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 art.

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 sub-human.

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.)

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO HANS FRITZSCHE

Decree establishing the Reich Min-
istry of Public Enlightenment and
Propaganda, 13 March 1933. 1933
Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 104... IV
Decree concerning the Duties of
the Reich Ministry for Public En-
lightenment and Propaganda, 30
June 1933. 1933 Reichsgesetzblatt,
Part I, p. 449.....

IV
The Reich Ministry for Enlighten-
ment of the People and for Propa-

653 Document

Description

Vol.

Page

102

*2976-PS

682

*3064-PS

877

*3255-PS

ganda, Berlin 1940, by Georg
Mueller. (USA 722).

V
Affidavit of Fritzsche, 19 Novem-
ber 1945, concerning positions held.
(USA 20).....

V
Official British Broadcasting Cor-
poration translation of radio
speeches of Fritzsche. (USA 723). V
Ministerial Director Hans Fritz-
sche - Leader of Radio, published
in Radio Archives, Vol. 15, No-
vember 1942, pp. 473–474. (USA
724).

V
Affidavit of Hans Fritzsche, 7
January 1946. (USA 721).... VI
National Socialist German
Workers' Party. (2903-PS;
USA 2)....

VIII

992

*3469-PS

174

*Chart No. 1

770 BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

1. PRINCIPAL OFFICIALS OF THE REICH GOVERNMENT

LEADER AND REICH CHANCELLOR (Fuehrer und Reichskanzler)

ADOLPH HITLER Designated Successors

HERMANN GOERING, RU

DOLF HESS (until 1941) Successor named to form a Goy

ernment after the collapse in
May 1945

KARL DOENITZ
Head of Presidential Chancery

(Praesidialkanzlei) and State
Minister (Staatsminister) OTTO MEISSNER

REICH CABINET (Reichsregierung)

Chancellor (Reichskanzler) ADOLF HITLER
Vice-Chancellor

FRANZ von PAPEN (until

1934)
Reich Ministers:
Reich Chancery

HANS LAMMERS
Air ....

HERMANN GOERING
Armaments and War Produc-
tion

ALBERT SPEER (predeces

sor, Todt, Minister for Armaments and Munitions

until 1942) Church Affairs

HERMAN MUHS, Acting

(predecessor, Hans Kerrl) Economics

WALTER FUNK (predeces

sors, Schacht, Schmitt, Hu

genberg)
Education

BERNARD RUST
Finance

LUTZ GRAF SCHWERIN von

KROSIGK
Food and Agriculture

HERBERT BACKE, Acting

(predecessor, Walter Darre) Foreign Affairs

JOACHIM von RIBBENTROP

(predecessor, Constantin von

Neurath)
Interior

HEINRICH HIMMLER (pred

ecessor, Wilhelm Frick)

Justice

OTTO THIERACK (predeces.

sor, Schlegelberger-acting,

Guertner) Labor

FRANZ SELDTE Labor Service .......

... KONSTANTIN HIERL Occupied Eastern Territories ALFRED ROSENBERG Posts ...

WILHELM OHNESORGE

(predecessor, von Eltz-Rue

benach) Propaganda

PAUL JOSEF GOEBBELS Transport

JULIUS DORPMUELLER

(predecessor, Eltz von Rue

benach) War

WERNER von BLOMBERG

(until 1938) Ministers without Portfolio but with Rank of Reich Minister KEITEL (predecessor, von

Brauchitsch until December

1941) DOENITZ (predecessor, Rae

der)
BORMANN (predecessor,

Hess)
HANS FRANK
SEYSS-INQUART (predeces-

sor, Roehm, until 1934)
Ministers after loss of port-
folio .....

FRICK
von NEURATH

SCHACHT
State Ministers acting as Reich Ministers:
Head of the Presidential
Chancery

.... MEISSNER
State Minister for Bohemia-
Moravia

KARL HERMANN FRANK Other Participants in Cabinet Meetings: Chief of Foreign Organization of Party

... ERNST WILHELM BOHLE Prussian Minister of State and Finance

DR. JOHANNES POPITZ Government Press Chief ...... OTTO DIETRICH (predeces

sor, Walter Funk) Reich Youth Leader

ARTHUR AXMANN (pred

ecessor, Baldur von
Schirach)