21 Nov. 45
possession of the machinery of the German State. The first
effort, accordingly, was to subvert the Weimar Republic by violent
revolution. An abortive putsch at Munich in 1923 landed many of them
in jail. A period of meditation which followed produced Mein Kampf,
henceforth the source of law for the Party workers and a source of
considerable revenue to its supreme leader. The Nazi plans for the
violent overthrow of the feeble Republic then turned to plans for its
capture.
No greater mistake could be made than to think of the Nazi Party
in terms of the loose organizations which we of the western world
call 'political parties". In discipline, structure, and method
the Nazi Party was not adapted to the democratic process of
persuasion. It was an instrument of conspiracy and of coercion. The
Party was not organized to take over power in the German State by
winning support of a majority of the German people; it was organized
to seize power in defiance of the will of the people.
The Nazi Party, under the "Führerprinzip," was
bound by an iron discipline into a pyramid, with the Führer,
Adolf Hitler, at the top and broadening into a numerous Leadership
Corps, composed of overlords of a very extensive Party membership at
the base. By no means all of those who may have supported the
movement in one way or another were actual Party members. The
membership took the Party oath which in effect amounted to an
abdication of personal intelligence and moral responsibility. This
was the oath: "I vow inviolable fidelity to Adolf Hitler; I vow
absolute obedience to him and to the leaders he designates for
me." The membership in daily practice followed its leaders with
an idolatry and self-surrender more Oriental than Western.
We will not be obliged to guess as to the motives or goal of the
Nazi Party. The immediate aim was to undermine the Weimar Republic.
The order to all Party members to work to that end was given in a
letter from Hitler of August 24, 1931 to Rosenberg, of which we will
produce the original. Hitler wrote:
"I am just reading in the
Völkischer Beobachter, edition 235/236, page 1, an
article entitled "Does Wirth Intend To Come over?" The
tendency of the article is to prevent on our part a crumbling away
from the present form of government. I myself am travelling all over
Germany to achieve exactly the opposite. May I therefore ask that my
own paper will not stab me in the back with tactically unwise
articles. . ." (047-PS)
Captured film enables us to present the Defendant Alfred
Rosenberg, who from the screen will himself tell you the story. The
SA practiced violent interference with elections. We have the reports