Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 4, p. 99
		18 Dec. 45 Afternoon Session COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the persons who held these posts in the ordinary Cabinet varied between the years 1933 and 1945. Although it is not incumbent upon us to prove who they were, since the group and not the individuals are under consideration, nevertheless their names are already before this Tribunal in the original governmental chart, Exhibit Number USA-3. Since it will be of interest to the Tribunal to see what persons — and 17 of them are defendants here — held what positions in the Cabinet, a table has been prepared which lists all the departments and posts I have mentioned and the incumbents thereof during the years 1933 to 1945. The German equivalents of the titles are also shown; and with the permission of the Tribunal, I will now distribute this table to the members of the Tribunal. Copies have likewise been filed in the defendants' Information Center. The table also is annotated with citations to sources verifying the facts shown — all of which, however, were of common knowledge during the period in question. Diverting from the text: This is simply prepared for the convenience of the Tribunal in connection with the studying of the briefs and the documents. As I said at the outset, the proof will show that there was only an artificial distinction between the ordinary Cabinet, the Secret Cabinet Council, and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich. This is evidenced in the first instance by the unity of personnel between the three subdivisions. Thus, on 4 February 1938 Hitler created the Secret Cabinet Council. If Your Honors will refer to this big chart, you will notice under 1938 there is a red line pointing down to the Secret Cabinet Council created during that year. This decree appears in the 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, at Page 112. It is in our document book, Document 2031-PS, and I should like to quote from this document. It begins with the opening paragraph, Document 2031-PS, under the Laws and Decrees Section. I quote: "To advise me in directing the foreign policy I am setting up a Secret Cabinet Council. As President of the Secret Cabinet Council I nominate: "Reich Minister Baron von Neurath. As members of the Secret Cabinet Council I nominate: "Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop; Prussian Minister President, Reich Minister of the Air, Supreme Commander of the Air Forces, General Field Marshal Hermann Göring the Führer's Deputy, Reich Minister Rudolf Hess; Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, Dr. Joseph Goebbels; Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers;" — that 99
		Text: English     International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 4, p. 99     Last modified: January 2, 1999 Copyright © 1998 The Mazal Library and The Holocaust History Project. All rights reserved. Technical/administrative contact: webmaster@holocaust-history.org Find a typo? Let us know.