23 Nov. 45
military training, special training was given in special
formations. These included flying units, naval units, motorized
units, signal units, et cetera.
The full details with the accompanying documents of the methods
used by the Nazi conspirators in reshaping the educational system and
supplementing it with the Hitler Jugend so as to educate the German
youth to be amenable to the Nazi will and prepare youth for war are
set forth in the document book which has been offered, and in the
accompanying briefs.
Now I would like to direct your attention to the weapon of
propaganda that was used during this period, and for this purpose I
offer United States Exhibit Number E with the accompanying brief.
This document book and the briefs which accompany it....
THE PRESIDENT: Have any copies of these documents been provided
for the Defense Counsel?
COL. STOREY: I understand, Sir, they have been sent to the
Defendants' Information Center. I may say, Sir, that with tomorrow we
will have them in advance to everybody, including the Court and the
Defense Counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: This document book and the accompanying brief is
entitled "Propaganda Censorship and Supervision of Cultural
Activities."
During this period one of the strongest weapons of the
conspirators was propaganda. From the outset they appreciated the
urgency of the task of inculcating the German masses with the
National Socialist principles and ideology. The early utterances of
Hitler and his fellow conspirators evidenced full recognition of the
fact that their power could endure only if it rested on general
acceptance of their political and social views.
Immediately following their accession to power, the Nazi
conspirators instituted a determined program for wholesale
organization of the masses by seizing control of all vehicles of
public expression. The wide-spread use of propaganda by the powerful
machine thus created became a key device in establishing control over
all phases of the German economy, public and private. They conceived
that the proper function of propaganda was to prepare the ground
psychologically for political action and military aggression and to
guarantee popular support of a system which was based on a permanent
and steadily intensified application of terror and aggression both in
the sphere of domestic politics and foreign relations.
To attain these objectives, propaganda was used to create
specific thought patterns designed to make the people amenable to