21. Hans Fritzche
A. POSITIONS HELD BY FRITZSCHE IN THE NAZI STATE.
Fritzsche’s Party membership and his various positions in
the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State are shown in two
affidavits made by himself (2976-PS; 3469-PS). Fritzsche
became a member of the Nazi Party on 1 May 1933, and
continued to be a member until Germany’s collapse in 1945.
Fritzsche began his service with the staff of the Reich
Ministry for People’s Enlightenment and Propaganda
(hereinafter referred to as the Propaganda Ministry on 1 May
1933, he remained within the Propaganda Ministry until the
Nazi downfall in the spring of 1945.
Before the Nazis seized political power in Germany, and
beginning in September 1932, Fritzsche was head of the
Wireless News Service (Drahtloser Dienst), an agency of the
Reich Government, which at that time was the government of
von Papen. After the Wireless News Service was incorporated
into Dr. Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry in May 1933,
Fritzsche continued as its head until 1938. Upon entering
the Propaganda Ministry in May 1933, Fritzsche also became
head of the news section of the Press Division of the
Propaganda Ministry. He continued in this position until
1937. In the summer of 1938 Fritzsche was appointed deputy
to Alfred Ingemar Berndt, who was then head of the German
Press Division. (The German Press Division, in the Indict-
ment, is called the “Home Press Division.” Since “German
Press Division” seems to be a more literal translation, it
is referred to as the German Press Division throughout this
section. It is sometimes otherwise known as the Domestic
Press Division.) This Division, as will be later shown, was
the major section of the Press Division of the Reich
In December 1938 Fritzsche succeeded Berndt as the head of
the German Press Division. Between 1938 and November 1942,
Fritzsche was promoted three times. He advanced in title
from Superior Government Counsel to Ministerial Counsel,
then to Ministerialdirigent, and finally to
Mnisterialdirektor.
In November 1942 Fritzsche was relieved of his position as
head of the German Press Division by Dr. Goebbels. In its
place he accepted from Dr. Goebbels a newly created position
in the Propaganda Ministry, that of Plenipotentiary for the
Political Organization of the Greater German Radio. At the
same time he also became head of the Radio Division of the
Propaganda Ministry. He held both these positions in radio
until the Nazi- downfall.
There are two allegations in the Indictment concerning
Fritzsche’s positions for which no proof is available. The
first unsupported-allegation states that Fritzsche was
Editor-in-Chief of the official German News Agency, Deutsche
Nachrichten Buero. The second unsupported allegation states
that Fritzsche was head of the Radio Division of the
Propaganda Department of the Nazi Party. Fritzsche, in his
affidavit, denies having held either of these positions, and
these two allegations must fall for want of other proof.
B. FRITZSCHE’s PART IN THE CONSPIRACY TO CONSOLIDATE NAZI
CONTROL OVER GERMANY AND TO LAUNCH WARS OF AGGRESSION.
In one of his affidavits (8469-PS), which contains numerous
statements in the nature of self-serving declarations,
Fritzsche state. that he first became a successful
journalist in the service of the Hugenberg Press, the most
important chain of newspaper enterprises in pre-Nazi
Germany. The Hugenberg concern owned papers of its own, but
it was important primarily because it served newspaper which
principally supported the so-called “national” parties of
the Reich, including the NSDAP.
In paragraph 5 of this affidavit (3469-PS), Fritzsche
relates that in September 1932, when von Papen was Reich
Chancellor, he was made head of the Wireless News Service,
replacing an of-
[Page 1036]
ficial who was politically unbearable to the Papen regime.
The Wireless News Service was a government agency for
spreading news by radio. Fritzsche began making radio
broadcasts at about this time, with a success which Goebbels
recognized and later exploited on behalf of the Nazi
conspirators.
On the evening of the day when the Nazis seized power, the
30 January 1933, two emissaries from Goebbels visited
Fritzsche. One of them was Dressler-Andrees, head of the
Radio Division of the NSDAP; the other was an assistant of
Dressler-Andrees named Sadila-Mantau. These two emissaries
notified Fritzsche that although Goebbels was angry with
Fritzsche for writing an article critical of Hitler, still
Goebbels recognized Fritzsche’s public success on the radio.
They stated further that Goebbels desired to retain
Fritzsche as head of the Wireless News Service on certain
conditions: (1) that Fritzsche discharge all Jews; (2 that
he discharge all other personnel who would not join the
NSDAP; (3) that he employ with the Wireless News Service the
second Goebbels' emissary, Sadila-Mantau. Fritzsche refused
all these conditions except the hiring of Sadila-Mantau.
(3469-PS)
Fritzsche continued to make radio broadcasts during this
period in which he supported the national National Socialist
coalition government then still existing.
In early 1933 SA troops several times called at the Wireless
News Service and Fritzsche prevented them, with some
difficulty, from making news broadcasts.
In April 1933 Goebbels called Fritzsche to him for a
personal audience. At paragraph 9 of his affidavit (3469-PS)
Fritzsche has described his prior relationship with Dr.
Goebbels:
“I was acquainted with Dr. Goebbels since 1928.
Apparently he had taken a liking to me, besides the
fact that in my press activities I had always treated
the National Socialists in a friendly way until 1931.
Already before 1933, Goebbels, who was the editor of
the 'Attack' ["Der Angriff"] a Nazi newspaper, had
frequently made flattering remarks about the form and
content of my work, which I did as contributor of many
'National' newspapers and periodicals, among which were
also reactionary papers and periodicals.” (3469-PS)
(1) Establishment of complete Nazi control over press and
radio. At the first Goebbels-Fritzsche discussion in early
April 1933, Goebbels informed Fritzsche of his decision to
place the Wireless News Service within the Propaganda
Ministry as of 1 May 1933. He suggested that Fritzsche make
certain rearrangements in the personnel so as to remove Jews
and other
[Page 1038]
persons who did not support the NSDAP. Fritzsche debated
with Goebbels concerning some of these steps. During this
period Fritzsche made some effort to place Jews in other
jobs.
In a second conference with Goebbels shortly thereafter,
Fritzsche informed Goebbels about the steps he had taken in
reorganizing the Wireless News Service. Goebbels thereupon
informed Fritzsche that he would like to have him reorganize
and modernize the entire news services of Germany within the
controls of the Propaganda Ministry. On 17 March 1933,
approximately two months before this time, the Propaganda
Ministry had been created by decree. (2029-PS) Fritzsche was
intrigued by the Gobbles. offer. He proceeded to conclude
the Goebbels inspired reorganization of the Wireless-News
Service and, on 1 May 1933, together with the remaining
members of his staff, he joined the Propaganda Ministry. On
this same day he joined the NSDAP and took the customary
oath of unconditional loyalty to the Fuehrer (3469-PS).
From this time on, whatever reservations Fritzsche may have
had, either then or later, to the course of events under the
Nazis, Fritzsche was completely within the Nazi camp. For
the next 13 years he assisted in creating and in using the
propaganda devices which the conspirators successfully
employed in each of the principal phases of the
From 1933 until 1942 Fritzsche held one or more positions
within the German Press Division. For four years, from 1938
to 1942 the period when the Nazis undertook military
invasions of neighboring countries — he headed this
Division. By virtue of its functions, the German Press
Division became an important and unique instrument of the
Nazi conspirators, not only in dominating the minds and
psychology of Germans, but also as an instrument of foreign
policy and psychological warfare against other nations.
Thus, the already broad jurisdiction of the Propaganda
Ministry was extended as follows by a Hitler decree of 30
June 1933:
“The Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and
Propaganda has jurisdiction over the whole field of
spiritual indoctrination of the nation, of
propagandizing the State, of cultural and economic
propaganda, of enlightenment of the public at home and
abroad. Furthermore, he is in charge of the
administration of all institutions serving those
purposes.” (2030-PS)
An exposition of the general functions of the German Press
Division of the Propaganda Ministry is contained in an
excerpt from a book by George Wilhelm Mueller, a Ministerial
Director
[Page 1039]
in the Propaganda Ministry. (2434-PS) Paragraphs 14, 15 and
16 of Fritzsche’s affidavit contain an exposition of the
functions of the German Press Division, a description which
confirms and adds to the exposition in Mueller’s book.
Concerning the German Press Division, Fritzsche’s affidavit
(3469-PS) states:
“During the whole period from 1933 to 1945 it was the
task of the German Press Division to supervise the
entire domestic press and to provide it with directives
by which this division became an efficient instrument
in the hands of the German State leadership. More than
2,300 German daily newspapers were subject to this
control. The aim of this supervision and control, in
the first years following 1933, was to change basically
the conditions existing in the press before the seizure
of power. That meant the coordination into the New
Order of those newspapers and periodicals which were in
the service of capitalistic special interests or party
politics. While the administrative functions, wherever
possible, were exercised by the professional
associations and the Reich Press Chamber, the political
leadership of the German press was entrusted to the
German Press Division. The head of the German Press
Division held daily press conferences in the Ministry
for the representatives of all German newspapers.
Hereby all instructions were given to the
representatives of the press. These instructions were
transmitted daily, almost without exception, and mostly
by telephone, from headquarters by Dr. Otto Dietrich,
Reich Press Chief, in a fixed statement, the so-called
'Daily Parole of the Reich Press Chief.' Before the
statement was fixed the head of the German Press
Division submitted to him — Dietrich — the current
press wishes expressed by Dr. Goebbels and by other
Ministries. This was the case especially with the
wishes of the Foreign Office, about which Dr. Dietrich
always wanted to make decisions personally or through
his representatives at the headquarters, Helmut
Suendermann and chief editor Lorenz. The practical use
of the general directions in detail was thus left
entirely to the individual work of the individual
editor. Therefore, it is by no means true that the
newspapers and periodicals were a monopoly of the
German Press Division or that essays and leading
articles through it had to be submitted to the
Ministry. Even in war times this happened in
exceptional cases only. The less important newspapers
and periodicals which were not represented at the daily
press conferences received their information in a
different way — by providing them
[Page 1040]
either with ready-made articles and reports, or with a
confidential printed instruction. The publications of
all other official agencies were directed and
coordinated likewise by the German Press Division. To
enable the periodicals to get acquainted with the daily
political problems of newspapers and to discuss these
problems in greater detail, the
Informationskorrepondenz was issued especially for
periodicals. Later on it was taken over by the
Periodical Press Division. The German Press Division
likewise was in charge of pictorial reporting in so far
as it directed the employment of pictorial reporters at
important events. In this way, and conditioned by the
current political situation, the entire German Press
was made a permanent instrument of the Propaganda
Ministry by the German Press Division. Thereby, the
entire German Press was subordinate to the political
aims of the Government. This was exemplified by the
timely measuring and the emphatic presentation of such
press polemics as appeared to be most useful, as shown
for instance in the following themes: the class
struggle of the system era; the leadership principle
and the authoritarian state; the party and interest
politics of the system era; the Jewish problem; the
conspiracy of World Jewry; the Bolshevistic danger; the
plutocratic Democracy abroad; the race problem
generally; the church; the economic misery abroad; the
foreign policy; and living space [lebensraum].”
This description of Fritzsche’s establishes clearly that the
German Press Division was the instrument for subordinating
the entire German press to the political aims of the Nazi
Government.
Fritzsche’s early activities within the German Press
Division on behalf of the conspirators are described in his
affidavit (3469-PS). In a conference with Goebbels the
following occurred:
“At this time Dr. Goebbels suggested to me, as a
specialist on news technique, the establishment and
direction of a section 'News,' within the Press
Division of his Ministry, in order to organize fully
and to modernize the German news agencies. In executing
this assignment given to me by Dr. Goebbels I took for
my field the entire news field for the German Press and
the radio in accordance with the directions given by
the Propaganda Ministry, at first with the exception of
the DNB, German News Agency.” (3469-PS)
The reason why the DNB was excepted from Fritzsche’s field
at this time is that it did not come into existence until
1934.
Later on in his affidavit Fritzsche mentions the sizeable
funds
[Page 1041]
put at his disposal in building up the Nazi news services.
Altogether, the German news agencies received a ten-fold
increase in their budget from the Reich, an increase from
400,000 to 4,000,000 marks. Fritzsche himself selected and
employed the Chief Editor for the Transocean News Agency and
also for the Europa Press. Fritzsche states that some of the
“*** directions of the Propaganda Ministry which I had
to follow were *** increase of German news copy abroad
at any cost *** spreading of favorable news on the
internal construction and peaceful intentions of the
National Socialistic System. ***”
About the summer of 1934 Funk, then Reich Press Chief,
achieved the fusion of the two most important domestic news
agencies, the Wolff Telegraph Agency and the Telegraph
Union, and thus formed the official German news agency known
as DNB. Although Fritzsche held no position with DNB at any
time, nevertheless as head of the news section of the German
Press Division, Fritzsche’s duties gave him official
jurisdiction over the DNB, which was the official domestic
news agency of the Reich after 1934. Fritzsche admits that
he coordinated the work of the various foreign news agencies
“within the inland Europe and overseas foreign
countries with each other and in relationship to DNB”
(3469-PS).
The Wireless News Service was headed by Fritzsche from 1930
to 1937. After January 1933 the Wireless News Service was
the official instrument of the Nazi government in spreading
news over the radio. During the same time that Fritzsche
headed the Wireless News Service, he personally made radio
broadcasts to the German people. These broadcasts were
naturally subject to the controls of the Propaganda Ministry
and reflected its purposes. The influence of Fritzsche's
broadcasts to the German people, during this period of
consolidation of control by the Nazi conspirators, is all
the more important since Fritzsche was concurrently head of
the Wireless News Service, and thus in control of all radio
news.
(2) Use of propaganda to prepare the way for aggressions,
The use made by the Nazi conspirators of psychological
warfare is well known. Before each major aggression, with
some few exceptions based on expediency, they initiated a
press campaign calculated to weaken their victims and to
prepare the German people psychologically for the attack.
They used the press, after their earlier conquests, as a
means for further influencing for-
[Page 1042]
eign politics and in maneuvering for the net following
aggression.
By the time of the occupation of the Sudetenland on 1
October 1938, Fritzsche had become deputy head of the entire
German Press Division. Fritzsche states that the role of
German propaganda before the Munich Agreement on the
Sudetenland was directed by his immediate chief, Berndt,
head of the German Press Division. Fritzsche describes
Berndt’s propaganda as follows:
“He exaggerated minor events very strongly, used
sometimes old episodes as new — and there even came
complaints from the Sudetenland itself that much of the
news reported by the German press was untrustworthy. As
a matter of fact, after the great foreign political
success at Munich in September 1938, there came a
noticeable crisis in confidence of the German people in
the trustworthiness of its press. This was one reason
for the recalling of Berndt, in December 1938 after the
conclusion of the Sudeten action and for my appointment
as head of the German Press Division. Beyond this,
Berndt, by-his admittedly successful but still
primitive military-like orders to the German Press, had
lost the confidence of the German editors.” (469-PS)
Fritzsche was accordingly made head of the German Press
Division in place of Berndt. Between December 1938 and 1942,
Fritzsche, as head of the German Press Division, personally
gave to the representatives of the principal German
newspapers the “daily parole of the Reich Press Chief.”
During this period he was the principal conspirator directly-
concerned with the manipulations of the press.
The first important foreign aggression after Fritzsche
became head of the German Press Division was the
incorporation of Bohemia and Moravia. Fritzsche describes
the propaganda action surrounding the incorporation of
Bohemia and Moravia as follows:
“The action for the incorporation of Bohemia and
Moravia, which took place on 15 March 1939, while I was
head of the German Press Division, was not prepared for
such a long period as the Sudeten action. According to
my memory, it was in February that I received the order
from the Reich Press Chief, Dr. Dietrich, which was
repeated as a request by the envoy Paul Schmidt of the
Foreign Office, to bring the attention of the press to
the efforts for independence of Slovakia and to the
continued anti-German coalition politics of the Prague
government. I did this. The daily
[Page 1043]
paroles of the Reich Press Chief and the press
conference minutes at that time show the wording of the
corresponding instructions. These were the typical
headlines of leading newspapers and the emphatic
leading articles of the German daily press at that
time: (1) the terrorizing of Germans within the Czech
territory by arrest, shooting of Germans by the state
police, destruction and damaging of German homes by
Czech gangsters; (2) the concentration of Czech forces
on the Sudeten frontier; (3) the kidnaping, deporting,
and persecuting of Slovakian minorities by the Czechs;
that the Czechs must get out of Slovakia; (4) secret
meetings of Red functionaries in Prague. Some few days
before the visit of Hacha, I received the instruction
to publish in the press very emphatically the incoming
news on the unrest in Czechoslovakia. Such information
I received only partly from the German News Agency,
DNB. Mostly it came from the Press Division of the
Foreign Office and some of it came from big newspapers
with their own news services. Among the newspapers
offering information was above all the 'Voelkischer
Beobachter' which, as I learned later on, received its
information from the SS Standartenfuehrer Gunter
D'Alquen. He was at this time in Pressburg. I had
forbidden all news agencies and newspapers to issue
news on unrest in Czechoslovakia before I had seen it.
I wanted to avoid a repetition of the very annoying
results of the Sudeten action propaganda, and I did not
want to suffer a loss of prestige caused by untrue
news. Thus, all news checked by me was admittedly full
of tendency [voller Tendenz] however, not invented.
After the visit of Hacha in Berlin and after the
beginning of the invasion of the German Army, which
took place on 15 March 1939, the German press had
enough material for describing those events.
Historically and politically the event was justified
with the indication that the declaration of
independence of Slovakia had required an interference
and that Hacha with his signature had avoided a war and
had reinstated a thousand-year union between Bohemia
and the Reich.” (3469-PS)
The propaganda campaign of the press preceding the invasion
of Poland on 1 September 1939 bears again the handiwork of
Fritzsche and his German Press Division. Fritzsche speaks of
the conspirators' treatment of this episode as follows:
“Very complicated and changing was the press and
propagandistic treatment in the case of Poland. Under
the influence of the German-Polish agreement, it was
generally
[Page 1044]
forbidden in the German press for many years to publish
anything on the situation of the German minority in
Poland. This remained also the case when in the Spring
of 1939 the German press was asked to become somewhat
more active as to the problem of Danzig. Also, when the
first Polish-English conversations took place, and when
the German press was instructed to use a sharper tone
against Poland, the question of the German minority
still remained in the background. But during the summer
this problem was picked up again and created
immediately a noticeable sharpening of the situation,
namely, each larger German newspaper had for quite some
time an abundance of material on complaints of the
Germans in Poland without the editors having had a
chance to use this material. The German papers, from
the time of the minority discussion at Geneva, still
had correspondents of free collaborators in Kattewitz,
Bromberg, Posen, Thorn, etc. Their material now came
forth with a bound. Concerning this the leading German
newspapers, upon the basis of directions given out in
the so-called 'daily parole' brought out the following
publicity with great emphasis: (1) cruelty and terror
against Germans and the extermination of Germans in
Poland; (2) forced labor of thousands of German men and
women in Poland; (3) Poland, land of servitude and
disorder; the desertion of Polish soldiers; the
increased inflation in Poland; (4) provocation of
frontier clashes upon direction of the Polish
Government; the Polish lust to conquer; (5) persecution
of Czechs and Ukrainians by Poland. The Polish Press
replied particularly sharply.” (3469-PS)
The press campaign preceding the invasion of Yugoslavia
followed the conventional pattern. The customary
definitions, lies, incitement, and threats, and the usual
attempt to divide and weaken the victim, are contained in
Fritzsche’s description of this propaganda action:
“During the period immediately preceding the invasion
of Yugoslavia, on 16 April 1941, the German press
emphasized by headlines and leading articles the
following topics: (1) the planned persecution of
Germans in Yugoslavia, including the burning down of
German villages by Serbian soldiers; also the confining
of Germans in concentration camps and also the physical
mishandling of German-speaking persons; (2) the arming
of Serbian bandits by the Serbian Government; (3) the
incitement of Yugoslavia by the plutocrats against
Germany; (4) the increasing anti-
[Page 1045]
Serbian feeling in Croatia; (5) the chaotic economic
and social conditions in Yugoslavia.”
Since Germany had a non-aggression pact with the Soviet
Union, and because the conspirators wanted the advantage of
surprise, there was no special propaganda campaign
immediately preceding the attack on the USSR. Fritzsche's
affidavit discusses the propaganda line which was given the
German people in justification of this aggressive war:
“During the night from the 21st to the 22nd of June
1941 [21 June 1941-22 June 1941], Ribbentrop called me
in for a conference in the Foreign Office building at
about 5 o'clock in the morning, at which
representatives of the domestic and foreign press were
present. Ribbentrop informed us that the war against
the Soviet Union would start that same day and asked
the German press to present the war against the Soviet
Union as a preventative war for the defense of the
Fatherland, as a war which was forced upon us through
the immediate danger of an attack of the Soviet Union
against Germany. The claim that this was a preventative
war was later repeated by the newspapers which received
their instructions from me during the usual daily
parole of the Reich Press Chief. I, myself, have also
given this presentation of the cause of the war in my
regular broadcasts.” (3469-PS)
Fritzsche, throughout his affidavit, constantly refers to
his expert technical assistance to the apparatus of the
Propaganda Ministry. In 1939, apparently becoming
dissatisfied with the efficiency of the existing facilities
of the German Press Division, he established a new
instrument for improving the effectiveness of Nazi
propaganda:
“About the summer of 1939 I established within the
German Press Division a section called 'Speed-Service.'
*** At the start it had the task of checking the
correctness of news from foreign countries. Later on,
about the Fall of 1939, this section also elaborated on
collecting materials which were put at the disposal of
the entire German press. For instance, dates from the
British Colonial policy, from political statements of
the British Prime Minister in former times,
descriptions of social distress in hostile countries,
etc. Almost all German newspapers used such material as
a basis for their polemics. Hereby was achieved a great
unification within the fighting front of the German
press. The title 'Speed Service' was chosen because
materials for current comments were supplied with
unusual speed.” (3469-PS)
Throughout this entire period preceding and including the
[Page 1046]
launching of aggressive wars, Fritzsche made regular radio
broadcasts to the German people under the program titles of
"Political Newspaper Review,” “Political and Radio Show,”
and later “Hans Fritzsche Speaks.” His broadcasts naturally
reflected the polemics and the controls of his Ministry and
thus of the conspiracy. Fritzsche, the most eminent member
of Goebbels propaganda team, helped substantially in making
possible, both within Germany and without, the conspirators'
plans for aggressive war.
[Page 1035]
C. FRITZSCHE’s USE OF PROPAGANDA TO FURTHER THE CONSPIRACY
TO COMMIT ATROCITIES AND EXPLOIT OCCUPIED TERRITORIES.
Fritzsche incited atrocities and encouraged a ruthless
occupation policy. The results of propaganda as a weapon of
the Nazi conspirators reaches into every aspect of this
conspiracy, including the atrocities and ruthless
exploitation in occupied countries. It is likely that many
ordinary Germans would never have participated in or
tolerated the atrocities committed throughout Europe, had
they not been conditioned and goaded by the constant Nazi
propaganda. The callousness and zeal of the people who
actually committed the atrocities was in large part due to
the constant and corrosive propaganda of Fritzsche and his
official associates.
(1) Persecution of the Jews. With respect to Jews, the
Department of Propaganda within the Propaganda Ministry had
a special branch for the “Enlightenment of the German people
and of the world as to the Jewish question, fighting with
propagandistic weapons against enemies of the State and
hostile ideologies.” This quotation is taken from a book
written in 1940 by Ministerial Director Mueller, entitled
"The Propaganda Ministry.” (2434-PS)
In his radio broadcasts Fritzsche took a particularly active
part in this “enlightenment” concerning the Jewish question.
These broadcasts were full of provocative libels against
Jews, the result of which was to inflame Germans to further
atrocities against Jews. Even Streicher, the master Jew-
baiter of all time, could scarcely outdo Fritzsche in some
of his anti-Jewish incitements. Broadcasts by Fritzsche
which were monitored and translated by the British
Broadcasting Corporation are quite revealing (3064-PS).
These radio speeches of Fritzsche were broadcast during the
period 1941-1945, which was a period of intensified anti-
Jewish measures.
[Page 1047]
For instance, in a broadcast on 18 December 1941, Fritzsche
declared:
“The fate of Jewry in Europe has turned out as
unpleasant as the Fuehrer predicted in the case of a
European war. After the extension of the war instigated
by Jews, this unpleasant fate may-also spread to the
New World, for you can hardly assume that the nations
of this New World will pardon the Jews for the misery
of which the nations of the Old World did not absolve
them.” (3064-PS)
On 18 March 1941 Fritzsche broadcast as follows:
“But the crown of all wrongly-applied Rooseveltian
logics is the sentence 'There never was a race and
there never will be a race which can serve the rest of
mankind as a master.' Here too we can only applaud Mr.
Roosevelt. Precisely because there exists no race which
can be the master. of the rest of mankind, we Germans
have taken the liberty to break the domination of Jewry
and of its capital in Germany, of Jewry which believed
to have inherited the Crown of secret world
domination.” (3064-PS)
On 9 October 1941 Fritzsche declared over the radio:
“We know very well that these German victories,
unparalleled in history, have not yet stopped the
source of hatred, which, for a long time, has fed the
war mongers and from which this war originated. The
international Jewish-Democratic Bolshevistic campaign
of incitement against Germany still finds cover in this
or that fox’s lair or rat-hole. We have seen only too
frequently how the defeats suffered by the war mongers
only doubled their senseless and impotent fury.” (3064-
PS)
And on 8 January 1944 Fritzsche broadcast the following:
“It is revealed clearly once more that not a system of
Government, not a young nationalism, not a new and well
applied Socialism brought about this war. The guilty
ones are exclusively the Jews and the Plutocrats. If
discussion on the post-war problems brings this to
light so clearly, we welcome it as a contribution for
later discussions and also as a contribution to the
fight we are waging now, for we refuse to believe that
world history will confide its future developments to
those powers which have brought about this war. This
clique of Jews and Plutocrats have invested their money
in armaments and they had to see to it that they would
get their interests and sinking funds; hence they
unleashed this war (3064-PS)
[Page 1048]
Finally, in a broadcast on 13 January 1945, Fritzsche
stated:
“If Jewry provided a link between divergent elements as
Plutocracy and Bolshevism and if Jewry was first able
to work successfully in the Democratic countries in
preparing this war against Germany, it has by now
placed itself unreservedly on the side of Bolshevism
which, with its entirely mistaken slogans of racial
freedom against racial hatred, has created the very
conditions the Jewish race requires in its struggle for
domination over other races.”
“Not the last result of German resistance on the
fronts, so unexpected to the enemy, is the fruition of
a development which began in the pre-war years, the
process of subordinating British policy to far-reaching
Jewish points of view. It began long before this when
Jewish emigrants from Germany started their war-
mongering against us from British and American soil.”
“This whole attempt aiming at the establishment of
Jewish world domination, now increasingly recognizable,
has come to a head at the very moment when the people's
understanding of their racial origins has been far too
much awakened to promise success to the undertaking.”
(3064-PS)
All this was designed not only as a justification of prior
anti-Jewish actions, but also as an invitation to further
persecution of the
(2) Ruthless treatment of peoples of the USSR. Fritzsche
also incited and encouraged ruthless measures against the
peoples of the USSR.
In his regular broadcasts Fritzsche’s incitement against the
peoples of the USSR were often linked to, and were certainly
as inflammatory as, his rantings against the Jews. It is
ironic that his propaganda ascribing atrocities to the
peoples of the USSR are accurate descriptions of some of the
many atrocities committed by the German invaders. Shortly
after the invasion of the USSR in June 1941 Fritzsche
broadcast as follows:
“The evidence of letters reaching us from the front, of
P. K. [Propaganda Kompanie]- reporters and soldiers on
leave demonstrates that, in this struggle in the East,
not one political system is pitted against another, not
one view of life is fighting another, but that culture,
civilization, and human decency make a stand against
the diabolical principle of a sub-human world.”
[Page 1049]
“It was only the Fuehrer’s decision to strike in time
that saved our homeland from the fate of being overrun
by those sub-human creatures, and our men, women, and
children from the unspeakable horror of being their
prey.” (3064-PS) In his broadcast on 10 July 1941
Fritzsche spoke of the alleged inhuman deeds committed
in various areas by the Soviet Union, and he states
that upon seeing the evidence of those deeds one is “
*** finally to make the holy resolve to give his aid in
he final destruction of those who are capable of such
dastardly acts.”
*******
“The Bolshevist agitators make no effort to deny that
in towns, thousands, in the villages, hundreds, of
corpses of men, women and children have been found, who
had been either killed or tortured to death. Yet the
Bolshevik agitators allege that this was not done by
Soviet Commissars but by German soldiers. Now we
Germans know our soldiers. No German woman, father, or
mother requires proof that their husband or their son
cannot have committed such atrocious acts.” (3064-PS)
Evidence to be offered by the Soviet prosecuting staff will
prove that representatives of the Nazi conspirators did not
hesitate to exterminate Soviet soldiers and civilians by
scientific mass methods. The incitements by Fritzsche make
him an accomplice in these crimes. His labeling of the
Soviet peoples as members of a “sub-human world” seeking to
"exterminate” the German people, and similar talk, helped
fashion the psychological atmosphere of unreason and hatred
which not only made possible these atrocities in the East,
but made them appear a holy duty.
(3 Exploitation of occupied territories. Fritzsche
encouraged and glorified the policy of the Nazi conspirators
in ruthlessly exploiting the occupied countries. In his
radio broadcast of 9 October 1941 he stated:
“Today we can only say: Blitzkrieg or no — this German
thunderstorm has cleansed the atmosphere of Europe. It
is quite true that the dangers threatening us were
eliminated one after the other with lightning speed;
but in these lightning blows which shattered England's
allies on the Continent, we saw not a proof of the
weakness, but a proof of the strength and superiority
of the Fuehrer’s gift as a statesman and military
leader; a proof of the German peoples' force; we saw
the proof that no opponent can stand up to the courage,
discipline, and readiness for sacrifice displayed
[Page 1050]
by the German soldier; and we are particularly grateful
for these lightning, unmatched victories, because as
the Fuehrer emphasized last Friday — they give us the
possibility of embarking on the organization of Europe
and of lifting of the treasures of this old continent,
already now in the middle of war, without it being
necessary for millions and millions of German soldiers
to be on guard, fighting day and night along this or
that threatened frontier; and the possibilities of this
continent are so rich that they suffice for any need of
peace or war.” (3064-PS)
In his affidavit, Fritzsche admits having encouraged the
exploitation of foreign countries:
“The utilization of the productive capacity of the
occupied countries for the strengthening of the war
potential, I have openly and gloriously praised,
chiefly because the competent authorities put at my
disposal much material, especially on the voluntary
placement of manpower.” (3469-PS)
(4) Control of German radio. In addition to continuing as
the head of the German Press Division until after the
conspirators had begun the last of their aggression,
Fritzsche was also the high commander of the entire German
radio system. In November 1942 Goebbels created a new
position, that of Plenipotentiary for the Political
Organization of the Greater German Radio, a position which
Fritzsche was the first and the last to hold. In his
affidavit, Fritzsche narrates how the entire German Radio
and Television System was organized under his supervision:
“My office practically represented the high command of
German radio.” (3469-PS)
As special Plenipotentiary for the Political Organization of
the Greater German Radio, Fritzsche issued orders to all the
Reich propaganda offices by teletype. These were used in
conforming the entire radio apparatus of Germany to the
desires of the conspirators.
Goebbels customarily held an eleven o'clock conference with
his closest collaborators within the Propaganda Ministry.
When both Goebbels and his undersecretary, Dr. Naumann, were
absent, Goebbels, after 1943, entrusted Fritzsche with the
holding of this eleven o'clock press conference.
In Goebbels' introduction to a book by Fritzsche, called
"War to the War Mongers,” he took occasion to praise
Fritzsche’s broadcasts in this fashion:
“Nobody knows better than I how much work is involved
in those broadcasts, how many times they were dictated
within
[Page 1051]
the last minutes to find some minutes later a willing
ear by the whole nation.”
It is clear from Goebbels himself that the entire German
nation was prepared to lend willing ears to Fritzsche, after
he had made his reputation on the radio.
The rumor passed that Fritzsche was “His Master’s Voice”
(Die Stimme seines Herren). This is borne out by Fritzsche's
functions. When Fritzsche spoke on the radio it was plain to
the German people that they were listening to the high
command of the conspirators in this field.
D. CONCLUSION.
Fritzsche was not the type of conspirator who signed
decrees, or who sat in the inner councils planning the
overall grand strategy. The function of propaganda is, for
the most part, apart from the field of such planning. The
function of a propaganda agency is somewhat more analogous
to an advertising agency or public relations department, the
job of which is to sell the product and to win the market
for the enterprise in question. Here the enterprise was the
Nazi conspiracy. In a conspiracy which depends upon fraud as
a means, the salesmen of the conspiratorial group are quite
as essential and culpable as the master planners, even
though he may not have contributed substantially to the
formulation of all the basic strategy, but rather
concentrated on making the execution of this strategy
possible. In this case, propaganda was a weapon of
tremendous importance to this conspiracy. Furthermore, the
leading propagandists were major accomplices in this
conspiracy, and Fritzsche was one of them.
When Fritzsche entered the Propaganda Ministry, which has
been called the most fabulous “lie factory” of all time, and
thus attached himself to the conspiracy, he did so with more
of an open mind than most of the conspirators who had
committed themselves at an earlier date, before the seizure
of power. He was in a particularly strategic position to
observe the frauds committed upon the German people and the
world by the conspirators.
In 1933, before Fritzsche took his Party oath of
unconditional obedience and subservience to the Fuehrer, he
had observed at first hand the operations of the storm
troopers and the execution of Nazi race actions. When,
notwithstanding, Fritzsche undertook to bring all German
news agencies within Nazi control, he learned from the
inside, indeed from Goebbels himself, the intrigue and lies
against opposition groups within and without Germany.
[Page 1052]
He observed, for example, how opposition journalists, a
profession to which he had previously belonged, were either
absorbed or eliminated. He continued to support the
conspiracy. He learned from day to day the art of intrigue
and quackery in the process of perverting the German nation,
and he grew in prestige and influence as he practiced this
Fritzsche learned a lesson from his predecessor, Berndt, who
fell from the leadership of the German Press Division partly
because he over-played his hand by blunt and excessive
manipulation of the Sudetenland propaganda. Fritzsche
stepped into the gap caused by the loss of confidence of
both the editors and the German people, and did his job with
more skill and subtlety. His shrewdness and ability to be
more assuring and “to find,” as Goebbels said, “willing ears
of the whole nation,” — these things made him the more
useful accomplice of the conspirators.
Nazi Germany and its press went into war with Fritzsche in
control of all German news, whether by press or radio.: In
1942, when Fritzsche transferred from the field of the press
to radio, he was not removed for bungling, but because
Goebbels then needed his talents most in the field of radio.
Fritzsche is not in the dock as a free journalist but as a
propagandist who helped substantially to tighten the Nazi
stranglehold over the German people, who made the excesses
of the conspirators palatable to the German people, who
goaded the German nation to fury and crime against people
they were told by him were subhuman.
Without the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State, the
world would not have suffered the catastrophe of these
years, and it is because of Fritzsche’s role in behalf of
the Nazi conspirators, and their deceitful and barbarous
practices, that he is called to account before the
International Military Tribunal.
(See also Section 9 of Chapter VII on Propaganda,
Censorship, and Supervision of Cultural Activities.)
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. 26,68
[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.]
2029-PS; Decree establishing the Reich Ministry of Public
Enlightenment and Propaganda, 13 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 104. Vol. IV, Pg. 652
2030-PS; Decree concerning the Duties of the Reich Ministry
for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, 30 June 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 449. Vol. IV, Pg. 653
*2434-PS; The Reich Ministry for Enlightenment of the
People and for Propaganda, Berlin 1940, by Georg Mueller.
(USA 722). Vol. V, Pg. 102
*2976-PS; Affidavit of Fritzsche, 19 November 1945,
concerning positions held. (USA 20). Vol. V, Pg. 682
*3064-PS; Official British Broadcasting Corporation
translation of radio speeches of Fritzsche. (USA 723). Vol.
V, Pg. 877
*3255-PS; Ministerial Director Hans Fritzsche — Leader of
Radio, published in Radio Archives, Vol. 15, November 1942,
pp. 473-474. (USA 724). Vol. V, Pg. 992
*3469-PS; Affidavit of Hans Fritzsche, 7 January 1946. (USA
721). Vol. VI, Pg. 174
*Chart No. 1; National Socialist German Worker' Party.
(2903-PS; USA 2). Vol. VIII, Pg. 770
