22 Nov. 45

Reich, with which office, furthermore, the office of President of the Reich was joined and merged after the death of President Von Hindenburg in 1934.

Take the Defendant Göring, the successor-designate of Hitler. As Führer of the SA, he sat in the Cabinet as Air Minister (Luftfahrtminister) and he also held many other important positions, including that of Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) and that of Delegate for the Four Year Plan.

Himmler, the notorious head of the SS, the Reichsführer SS, was also the chief of the German Police, reporting to the Defendant Frick. He himself later became Minister of the Interior after the attempted assassination of Hitler on June 20, 1944, which event also catapulted him into the position of Commander-in-Chief of the German Reserve Army.

Now, at the extreme upper left of the chart is a small box that is labeled "Reichstag" (the former German parliament).

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn for 10 minutes, and 10 minutes only.

[A recess was taken]

MR. ALBRECHT: The Reichstag presents an anomaly in this picture. Under the republic it had been the supreme law-making body of the Reich, subject only to a limited check by the Reichsrat (the Council of the Reich), by the President, and by the people themselves by way of initiative and referendum.

Putting their opposition to all forms of Parliamentarianism into effect at once, the Nazis proceeded to curtail the powers of the Reichstag, to eliminate the Reichsrat, and to merge the Presidency with the Office of Chancellor occupied by the Führer. By the Act of 24th of March 1933 the Cabinet was given unlimited legislative powers, including the right to deviate from the constitution. Subsequently, as I stated, the Reichsrat was abolished, and with that act the residuum of the power to legislate in the Reichstag was reduced to a minimum. I say the power was reduced to a minimum because the actual power to legislate was never taken away from the Reichstag, but certainly after the advent of the Party to power it was never permitted to exercise as a legislature.

The Reichsregierung retained its legislative powers throughout, even though from time to time other agencies of the Reichsregierung, such as the Plenipotentiary for Administration, in the upper right of the chart, (the Generalbevollmächtigter für die Reichsverwaltung), the Plenipotentiary for Economy, also in the right-hand corner of the chart, (the Generalbevollmächtigter für die Wirtschaft), and the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the