribunal

Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV

Document No. 2373-PS

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 2373-PS

EXCERPTS FROM GERMAN PUBLICATIONS

1\. "The first chairman is responsible for the entire leadership of the movement. He divides the work among the committeemen, subordinated to him, as well as among the otherwise necessary collaborators. Each of these gentlemen is therefore fully responsible for the tasks that have been allotted to him. He is subordinate only to the first chairman, who has to concern himself with the cooperation of everyone responsible. Through selection of persons and issuance of general directives he must bring about this collaboration himself.

"This law of essential responsibility has gradually become a matter of course within the movement, at least insofar as it concerned the party leadership." (MEIN KAMPF, Adolf Hitler, Munich, 1933, page 661)

2\. "How shall I give expression, my Fuehrer, to what is in our hearts? How shall I find words for your deeds? Has there ever been a mortal as beloved as you, my Fuehrer? Was there ever belief as strong as the belief in your mission? God sent you to us for Germany." (Goering, Speeches and Writing, \[Reden und Aufsaetze\] Munich, 1938, page 326)

3\. "Above all was God's hand which has visibly guided the Fuehrer and his Movement. Only those who have no faith, claim that chance has persecuted us. In reality Moltke's word was proven to be true in regard to the Fuehrer and the Party; namely, that in the long run only the strong will have good luck. What had been prepared quietly and had grown organically during ten years, swept over all of Germany like a torrent on 30 January 1933 and during the time which followed. There was nobody in the country and in the world who could have escaped the powerful, resounding rhythm of these events. It was as if a whole people awoke from its sleep, threw off in one quick move the chains which oppressed it and rose like a Phoenix out of the ashes of a fallen system. And out of the flame and enthusiasm with which the masses of millions of people yielded to Hitler and his idea, the cry which once before at the time of the crusades had made Germany rise, seemed to come again: 'It is God's will!'

"And as he gave us his blessing, he denied it to the others. Although they called for him loudly from their pulpits and partyseats, their work was not his work, their faith was not his faith and their will not his will.

"It is not mere chance that millions in Germany are of the holy conviction that National Socialism is more than politics, that in it the word and the will of God proclaim itself, that the bulwark it has created against Bolshevism was conceived on higher inspiration as the last salvation of Occidental culture before the threat of Asiatic atheism." (Joseph Goebbels, From Kaiserhof to Reich Chancellery, \[Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei\], 1934, page 12.)

4\. "It is with pride that we see that one man is kept above all criticism - that is the Fuehrer.

"The reason is that everyone feels and knows: he was always right and will always be right. The National Socialism of us all is anchored in the uncritical loyalty, in the devotion to the Fuehrer that does not ask for the wherefore in the individual case, in the tacit performance of his commands. We believe that the Fuehrer is fulfilling a divine mission to German Destiny! This belief is beyond challenge." (Hess, Speeches \[Reden\] Munich, 1928, page 25; Radio speech at Cologne, 25 June 1934)

5\. The Technique of the State-"Therefore the Fuehrer principle in administration means; instead of the results of a majority vote, to entrust in each case the decision to a definite person with clear-cut authority who will be solely responsible toward above and who will carry out the execution of the decision toward below. (Hans Frank, German Law, \[Deutsches Recht\] V. 11, Berlin, 1941, p. 2626; also Otto Koellreutter, German Administrative Law, \[Deutsches Verwaltungsrecht\], Berlin, 1938, p.8.

\\* U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1946-693257

Source:<br>Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression Volume IV<br>Office of the United States Chief Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality<br>Washington, DC : United States Government Printing Office, 1946