A. I don't remember this exactly but it is possible that it originated with the Reich Press Chamber. Q. Anything is possible. What do you recall about it? A. I remember that the Reich Press Chamber required all publishers to sign a declaration which said that as a publisher of a German newspaper he was affirming the National Socialist State and this declaration could not be given by publishers of the Catholic newspapers because they had the point of view, and quite rightly from their position, that they could not affirm certain National Socialist measures, like sterilizations for instance, and so these publishers could not sign required declarations. Q. Now, isn't it a fact that shortly after the Party came into power, that papers of a political left, that is Communist and Marxist papers, were suppressed immediately? A. Yes, they were closed down by the police. Q. Isn't it a further fact that shortly after the Party came into power, that papers of other political parties, that is non-Marxist or non-Communist, but also non-Party, were with some exceptions left undisturbed until suitable legislation had been drafted to deal with them? A. I assume that is correct but the Marxist papers were suppressed immediately. Q. Wouldn't it be a fair statement to say that the whole purpose of the Nazi press program was to eliminate all press in opposition to the Party? A. Yes, that can be said. Q. Do you recall another decree on the 24th of April 1935, which prohibited the formation of press combines, that is, no publisher was allowed to issue more than one independent newspaper in more than one locality?* A. That is possible. We talked about it already. Q. Do you recall issuing that decree? A. This decree was published, after months of negotiations, by the Propaganda Minister. Q. Isn't it a fact, as a result of this decree, that many publishers were required to sell one or more of their newspapers? A. If the decree stated things as I was told yesterday, but I am still not certain whether the decree contained that phrase. Q. The record will show exactly the phraseology of the decree. There is no question about it. My question is whether or not it did not compel certain publishers to sell to you one or more of their newspapers? I do not mean that the decree required the sale be made to you, but you were the ultimate purchaser. *See document 2315-PS, vol. IV, p. 1007. A. He could sell to anybody as long as this person was politically reliable. Q. And so, it was just by coincidence you happened to be the purchaser, is that it? A. Most probably the main reason was that during this revolutionary and confused period, very few had the courage to start a newspaper venture without having previous experience. Q. We have already discussed the decree of 24 April 1935, with reference to the "scandal press." Now, isn't it a fact that this decree was used or could be used against any newspaper that was not covered by the other two decrees that we have discussed? A. That decree against scandal sheets was a very clear matter. The person in question either must have had a criminal record or there must have been an investigation already pending against him on a criminal case. Q. But, the fact of the matter is, a newspaper could be threatened with this decree, is that not so? A. I for myself would never have used any threat because I did not need any more newspapers. Q. What about your assistant, Dr. Winkler? Was he above using such threats? A. He also knew exactly my position that I was not eager to buy additional newspapers. Q. But you bought them? A. I only bought newspapers which were offered voluntarily but later on there was a certain pressure on me by the Gauleiters to buy newspapers and those Gauleiters were quite powerful people and they would tell me to buy certain newspapers. Q. Speaking of Gauleiters, did you ever form a newspaper holding company, by the name of Phoenix? A. Yes, that is right. Q. Do you recall the original capital of this financial outfit? A. Well, the matter about the Phoenix Holding Company was the following. In order to secure for myself the benevolence of the quite dangerous Gauleiters, who always said that the Eher Publishing Company was making money through the Gau newspapers, I founded a separate holding company, the Standarte, and I could always tell the Gauleiters that the profits were put into this holding company and did not reach the Eher Publishing House but were used to increase the business of the Gau newspapers. There was another difference. Into the Phoenix Holding Company, or as we called it, Dachgesellschaft, we took former Catholic newspapers mainly. There was another holding company, I don't recall the name, into which former German national newspapers were absorbed, which Hugenberg could not continue. The last one which continued to exist was the Standarte, and another was the Herold Publishing Company. The purpose of these holding companies was to have a more rigid control of the administration of the newspapers. Q. Now, as I understand your statement, it is to the effect that the Phoenix Company was the device by which various newspapers were acquired, is that right? A. No. It was a matter of form so as to make it easier to recognize the previous tendency of the newspaper. If it was a former Center newspaper, and so forth, then it would belong to the Phoenix. If it had another direction formerly it would belong to another holding company. Q. In other words, it was used for the acquisition of newspapers, was it not? A. Yes. That is true. But it was not actually the Phoenix Holding Company which acquired newspapers because whatever capital might have been there belonged finally to the Eher Publishing House. Q. Isn't it true that within less than one year this Phoenix Company acquired 365 newspapers of all types and kinds? A. I don't believe that it was that much. Q. How many would you say? A. Perhaps 60 to 80 and that, I think, is a very high estimate. Q. Well, how many did the Eher Publishing House acquire in the space of a year, taking the best year of its operations? A. I cannot say so; I am very weak in figures. Q. You had substantially completed your acquisition of newspapers by 1938, had you not? A. I had substantially completed acquisition of newspapers as early as 1936 or 1937. Q. The party had three hundred newspapers in 1933, and between 1,200 and 1,500 by 1941, and you told me you didn't start acquisition of newspapers until 1935 and now you tell me you completed it in 1937. That means that you had acquired between 800 and 1,100 newspapers in the space of two years. A. I don't remember the figures anymore. But our administrative office has clear statistics on that. Q. Would you say the computation I just gave you is incorrect? A. The Phoenix figure you gave is much too high. Q. I am talking about the other figure. A. In my estimate it seems to be correct. Q. Would you consider it a fair statement to say that under the decrees, to which we have referred this morning, and the other things to which we have referred, that newspapers were faced with the alternatives of either being ruined and closed down with no compensation received for the properties or of selling out at the price fixed by your representative? A. I would have objected strongly if anybody would have worked with such a threat. Q. I am not speaking of that particularly, but I am speaking of the situation where these newspapers were considered politically undesirable or considered scandal sheets or whatever other reasons there were for closing them down. Those are the situations I am referring to. Isn't it a fact in those situations the publishers were faced with the alternative of having their properties closed down, without any compensation being received, or accepting the price that was offered by your representative? A. I never bought former scandal sheets. Q. Now, answer my question. A. He could look for a person who was nationally or politically reliable and try to get the price from him. Q. You don't seriously contend there was any competitive bidding for these newspapers, do you? A. Unfortunately there was no competitive bidding. I would have preferred it because with every new newspaper I had additional work. Q. And yet, you were the only bidder for most of these papers, isn't that right? A. I gave a specific order to my agents to look for sons or relatives who could continue the business. Q. Well, my question still remains that when these newspapers were sold you were the only bidder, isn't that right? A. Well, as nobody else was available I was the only bidder. Q. Yes. That is what you told me before. I do not see why you were so reluctant to tell me this time. A. I only wanted to make my point of view clear, that I always followed a fair price policy in the purchases. Excerpts from Testimony of Gottlieb Berger, taken at The Fate of Red Cross Parcels for War Prisoners Q. Will you tell us the circumstances under which you were ordered on or about the first of October 1944, to take charge of prisoners of war affairs under the Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler? A. On the 29th of September 1944, I was ordered to the general headquarters in East Prussia. This surprised me, for the last time I had been there on the 19th of September Himmler explained to me that he had taken charge of the administration of the POW's, and that he would put me in charge of this activity. On that evening of the 29th I had to go with him to see Hitler in order to be introduced to him. I asked him then why I should be selected for this task as I did not feel qualified for the job of a guardian of prisoners, and he told me that it was essential that the prisoner of war organization be kept separate from the concentration camps and that no confusion be permitted to take place. He did not want to go into detail as he did not have a clear picture himself at that time, and he said he would have to discuss it with Field Marshal Keitel. Q. Then what happened? A. And so that evening I went over to Hitler's place. Himmler came along and, finally, sometime between midnight and one in the morning I was received by Hitler, who immediately began by reprimanding me because he had been under the impression that I had been in charge of this administration for some time. Q. What did he say, and what did you say? A. Hitler was then suffering from the effects of the attempt against his life. He was in poor physical condition, could hardly get up by himself, pus was coming out of his right ear, and he was extremely irritable. I could not possibly repeat now the exact wording of the conversation that took place. Q. State it in substance. A. As I said, he was extremely irritable. He said that scandalous *Gottlieb Berger was Chief of Central Office of SS; SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of Waffen-SS; Inspector-General of Prisoners of War; Head of Policy Division of Reich Ministry for Eastern Territories. See also Document 3723-PS, vol. VI, p. 460. |