Organization of the Nazi Party and State

1. 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 Organsationsbuch
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       |
5. Ortsgruppenleiter |  [3 through 7 collectively = Hoheitstraiger]
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 Reichsleitet, 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 part of a larger city, and including from
1500 to 3000 households.

d. Zelienleiter, the political leaders of a group of from 4
to 8 city blocks or of a corresponding grouping of
households in the

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 non. The Fuehrer himself appointed all
Gauleiter and Kreisleiter, all Reichsleiter, and all other
political leaders within the Party Directorate Rechsleitung) 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 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 (Kregsopferversorgung).
     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 Leibesue

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

     RAD -- Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), at one
     time subordinate to the Reich Labor leader
     (Reichsarbe1tsfuehrer).

                                                 
     NS -- FKNS 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 Fuhrers, 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 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 1934, party participation in the work of
the cabinet was at all times attained through Rudolf Hess,
the Deputy of the Fuehrer. 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
that time he was unable at that time 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
any 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 the
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 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 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 the
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
(Generalbevollmaechtigler 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 Drierkollegium appear to have included
the drafting of decrees in preparation and for use in
war.

6. To the Geheime Kabinettsrat, the Secret Cabinet Council,
created by the 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.

                      
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