The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.4). International Military Tribunal

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      “ ‘Dear Gauleiter, the Party is making mistake after mistake in the treatment of the churches. Obtain for me the necessary powers from the Führer and I guarantee that I shall succeed in a few months in establishing peace with the churches for all time.’

      “After this catastrophic ignorance, I gave up the conversation. . . .

      “Dear Party Member Hess, the reading of Von Rabenau’s pamphlet, The Spirit and Soul of the Soldier, has reminded me again of this. In this brochure Rabenau affirms as before the necessity of the Church straightforwardly and clearly, even though he is shrewdly careful. He writes on Page 28: ‘There could be more examples; they would suffice to show that a soldier in this world can scarcely get along without thoughts about the next one.’ Because Von Rabenau has a false spiritual basis, I consider his activities as an educator in spiritual affairs dangerous; and I am of the opinion that his educational writings are to be dispensed with, by all means, and that the publication section of the NSDAP can and must forgo these writings . . .

      “The churches with their Christianity constitute a danger against which a struggle absolutely must be carried on.”

      That the Party Chancellery shared with the Gauleiter hostility to the Christian Churches is further revealed by the Defendant Bormann’s instruction to the Defendant Rosenberg, set forth in Bormann’s letter of transmittal, that Rosenberg take action on the Gauleiter’s recommendation that the General’s writings be suppressed.

      I now offer in evidence Document 089-PS, Exhibit Number USA-360, which is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, as Deputy of the Führer, to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 8 March 1940, enclosing a copy of Bormann’s letter of the same date to Reichsleiter Amann. Amann was a top-member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Reichsleiter for the Press and Leader of the Party publishing company. In this letter to Amann Bormann expresses his dismay and dissatisfaction that only 10 percent of the 3,000 Protestant periodicals in Germany have ceased publication for what are described as “paper saving” reasons. Bormann then advises Reichsleiter Amann that “the allocation of any paper whatsoever for such periodicals is blocked.”

      I now refer to this Document 089-PS; and I quote the second paragraph of Bormann’s letter to Amann, which appears on the first page—the second paragraph—of the English translation:

      “I urge you to see to it, in any re-allocation of paper to be considered later, that religious writings, which according to experiences so far gathered, possess very doubtful value for strengthening the power of resistance on the part of the people toward the external foe, receive still sharper restrictions in favor of literature politically and ideologically more valuable.”

      I next offer in evidence Document 101-PS, Exhibit Number USA-361, which is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, again to Reichsleiter Rosenberg, dated the 17th January 1940, expressing the Party’s opposition to the circulation of religious literature to the members of the German Armed Forces. Among the soldiers of the United Nations the proposition that there are no atheists in the foxholes received a wide and reverent acceptation. However, in this document there is a contrary meaning, and I quote from Page 1 of the English translation, which reads:

      “Nearly all the districts”—that is Gaue—“report to me regularly that the churches of both confessions are as active as ever in ministering spiritually to members of the Armed Forces. This finds expression especially in the fact that soldiers are being sent religious publications by the pastors of their home parishes. These publications are, in part, very well written. I have repeated reports that these publications are being read by the troops and thereby exercise a certain influence on their morale.

      “I have at that time sought, by contacting at once the General Field Marshal, the High Command of the Armed Forces, and Party Member Reichsleiter Amann, to restrict considerably the production and shipment of publications of this type. The result of these efforts remained unsatisfactory. As Reichsleiter Amann has repeatedly informed me, the restriction of these pamphlets by means of the paper rationing cannot be achieved because the paper used for the pamphlets is being purchased on the open market. . . .

      “If the influencing of the soldiers by the Church is to be effectively combatted, this will be accomplished only by producing many good publications in the shortest possible time under the supervision of the Party. . . .

      “Also, at the last meeting of the Deputy Gauleiter comments were made on this matter to the effect that such publications are not available in sufficient quantities. . . .

      “I maintain that it is necessary that in the very near future we transmit to the Party Service Offices, down to the Ortsgruppenleiter, a list of additional publications of this sort which should be sent to our soldiers by the Ortsgruppen. . . .”

      The Leadership Corps also participated in measures leading to the closing and dissolution of theological schools and other religious institutions. I now offer in evidence Document Number 122-PS, Exhibit Number USA-362, which, again, is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as the Führer’s Representative for the Supervision of Spiritual and Ideological Schooling and Education of the NSDAP. This letter is dated 17 April 1939 and transmits to Rosenberg an enclosed photostatic copy of a plan suggested by the Reich Minister for Science, Education, and Popular Culture for the combining and closing of certain specially listed theological faculties. In his letter of transmittal the Defendant Bormann requested Reichsleiter Rosenberg to take cognizance and prompt action with respect to proposed suppression of religious institutions. I now quote from the next to the last paragraph on Page 2 of the English translation, in which the plan to suppress the religious institutions is summarized, and which reads:

      “To recapitulate, this plan would mean, in addition to the closing of the theological faculties at Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Munich, which has already taken place, and the contemplated transfer of the faculty of Graz to Vienna, the elimination of four Catholic theological faculties:

      “a) The abolition of three more Catholic theological faculties or higher schools and of four evangelical theological faculties in the winter semester 1939-1940;

      “b) the abolition of one more Catholic and of three more evangelical theological faculties in the near future.”

      From the foregoing evidence the inference is irresistible that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party shares a responsibility for the measures taken to subvert the Christian Churches and persecute the Christian clergy, both in Germany and in German-occupied territories of Europe. The evidence just offered, together with that previously presented by the Prosecution, demonstrates that there was a general participation by the Leadership Corps, ranging from the Reichsleiter to the Gauleiter, adhered to by the rank and file, in the deliberate program undertaken to undermine Christian religion. We stress the significance of the appointment of the Defendant Rosenberg, whose anti-Christian views are open and notorious, as the Führer’s “delegate” or “representative” for the whole spiritual and philosophical education of the Nazi Party. It was precisely this position which gave Rosenberg his seat in the Reichsleitung (the general staff of the Party), comprising all the Reichsleiter. But emphasis is placed, not merely upon the fact that anti-Christs such as the Defendants Bormann and Rosenberg held directive positions within the Leadership Corps, but upon the further fact that their directives and orders were passed down the chain of command of the Leadership Corps and caused the participation of its membership in acts subversive to the Christian Church.

      In Document Number D-75, which I believe has been introduced previously—and I am just going to quote one line from it—the Defendant Bormann stated, “Nazism and Christianity are irreconcilable concepts.” The defendant was never more right, but he erred grievously by his prophecy СКАЧАТЬ