those from the East, was accompanied by a widespread
violation of rules of land warfare. This evidence establishes that
the Leadership Corps down to the level of Kreisleiter was a
participant in this illegal treatment.
The machinery of the Leadership Corps was also utilized in
attempts made to deprive Allied airmen of the protection to which
they were entitled under the Geneva Convention. On 13 March 1940 a
directive of Hess transmitted instructions through the Leadership
Corps down to the Blockleiter for the guidance of the civilian
population in case of the landing of enemy planes or parachutists,
which stated that enemy parachutists were to be immediately arrested
or "made harmless". On 30 May 1944 Bormann sent a circular
letter to all Gau- and Kreisleiters reporting instances of lynchings
of Allied low-level fliers in which no police action was taken. It
was requested that Ortsgruppenleiters be informed orally of the
contents of this letter. This letter accompanied a propaganda drive
which had been instituted by Goebbels to induce such lynchings, and
clearly amounted to instructions to induce such lynchings or at least
to violate the Geneva Convention by withdrawing any police
protection. Some lynchings were carried out pursuant to this program,
but it does not appear that they were carried out throughout all of
Germany. Nevertheless, the existence of this circular letter shows
that the heads of the Leadership Corps were utilizing it for a
purpose which was patently illegal and which involved the use of the
machinery of the Leadership Corps at least through the
Ortsgruppenleiter.
Conclusion
The Leadership Corps was used for purposes which
were criminal under the Charter and involved the Germanization of
incorporated territory, the persecution of the Jews, the
administration of the slave labor program, and the mistreatment of
prisoners of war. The Defendants Bormann and Sauckel, who were
members of this organization, were among those who used it for these
purposes. The Gauleiters, the Kreisleiters, and the
Ortsgruppenleiters participated, to one degree or another, in these
criminal programs. The Reichsleitung as the staff organization of the
Party is also responsible for these criminal programs as well as the
heads of the various staff organizations of the Gauleiters and
Kreisleiters. The decision of the Tribunal on these staff
organizations includes only the Amtsleiters who were heads of offices
on the staffs of the Reichsleitung. Gauleitung, and Kreisleitung.
With respect to other staff officers and Party organizations attached
to the Leadership Corps other than the Amtsleiters referred to above,
the Tribunal will follow the suggestion of the Prosecution in
excluding them from the declaration.