Warning: include(breadcrumbs.htm): Failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /srv/users/serverpilot/apps/hhpcom/public/nca/nca-v02/nca02_16_16.php on line 11
Warning: include(): Failed opening 'breadcrumbs.htm' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/sp/php8.2/lib/php') in /srv/users/serverpilot/apps/hhpcom/public/nca/nca-v02/nca02_16_16.php on line 11
16. Baldur von Schirach
A. SCHIRACH’s NSDAP MEMBERSHIP, NSDAP POSITIONS, AND
GOVERNMENT POSITIONS.
In an affidavit (3302-PS), Schirach has declared that he
held the following positions:
Positions in the Nazi Party
(1) NSDAP member, 1925 to 1945
(2) Leader of the National Socialist Students League,
1929-1931
(3) Leader of the Hitler Youth organization, 1931-1940
(4) Reich Youth Leader (Reichsjugendfuehrer) on the
Staff of the SA Supreme Command under Ernst Roehm, 1931-
1932
(5) Reich Youth Leader (Reichsjugendfuehrer) of the
NSDAP, 1931-1940; in 1932 Schirach became an
independent Reich Leader (Reichsleiter), and no longer
remained on the Staff of the SA Supreme Command.
(6) Gruppenfuehrer (Lt. General) of the SA, 1931-1941
(7) Reich Leader (Reichsleiter) for Youth Education in
the NSDAP, 1932-1945
(8) Gau Leader (Gauleiter) of the Reichsgau Vienna,
1940-1945
(9) Obergruppenfuehrer (General) of the SA, 1941-1945
Governmental Positions
(1) Reich Youth Leader, 1933-1940
(2) Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter) of the Reichsgau
Vienna
(3) Reich Defense Commission of Vienna, 1940-1945
(4) Deputy to the Fuehrer for the Inspection of the
Hitler Youth (Beauftragter der Fuehrer fuer die
Inspektion der Gesamten Hitler Jugend), 1940-1945
Schirach was also a member of the Reichstag from 1932 to
1945
B. SCHIRACH WAS AN INTIMATE AND SLAVISH FOLLOWER OF HITLER
SINCE 1925.
As early as 1925 Baldur von Schirach, then 18 years old,
joined the Nazi conspirators. Upon special request of
Hitler, he went to Munich in order to study Party affairs.
After having joined the NSDAP in 1925 he became active in
converting students to National Socialism (3302-PS). This
was the start of Schirach’s conspiratorial activities, which
he continued for two
decades in the spirit of unbending loyalty to Hitler and to
the principles of National Socialism. Schirach shows his
slavish loyalty to Hitler in his principal book, “The Hitler
Youth,” published in 1934:
“We were not yet able to account for our conception in
detail, we simply believed. And when Hitler’s book,
Mein Kampf, was published it was our bible which we
almost learned by heart in order to answer the
questions of the doubters and superior critics. Almost
everyone today who is leading youth in a responsible
position joined us in those years.”
*******
“In my apartment on Koenigin Strasse, I was lucky
enough to be able to express my apprehensions about
Strasser to the Fuehrer, otherwise I never discussed
these things with anybody with the exception of Julius
Streicher.” (1458-PS).
C. SCHIRACH WAS THE LEADING NAZI CONSPIRATOR IN DESTROYING
INDEPENDENT YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS AND IN BUILDING THE NAZI
YOUTH MOVEMENT.
(Reference is made at this point to section 8 of Chapter VII
on “Reshaping of Education and Training of Youth". See also
3054-PS.)
It was Schirach’s task to perpetuate the Nazi regime through
generations by poisoning the mind of youth, and thereby the
mind of the German people, and to prepare the German nation
for aggressive wars.
The basic law concerning the Hitler Youth, which under
Schirach’s tutelage became an instrument of the Nazi State,
declares:
“The future of the German Nation depends on its youth,
and the German youth shall have to be prepared for its
future duties. ***
“All German youth in the Reich is organized within the
Hitler Youth.
“The German youth besides being reared within the
family and school, shall be educated physically,
intellectually, and morally in the spirit of National
Socialism to serve the people and the community,
through the Hitler Youth.
“The task of educating the German Youth through the
Hitler Youth is being entrusted to the Reich Leader of
German Youth in the NSDAP. ***” (1392-PS).
For the five years preceding the promulgation of this law
Schirach
[Page 879]
had been leader of the Hitler Youth and Reich Youth Leader
of the NSDAP. He continued in these positions until the
Nazis launched their aggressive wars. As late as 4 December
1945, Schirach declared his own feeling of responsibility
for Nazi policies concerning youth:
“I feel myself responsible for the policy of the youth
movement in the Party and later within the Reich.”
(3302-PS).
(1) Schirach actively promoted the NSDAP and its affiliated
youth organizations before the Nazis seized power. In 1929
Hitler appointed Schirach leader of the National Socialist
German Students League and in 1931 leader of the Hitler
Jugend. After 1931, Schirach devoted his full time to Party
work (3302-PS). Before 1933, Schirach moved throughout
Germany, leading demonstrations and summoning German youth
to the Hitler Youth. When this organization and the wearing
of its uniform were forbidden by law, Schirach continued by
illegal means. Of this period he writes:
“Whoever came to us during this illegal time, boy or
girl, risked everything. *** With pistols in our belts
we drove through the Ruhr district while stones came
flying after us.” (1458-PS)
Schirach admits that Rosenberg and he were not successful
before 1933 in efforts to reach “an understanding” with
other youth organizations. Schirach states that he thereupon
arrived at a conclusion which later was to spell the doom of
independent youth groups:
“I realized at that time that an understanding with the
leaders of the League would never be possible and
devoted myself to the principle of the totality
[Totalitlaet] of the Hitler Youth which in the year
1933 cost all those leagues their independent
existence.” (1458-PS).
(2) Schirach, on behalf of the Nazi conspirators, destroyed
all independent youth organizations or caused them to be
absorbed within the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend). After the
Nazi conspirators seized political control of Germany,
Schirach was aggressive in bringing the entire German youth
within the Nazi orbit of control and domination. Referring
to the period immediately following 30 January 1933,
Schirach declared:
“Now the problem was to apply the victory of the
movement to the entire youth. Our cabinet ministers
were overburdened with their new tasks and were working
day and night. We could not wait until they could find
time to solve the youth question by their own
initiative. Therefore, we had
[Page 880]
to act ourselves. My co-workers met in my Munich
apartment and advised me to occupy the Reichs Committee
[Reichsausschuss] of the German Youth Leagues
[Jugendverbaende]. I commissioned General
[0bergebietsfuehrer] Nabersberg with 50 members of the
Berlin HJ to make a surprise raid on the Reich
Committee in the Alsenstrasse early the next morning.
This was done and at noon the press had the report that
the HJ [Hitler Youth] had taken over the leadership of
the Reich Committee.”
By a second surprise raid, Schirach took over the Youth
Hostels. Of this Schirach writes in the same book:
“In the meantime I gained control over the Reich League
for German Youth Hostels [Reichsverband fuer deutsche
Jugendherbergen] in similar manner to the one employed
with the Reich Committee.” (1458-PS)
By using the records of the seized Reich Committee, Schirach
states that he obtained knowledge of the strength and
influential personalities of all the German youth groups.
“From this point I recognized the necessity of coming
to grips with the Greater German Union [Grossdeutscher
Bund ].” (1458-PS)
In June 1933, Schirach was appointed Youth Leader of the
German Reich (Jugendfuehrer des Deutschen Reiches) in a
solemn ceremony before Hitler. Concerning the period
immediately following, Schirach writes in the same book:
“The first thing I did was to dissolve the Greater
German Union [Grossdeutscher Bund]. Since I headed all
German youth organizations and I had the right to
decide on their leadership, I did not hesitate for a
moment to take this step, which was for the Hitler
Youth the elimination of an unbearable state of
affairs.” (1458-PS)
The dissolution of this and other youth organizations was
accomplished by orders issued by Schirach as Youth Leader of
the German Reich. (2229-PS)
In this position Schirach also appointed deputies to the
various German states (Landesbeauftragte) “to carry out my
instructions, and I appointed district leaders
[Gebietsfuehrer] to these positions in all of the states in
execution of my right” (1458-PS). In this book Schirach also
admits directing the further assimilation or destruction of
other youth organizations:
“The Marxist youth as well as all political youth
organizations I prohibited after the occupation of the
Reich Committee. The one million members of the HJ
which we had on 30 January 1933 had grown to a round
3,000,000. Only
[Page 881]
the two large professional groups, the Protestant and
Catholic youth, were opposed to us.” (1458-PS)
Schirach proceeded to hold discussions with the Hitler-
appointed Reich Bishop Ludwig Mueller,
“And in December 1933, the Reich Bishop and myself were
able to inform the Fuehrer that incorporation of the
Protestant youth into the HJ had become a reality.”
(1458-PS)
When this book was written, Schirach had not yet
accomplished the complete coordination of Catholic youth
into the Hitler Youth, though he argued that:
“No reasonable man in Germany can give a reason for the
necessity of the existence of Catholic youth
organizations in their present form.” (1458-PS)
Schirach’s objective of forcing all German youth into the
Hitler Youth was finally accomplished by a decree in
December 1936. (1392-PS)
(3) Schirach was mainly responsible for the indoctrination
and training of German youth outside home and school. The
law making compulsory the organization of all German Youth
within the Hitler Youth declared that: “The task of
educating the German Youth through the Hitler Youth is being
entrusted to the Reich Youth Leader in the NSDAP.”
To make Schirach’s sole competence even clearer, the first
executive order concerning the basic youth law stated:
“The youth leader of the German Reich is solely
competent for all missions of the physical,
ideological, and moral education of the entire German
youth outside of the house of the parents and the
school.” (1462-PS)
(4) Schirach was the principal Nazi conspirator in applying
the Leadership principle to German youth. As a Reich Leader
(Reichsleiter) in the NSDAP, Schirach was responsible only
to Hitler or his deputy (Stellvertreter), Hess. In youth
affairs he was at the top of the Nazi leadership pyramid,
and under him German youth was directed by and completely
subjected to the Leadership Principle. The Leadership
Principle, one of the principal control-techniques of the
Nazis was explained and glorified by Schirach as it applied
to German youth:
“A single will leads the HJ. The power of authority of
the HJ leaders, that of the smallest as well as of the
largest unit, is absolute, i.e., he has the unlimited
right to give orders because he bears the unlimited
responsibility. He
[Page 882]
knows that the responsibility of the higher one comes
before that of the lower ones. Therefore, he submits
silently to the instructions of his leaders even if
they are directed against him personally. To him as
well as to all young Germany the history of the HJ is
proof of the fact that a youth community also can only
be successful if it unconditionally recognizes the
authority of leadership. he success of National
Socialism is a success of discipline. The structure of
National Socialist Youth is built on the foundation of
discipline and obedience. The teachings of the time of
persecution apply even more to the period of victory
and power. (1458-PS)
(5) Schirach indoctrinated youth with the Nazi ideology.
Schirach states that:
“It was my task to educate the youth in the aims,
ideology and directives of the NSDAP, and beyond this
to direct and to shape them.” (3302-PS)
For this purpose the Hitler Youth had an elaborate
propaganda apparatus which published numerous periodicals,
ranging from a daily press service to monthly magazines.
Through liaison agents the Hitler Youth Propaganda Office
had permanent contact with Dr. Goebbels' Propaganda Office
of the NSDAP and with the Ministry of People’s Enlightenment
and Propaganda. (3349-PS)
Schirach, together with Dr. Robert Ley, established the
Adolf Hitler Schools in January 1937. These schools,
according to the joint statement of Reich Leaders
(Reichsleiter) Schirach and Ley, were open to outstanding
and proven members of the Youth Folk (Jungvolk), the junior
section of the Hitler Youth organization. The Adolf Hitler
Schools were destined to train youth free of charge for
responsible positions in National Socialist Germany. These
schools were units of and under the jurisdiction of the
Hitler Youth. Schirach shared with Reich Organization Leader
(Reichsorganisationsleiter) Ley the general supervision of
the contents of the teaching, the curriculum, and the staff
of the Adolf Hitler Schools (2653-PS). Schirach encouraged a
close relation between members of the Hitler Youth and the
German League for Germandom abroad (Verein fuer das
Deutschum im Ausland, or “VDA"). An agreement between
Schirach and the leaders of the VDA in 1933 states:
“(1) With a complete respect for the important racial-
political task the Hitler Youth recommends to its
members membership in collaboration with the VDA.”
*******
[Page 884]
“(3) The school groups of the VDA (racial-German work
cells) assist the Hitler Youth in their work.” (L-360-
H)
Schirach thus subscribed to the “racial-political task” of
the NSDAP and extended his jurisdiction even beyond the
border of the German Reich. His encouragement and approval
of anti-Jewish terror by youth is discussed below.
(6) Through the Hitler Youth, Schirach assisted the Nazi
conspirators in developing leaders and members of the NSDAP
and its affiliated organizations, including the SA and the
SS. Sometime before the launching of aggressive wars, the
Hitler Youth had become the principal source of zealous
members for the NSDAP and its affiliated organizations.
Orders of the Party Chancellery concerned with “successor
problems” of the Party emphasize constant attention to
Hitler Youth members as future Nazi leaders, thus attempting
the perpetuation of the Nazi regime and Nazi ideology for
the immediate future and even into future generations. Only
Hitler Youth members who distinguished themselves were to be
admitted to the Party. Nazi leaders were instructed to use
"properly qualified full-time Hitler Youth leaders *** for
the continuation of their political work in the Party
service,” so that a necessary succession of full-time
leaders in the Leader Corps (Fuehrerkorps) of the Party
would be secured.
The Party manual also discusses the Hitler Youth as a
recruitment agency for future Nazi leaders and members of
affiliated organizations of the NSDAP:
“To secure for the Party valuable and trained recruits
for leadership, suitable Hitler Jugend boys of over 17
can be assigned for education and training to leaders
from local unit leaders on upwards.”
*******
“Besides the above mentioned conditions for selections
in general, a process of elimination results from the
fact that from youth on the German is cared for,
guided, and educated by the Party. First they are
assembled in the Young Folk [Jungvolk] from which the
young people are transferred into the HJ. The boy of
the HJ enters the SA, the SS, the NSKK or the NSFK or
participates in the work of the affiliated
organizations of the Party. After labor and army
service, he returns for service to the Party and its
affiliates, respectively.”
Special arrangements existed between Himmler’s SS and
Schirach’s Hitler Youth concerning the recruiting of members
of
[Page 884]
the Hitler Jugend for later service in the SS. Within the
Hitler Youth was a special group called the Streifendienst
(Patrol Service). Concerning this special group, an official
handbook on youth laws states:
“Organization of the Streifendienst.
“1. Since the Streifendienst in the HJ has to perform
tasks similar to those of the SS for the whole
movement, it is organized as a special unit for the
purpose of securing recruits for the general SS;
however, as much as possible, recruits for the SS
special troops, for the SS Death Head Troops, and for
the officer candidate schools should also be taken from
these formations.”
*******
“4a. The selection of Streifendienst members is made
according to the principles of racial selection of the
Schutzstaffel [SS]; the competent officials of the SS,
primarily unit leaders, race authorities, and SS
physicians, will be consulted for the admission test.”
*******
“5 To insure from the beginning a good understanding
between Reich youth leadership and Reich SS leadership,
a liaison office will be ordered from the Reich youth
leadership to the SS main office starting 1 October
1938. The appointment of other leaders to the SS
sections is a subject for a future agreement.
“6 After the organization is completed, the SS takes
its replacement primarily from these Streifendienst
members. Admission of youths of German blood who are
not members of the HJ is then possible only after
information and advice of the competent Bann leader.”
(2396-PS)
Shortly afterwards, on 17 December 1938, Schirach and
Himmler entered into and signed another agreement for
recruiting SS members from the ranks of the Hitler Youth:
“To secure full success for the common effort of the SS
and the Hitler Youth by strict cooperation, to stem the
flight from the land, to build a new peasant class, to
bring the best part of the people into contact with the
earth of the homeland the following arrangement has
been made in connection with the agreement of 26 August
1938.
“1. The farm service of the Hitler Youth is according
to education and aim, particularly well suited as a
recruiting organization for the Schutzstaffel (general
SS and the armed sections of the SS; SS special troops
and SS death head battalions) .
[Page 885]
“2. Boys who suit the special demands of the SS
according to physical conditions and moral attitude are
preferably admitted into the farm service of the Hitler
Youth.”
*******
“5. All farm service members who pass the general
admission test of the SS will be taken over into the
general SS after leaving the farm service.” (2567-PS)
Thus, by the end of 1938, the Hitler Youth had become the
main source for future SS members. (For the criminal
activities the SS formations for which Hitler Youth members
were recruited, see Section 5 of Chapter XV of the
Schutzstaffel (SS).)
(7) Schirach actively engaged in militarizing the Hitler
Youth. In June 1933, under an agreement between Hitler and
Franz Seldte, which was negotiated in the presence of the
Reich Minister of War, the “Steel Helmet League of Front
Line Soldiers” (Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten) was
incorporated into the Nazi movement. The Scharnhorst, the
youth organization of the Stahlhelm, was integrated into the
Hitler Youth. (2260-PS)
The Hitler Youth was generally set up along military lines
with uniforms, ranks, and titles. It contained divisions
called Naval Hitler Youth, Motorized Hitler Youth, Hitler
Youth Flyers, and Signal Hitler Youth. According to an
official document published by the Reich Youth Leadership
under Schirach, the object of these divisions within the
Hitler Youth was to prepare boys, respectively, for the
German merchant marine and Navy, the National Socialist
Motorized Corps (NSKK), for civil and military aviation, and
for service with signal troops. (2654-PS)
On or about 11 August 1939, just before the invasion of
Poland, an agreement was entered into between Schirach and
Wilhelm Keitel, then Chief of the High Command of the
Wehrmacht, which was declared by Das Archiv to represent
"the result of close cooperation” between these two
conspirators. The agreement itself stated:
“while it is exclusively the task of the Hitler Youth
to attend to the training of their units in this
direction, it is suitable in the sense of a uniform
training corresponding to the demands of the Wehrmacht
to support the leadership of the Hitler Youth for their
responsible task as trainers and educators in all
fields of training for defense by special courses *** A
great number of courses are in progress.” (2398-PS)
The agreement stated that it “gives the possibility of
roughly redoubling the same 30,000 leaders in the Hitler
Youth schools
[Page 886]
for directing shooting practice and field training. Under
the agreement, specific arrangements were made for messing
and billeting the Hitler Youth leaders at Wehrmacht
installations Former Hitler Youth leaders in the Wehrmacht,
who were specially selected volunteers, were to be assigned
as liaison officers and deputies for carrying out this
military training. (2398-PS)
Hitler, in a speech in February 1938, represented that
thousands of German boys had received specialized training
in naval, aviation, and motorized groups within the Hitler
Youth, and that over 1 million Hitler Youth members had
received instructions in rifle shooting from 7,000
instructors. (2454-PS)
[Page 886]
D. SCHIRACH PROMOTED THE ACCESSION TO POWER OF THE NAZI
CONSPIRATORS.
This allegation of the Indictment is born out by Schirach's
activities in converting students to National Socialism and
by his Leadership of the Hitler Youth before the Nazis'
seizure of political power. These activities are described
above.
E. SCHIRACH PROMOTED THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER OF THE NAZI
CONSPIRATORS.
Schirach’s acts in accomplishing the Nazis' complete control
over German youth are described above. These acts were of
notable assistance to the Nazi conspirators in acquiring
complete control of Germany during the pre-war years.
Schirach’s own words in 1938 leave no doubt as to his own
feeling of personal responsibility in this connection:
“The struggle for the unification of the German youth
is finished. I considered it as my duty to conduct it
in a hard and uncompromising manner. Many might not
have realized why we went through so much trouble for
the sake of the youth. And yet: The National Socialist
German Workers' Party, whose trustee I felt I always
was and always will be, this Party considered the
struggle for the youth as the decisive element for the
future of the German nation.”
*******
“And I promise the German public that the youth of the
German Reich, the youth of Adolf Hitler, will
accomplish its duty in the spirit of the man to whom
alone their lives belong.” (2306-PS)
[Page 887]
F. SCHIRACH PROMOTED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL
PREPARATIONS FOR AGGRESSIVE WAR AND THE MILITARIZATION OF
NAZI-DOMINATED
A general outline of Schirach’s acts bearing on this
allegation of the Indictment appears above. By his own
admission, Schirach was the principal Nazi responsible for
driving the entire Nazi ideology into the minds of German
youths, many of whom grew up to be fanatical Nazis like
Schirach himself. From Hitler, in 1938, came boastings of
the accomplishments of the Hitler Youth in military
training. Through the vast propaganda work of the Reich
Youth Leadership, through the Adolf Hitler Schools, through
the minute regimentation of youth and its subjection to the
Leadership Principle, and through the military training of
German youth, Schirach fulfilled the edict of the basic law
concerning the Hitler Youth:
“The future of the German nation depends on its youth,
and the German youth shall have to be prepared for its
future duties".
It has been demonstrated that the future duties of the youth
entrusted to Schirach were participation in aggressive wars.
G. SCHIRACH’s GENERAL FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES AS
PARTY AND GOVERNMENT LEADER IN THE REICHSGAU VIENNA.
(1) Gau Leader (Gauleiter). Schirach was Gau Leader of the
NSDAP for the Reichsgau Vienna from July 1940 to 1945. In
common with all other Gau Leaders, Schirach was the highest
representative of Hitler, the supreme Party Leader, in his
Gau, he was the bearer of sovereignty (Hoheitstraeger) of
the Party for this regional division of the Party. As such,
he possessed “sovereign political rights"; he represented
the Party with Gau; and he was “responsible for the entire
political situation within” this Gau. (1893-PS)
The Party manual makes it mandatory-that each Gau Leader
meet at least once a month with leaders of the affiliated
organizations of the NSDAP, including the SA and the SS,
"for the purpose of mutual orientation” and authorizes the
Gau Leader to call upon SA leaders and SS leaders as “needed
for the execution of a political mission.” As a Gau Leader
Schirach was appointed by Hitler and was “directly
subordinate” to him. He was responsible for coordinating
activities of the NSDAP with various state authorities,
including the police and the Gestapo. (1893-PS)
[Page 888]
(2) Reich Governor (Reichsstatthalter). Schirach was Reich
Governor of the Reichsgau Vienna from July 1940 to 1945.
After the Anschluss the Nazi conspirators abolished the
State of Austria as a sovereign state and divided Austria
into seven Reich Gaus, the most important of which was the
Reichsgau Vienna (Reichsgau Wien). Schirach, in his capacity
as Reich Governor, was the lieutenant of the head of the
German State, Hitler, in his Gau. As Reich Governor he was
authorized to make decrees and issue orders within the
limitations set by the supreme Reich authorities (Oberste
Reichsbehoerden). He was especially under the administrative
supervision of Frick, Reich Minister of Interior. The Reich
Governor was also first mayor (Erster Buergermeister) of
Vienna. (3301-PS)
Schirach was also Reich Defense Commissar of Vienna from
1940 to 1945. These government positions, along with his
leadership of the Party in Vienna, made Schirach the most
important representative of the Nazi conspirators in the
Reichsgau Vienna. Schirach himself states that as Reich
Governor his “field was the direction of the general
administration” in Vienna. (3302-PS)
As the highest Party and State leader in the Reichsgau
Vienna, Schirach was responsible for all the crimes of the
Nazi conspirators in the Reichsgau Vienna on the ground that
he either initiated, approved, executed, or abetted them.
Specific examples, described below, demonstrate that in fact
he was actively and personally engaged in Nazi crimes.
H. SCHIRACH PARTICIPATED IN THE CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY, PARTICULARLY ANTI-SEMITIC MEASURES.
Schirach bears responsibility for providing many, if not
most, of the Death Head (Totenkopf) members of the SS, who,
in the main, administered the concentration camps. As
particularized above, the SS, by agreement between Himmler
and Schirach, took “its replacement primarily” from
Streifendienst members of the Hitler Youth and only upon
special permission could a non Hitler Youth become an SS
man. Nor can Schirach escape responsibility for his
assistance in implanting in youth the Nazi ideology, with
its tenets of a master race, “sub-human” peoples, and world
domination. For such notions were the psychological
prerequisites for the instigation and toleration of the
atrocities which zealous Nazis committed throughout Germany
and the occupied countries.
[Page 889]
(1) Schirach directed and participated in the Nazi
conspirators' slave labor program.
(For a full discussion of the slave labor program see
Chapter X.)
Vienna was one of the principal cities and an independent
Reichsgau of Greater Germany. Schirach, as Gau Leader and
Reich Governor, was delegated far-reaching responsibilities
concerning the slave labor program and hence shares
responsibility for crimes of slave labor. (3552-PS)
This document proves that the Gau Leaders were required to
be the supreme integrating and coordinating agents of the
Nazi conspirators in executing the entire manpower program.
A circular of the Party Chancellery of 22 March 1942 states
that Goering, upon the suggestion of Sauckel, had agreed
that the Gau Leaders were to become active as Sauckel's
special Plenipotentiaries (Bevollmaechtigte) in order that -
-
“By the leadership of the Party in full appreciation of
the competence of the corresponding Reich authorities,
the highest efficiency in the field of manpower shall
be guaranteed.” (3352-PS)
Goering gave Sauckel authority to issue orders to “the
agencies of the Party, its member organizations and
affiliated organizations” as well as to governmental
authorities. By an order of 6 April 1942 Sauckel appointed
the Gau Leaders as his “plenipotentiaries for manpower
within their respective Gaus,” and charged them with the --
“*** establishment of a harmonious cooperation of all
agencies of the State, of the Party, of the Armed
Forces, and of the Economy, charged with problems of
manpower and thus to create agreement between the
different conceptions and requirements to obtain the
highest efficiency in the field of manpower.” (3352-
PS).
To insure that the Gau Leaders could efficiently perform
their manpower tasks, the entire staff of the Provincial
Labor Offices were --
“*** directed to be at the disposal of the Gau Leaders
for information and advice and to fulfill the
suggestions and demands of the Gau Leader for the
purpose of improvements or manpower.”
In this same order Sauckel said:
“By the above mentioned commission of the Gau Leaders
of the NSDAP, I intend to lead manpower utilization to
the greatest success.”
Thus, Sauckel, himself an experienced Gau Leader, bears
witness
[Page 890]
to the involvement after 1942 of the Gau Leaders, including
Schirach, in the manpower utilization program of the Nazi
conspirators.
Furthermore, a circular from the Party Chancellery of 4
August 1942, shows that “Bearers of Sovereignty”
(Hoheitstraeger) of the NSDAP (which included the Gau
Leaders and hence Schirach) were to familiarize themselves
with the execution of manpower directives on Eastern
workers. One of the purposes of this directive was to
prevent “inept Factory heads” from giving “too much
consideration for the care of the Eastern Workers and
thereby causing justified annoyance among the German
workers” (3352-PS). What “consideration” was in fact meted
out to Eastern Workers in the conspirators' manpower
utilization program is discussed in Chapter X.
(2) Schirach participated in the conspiracy to persecute the
Churches. The activity of Schirach in persecuting churches
by dissolving religious youth organizations or by
incorporating them in the Hitler Youth has been set forth
above.
Official letters of Martin Bormann and Hans Lammers, in
March 1941, show that church properties in Austria had been
confiscated for various pretexts after Schirach had become
Gau Leader and Reich Governor of the Reichsgau Vienna. Upon
a visit of Hitler to Vienna, Schirach and two other
officials raised with him a complaint that the confiscations
should be made in favor of Gaus rather than of the Reich.
Thereafter all Gauleiters were notified that the decision
had been made in favor of the position Schirach had taken
before Hitler, namely in favor of the Gaus. (R-146)
(3) Schirach participated in the Conspiracy to persecute the
Jews. Even before assuming-his Governmental functions in the
Reichsgau Vienna, Schirach was responsible for encouraging
anti-Jewish terror. Before 1939, at a meeting of Heidelberg
students of the National Socialist German Students Bund
(NSDStB ), Schirach was chief speaker. After praising the
students for devoting so much of their time to the affairs
of the Party,
“*** he declared that the most important phase of
German University life in the Third Reich was the
program of the NSDStB. He extolled various activities
of the Bund He reminded the boys of the service they
had rendered during the Jewish purge. Dramatically he
pointed across the river to the old University town of
Heidelberg where several burnt-out synagogues were mute
witnesses of the efficiency of Heidelberg students.
Those skeleton buildings would re-
[Page 891]
main there for centuries, as inspiration for future
students, as warning to enemies of the State.” (2441-
PS)
Immediately after becoming Gau Leader and Reich Governor of
the Reichsgau Vienna, Schirach’s anti-Jewish measures
assumed more formidable proportions. As early as 7 November
1940, one Dr. Fischer, “by order” of the Reich Governor
Schirach stated that --t
“investigations are being made at present by the
Gestapo, to find out how many able-bodied Jews are
still available in order to make plans for the
contemplated mass projects. It is assumed that there
are not many more Jews available. If some still should
be available, however, the Gestapo has no scruples to
use the Jews even for the removal of the destroyed
synagogues. SS Colonel Huber will report personally to
the 'Regierungspraesident' in this matter.” (1948-PS)
The Regierungspraesident was Reich Governor Schirach's
personal representative “within the governmental
administration” (in der staatlichen Verwaltung) of the
Reichsgau. (3301-PS)
The above letter indicates that Schirach and his immediate
subordinates not only knew of the atrocities which had been
committed against the Jews by the Nazi conspirators in the
Reichsgau, but also that they endorsed further forced labor
of Jews and worked intimately with the Gestapo and the SS in
their measures of persecution. Within six months after
Schirach became Gau Leader and Reich Governor of Vienna, Dr.
Hans Lammers informed Schirach that --
“the Fuehrer has decided after receipt of one of the
reports made by you, that the 60,000 Jews still
residing in the Reichsgau Vienna, will be deported most
rapidly, that is still during the war, to the General
Government because of the housing shortage prevalent in
Vienna.” (1950-PS)
Lammers' letter, dated 3 December 1940, informed Schirach
that the Governor General of Poland, Hans Frank, and the
Reichsfuehrer SS, Himmler, had been informed of the
Fuehrer’s decision. (1950-PS)
Schirach’s guilt in this connection, by his own admission,
however, runs even deeper. In a statement to the so called
European Youth League in Vienna in 1942, Schirach stated:
“Every Jew who exerts influence in Europe is a danger
to European culture. If anyone reproaches me with
having driven from this city, which was once the
European metropolis of Jewry, tens of thousands upon
tens of thousands of Jews into the ghetto of the East,
I feel myself compelled to
[Page 892]
reply: I see in this an action contributing to European
culture.” (3048-PS)
(4) Conclusion. Schirach bears responsibility for rendering
significant aid to the Nazi conspirators in each major phase
of the conspiracy; winning Nazi supporters before the
seizure of power; consolidating the Nazis' control of
Germany after the seizure of power; preparing for aggressive
wars; and conducting aggressive wars. From the beginning he
held important policy-making and administrative positions.
From 1931 to the Nazis' downfall, he was one of the small
group of Reich Leaders (Reichsleiter) of the NSDAP who
consorted together, directly subordinate only to Hitler
himself, and who provided the innermost leaven of the
Leadership Corps of the Party. For nearly a decade he was
fully in charge of perpetrating the Nazi regime by poisoning
the minds of the young generation. Although his principal
assistance to the conspiracy was given by his commission of
German youth to the conspirators' objectives, still he also
conspired to wage crimes against humanity as a Party and
governmental administrator of high standing after the
conspiracy had reached its inevitable involvement in war of
aggression.
[Page 892]
Charter of the International Military Tribunal, Article 6.
Vol. I, Pg. 5
International Military Tribunal, Indictment Number 1,
Section IV (H); Appendix A. Vol. I, Pg. 29,65
[Page 893]
[Note: A single asterisk (*) before a document indicates
that the document was received in evidence at the Nurnberg
trial. A double asterisk (**) before a document number
indicates that the document was referred to during the trial
but was not formally received in evidence, for the reason
given in parentheses following the description of the
document. The USA series number, given in parentheses
following the description of the document, is the official
exhibit number assigned by the court.]
1392-PS; Law on the Hitler Youth, 1 December 1936. 1936
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 993. Vol. III, Pg. 972
*1458-PS; The Hitler Youth by Baldur von Schirach, Leipzig,
1934. (USA 667). Vol. IV, Pg. 22
1462-PS; First Execution Order to the Law' of the Hitler
Youth, 25 March 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
709. Vol. IV, Pg. 44
*1893-PS; Extracts from Organization Book of the NSDAP,
1943 edition. (USA 323). Vol. IV, Pg. 529
*1948-PS; Letter from Governor in Vienna, 7 November 1940,
evidencing RSHA instructions to recruit Jews from forced
labor. (USA 680). Vol. IV, Pg. 586
*1950-PS; Secret letter from Lammers to defendant von
Schirach, 3 December 1940, concerning deportation of Jews.
(USA 681). Vol. IV, Pg. 592
*2229-PS; The Reich Youth Leader at Work, published in
National Socialist Party Press Service Release, 22 June
1933, pp. 2-3. (USA 668). Vol. IV, Pg. 870
[Page 894]
2260-PS; Settlement of Relationship between NSDAP and
Stahlhelm (Steel Helmets) published in National Socialist
Party Press Service release, 21 June 1933. Vol. IV, Pg. 933
*2306-PS; Revolution of Education, by Baldur von Schirach,
1938, pp. 5152, 63. (USA 860). Vol. IV, Pg. 997
*2396-PS; Handbook of Collected Youth Laws, Vol. I, Group
1, pp. 19a, 19b, 20. (USA 673). Vol. V, Pg. 63
*2398-PS; Cooperation of Hitler Jugend with Wehrmacht, 11
August 1939, published in The Archive, No. 65, August 1939,
pp. 601-602. (USA 677). Vol. V, Pg. 66
*2401-PS; The Hitler Youth as recruits for future leaders,
from Organization Book of NSDAP, 1938, pp. 80-81. (USA 430).
Vol. V, Pg. 69
*2441-PS; Affidavit of Gregor Ziemer, 4 October 1945, from
his book “Education for Death". (USA 679). Vol. V, Pg. 141
*2454-PS; Quotations from speeches of Hitler, published in
Voelkischer Beobachter, Munich edition. (USA 676). Vol. V,
Pg. 196
*2567-PS; Decree signed by Himmler and von Schirach,
concerning cooperation of HJ and SS, printed in The Young
Germany, Berlin, February 1939. (USA 674). Vol. V, Pg. 301
*2653-PS; The Way of German Youth, from The Third Reich,
5th Year, 1937, pp. 117-118. (USA 669). Vol. V, Pg. 359
*2654-PS; Organization and Insignia of the Hitler Youth,
edited by Reich Youth Headquarters of NSDAP. (USA 675). Vol.
V, Pg. 361
*2973-PS; Statement by von Schirach concerning positions
held. (USA 14). Vol. V, Pg. 679
*3048-PS; Speech by von Schirach before European Youth
Congress in Vienna, published in Voelkischer Beobachter, 15
September 1942. (USA 274). Vol. V, Pg. 776
*3054-PS; “The Nazi Plan", script of a motion picture
composed of captured German film. (USA 167). Vol. V, Pg. 801
3301-PS; Law concerning construction of Administration in
Austria, 14 April 1939. 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p.
777. Vol. V, Pg.1093
*3302-PS; Affidavit of von Schirach, 4 December 1945,
concerning positions held. (USA 665). Vol. V, Pg. 1096
*3348-PS; Young Replacement Problems, published in Decrees,
Regulations, Announcements, Vol. I, pp. 298-9, 303. (USA
410). Vol. VI, Pg. 79
*3349-PS; Press and propaganda Office of Hitler Youth,
published in Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1936, pp.
45253. (USA 666). Vol. VI, Pg. 79
*3352-PS; Manpower, published in Decrees, Regulations,
Announcements, Vol. II, pp. 507-513, 567. (USA 26). Vol. VI,
Pg. 81
*3459-PS; Article on Meeting of Reich Group of Young Law
Guardians on 19 May 1939, from Congress of German Law, 1939.
(USA 670). Vol. VI, Pg. 159
*3464-PS; National Socialist Students League from
Organization Book of NSDAP, 1936 and 1937. (USA 666). Vol.
VI, Pg. 166
*3870-PS; Affidavit of Hans Marsalek, 8 April 1946,
concerning Mauthausen Concentration Camp and dying statement
of Franz Ziereis, the Commandant. (USA 797). Vol. VI, Pg.
790
*L-360-H; Agreement between the League for Germandom in
Foreign Countries and the Hitler Youth, 6 May 1933. (USA
671). Vol. VII, Pg. 1108
*R-146; Letter from Bormann to all Gauleiters, 20 March
1941, enclosing letter of Dr. Lammers to the Reich Minister
of the Interior, 14 March 1941. (USA 678). Vol. VIII, Pg.
250
*Chart No. 1; National Socialist German Workers' Party.
(2903-PS; USA 2). Vol. VIII, Pg. 770