3. Each subleader is bound to unconditional obedience to his immediate superior and to the Fuehrer. As Hitler said,

"We have in our movement developed this loyalty' in following the leader, this blind obedience of which all the others know nothing and which gave to us the power to surmount everything." (2771-PS)

The duty of obedience is so fundamental that it is incorporated as the second of the NSDAP commandments for party members:

"Never go against discipline!" (2771-PS) As Ley said:

"Our conscience is clearly and exactly defined. Only what Adolf Hitler, our Fuehrer, commands, allows, or does not allow is our conscience." (2771-PS) The obedience required was not the loyalty of a soldier to the Fatherland, as was the case prior to the Nazi regime. On the contrary, the obedience exacted was unconditional and absolute, regardless of the legality or illegality of the order. The oath taken by political leaders (Politische Leiter) yearly was as follows:

"I pledge eternal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. I pledge unconditional obedience to him and the Fuehrers appointed by him." (1893-PS)

4. Each subleader is absolute in his own sphere of jurisdiction. The Nazi Party Organization Book lays down the same principle with respect to the successive tiers of its leaders:

*

"The Fuehrer Principle represented by the Party im-
poses complete responsibility on all party leaders for
their respective spheres of activity
The
responsibility for all tasks within a major sphere of
jurisdiction rests with the respective leader of the
NSDAP: i.e., with the Fuehrer for the territory of
the Reich, the Gauleiter for the territory of the Gau,
the district leader for the territory of the district, the
local leader for the territory of the local group, etc.
"The Party leader has responsibility for the entire
territory under his jurisdiction on the one hand, and
on the other hand, his own political fields of activity
appertaining thereto.

"This responsibility for the complete or partial per-
formance of task entails a relationship of subordina-

tion of the leaders among themselves, corresponding to the fuehrer principle." (2771-PS)

(3) Glorification of War as a noble and necessary activity of Germans. The Nazi conspirators disseminated dogmas designed to engender in the masses a deep reverence for the vocation of the warrior and to induce acceptance of the postulate that the waging of war was good and desirable per se. The motive underlying the concerted program of the Nazis to glorify war was disclosed by Hitler in Mein Kampf:

"Thus the question of how to regain German power is not: How shall we manufacture arms?, but: How do we create the spirit which enables a nation to bear arms? If this spirit governs a people, the will finds thousands of ways, each of which ends with a weapon!"

66* * *

Oppressed countries are led back into the lap of a common Reich by a mighty sword and not by flaming protests. It is the task of the inner political leaders of a people to forge this sword; to safeguard the work of the smith and to seek comrades in arms in the task of the foreign policy." (2760-A-PS)

Hitler's writings and public utterances are full of declarations rationalizing the use of force and glorifying war. The following are typical:

"Always before God and the world, the stronger has the
right to carry through his will. History proves it: He who
has no might, has no use for might. (2405-PS)
"The political testament of the German People for its foreign
policy should and must always follow this line of thought:
Never tolerate the rise of two continental powers in Europe.
See in every attempt to organize a second military power,
* * * an attack against Germany and take therefrom
not only the right but the duty to prevent by all means, in-
cluding the use of arms, the rise of such a state, respectively
to destroy such a state if it has already arisen. Take care
that the strength of our people should have its foundation
not in colonies but in the soil of the home country in Europe.
Never consider the Reich as secured as long as it cannot give
to every descendant of our people his own bit of soil for
centuries to come; never forget that the most sacred right
on this earth is the right to own the soil which one wants to
cultivate and the most sacred sacrifice, the blood which is
shed for this soil." (2760-A-PS)

(4) The leadership of the Nazi Party.

(a) The Nazi Party leadership was the sole bearer of the doctrines of the Nazi Party. The Party Organization Book declares:

"The Party as an instrument of ideological education, must grow to be the Leader Corps (Fuehrer Korps) of the German Nation.

"This Leader Corps is responsible for the complete penetration of the German Nation with the National Socialist spirit

*" (1893-PS)

"The Party is the order of fuehrers. It is furthermore responsible for the spiritual ideological National Socialist direction of the German people." (1814-PS)

Referring to the mission of the Ortsgruppenleiter (local chapter leader) of the NSDAP, the Party Organization Book states: "As Hoeheitstraeger (bearer of sovereignty) all expressions of the party will emanate from him; he is responsible for the political and ideological leadership and organization within his zone of sovereignty." (1893-PS)

Similar statements are made with regard to the Kreisleiter (county leader) and the Gauleiter (Gau leader) and the Reich Directorate (1893-PS).

(b) The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to control and dominate the German state and all related institutions and all individuals therein. Hitler said at the 1935 Nurnberg Party Congress:

"It is not the State which gives orders to us, it is we who. give orders to the State." (2775-PS)

Frick declared in a similar vein:

"In National Socialist Germany, leadership is in the hands of an organized community, the National Socialist Party; and as the latter represents the will of the nation, the policy adopted by it in harmony with the vital interests of the nation is at the same time the policy adopted by the country. *" (2771-PS)

Goebbels declared:

"The Party must always continue to represent the hierarchy of National Socialist leadership. This minority must always insist upon its prerogative to control the state. It

is responsible for the leadership of the state and it solemnly relieves the people of this responsibility." (2771-PS)

Hess remarked that the Party was a "necessity" in the German state and constituted the cohesive mechanism with which to "or

ganize and direct offensively and defensively the spiritual and political strength of the people." (2426-PS)

Nazi interpreters of constitutional law expressed the same idea: "The NSDAP is not a structure which stands under direct state control, to which single tasks of public administration are entrusted by the state, but it holds and maintains its claim to totality as the 'bearer of the German state-idea' in all fields relating to the community-regardless of how various single functions are divided between the organization of the Party and the organization of the State." (2771-PS) This doctrine was incorporated into laws which established the NSDAP as "the only political party in Germany" and declared the NSDAP "The bearer of the German state idea" and "indissolubly linked to the state." (1388-A-PS; 1395-PS)

(c) The Nazi Party leadership was entitled to destroy all opponents. Reference is made generally to Sections 2 and 3 on the Acquisition and Consolidation of Political Control of Germany for proof of this allegation.

C

LEGAL REFERENCES AND LIST OF DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO COMMON OBJECTIVES, METHODS,
AND DOCTRINES OF THE CONSPIRACY