23 Nov. 45

the aims and program of the Nazis and to foster their active participation therein to the greatest extent possible. The nature of this propaganda is within the judicial purview of the Court. As Goebbels put it, it was aimed at "the conquest of the masses." Its intended effect was the elimination of all serious resistance in the masses To achieve this result, as will be shown later in the evidence, the Nazi conspirators were utterly unscrupulous in their choice of means, a total disregard of veracity that presented their case purely from the standpoint of political expediency and their conception of national self-interest. Inasmuch as propaganda was the means to an end, "the conquest of the masses," it required different strategy at different times, depending on the objectives issued and pursued by the Nazi conspirators at any given moment. According to Hitler: "the first task of propaganda is the gaining of people for the future organization."

The recruiting of people for enlistment in the Party and supervised organizations was the primary objective in the years preceding and immediately following the seizure of power. After the rise to power, this task was broadened to include the enlistment of the people as a whole for the active support of the regime and its policies. As the Reich Propaganda Leader of the Party and Reich Minister for Propaganda, Goebbels stated:

"Propaganda, the strongest weapon in the conquest of the State, remains the strongest weapon in the consolidation and building up of the State."

The methods which they used to control this strongest weapon in the power of the State are set forth in a chart which I would like to call to the Court's attention at this time, and would like to introduce in evidence as USA Exhibit Number 21.

As you will note from the chart, there were three separate levels of control within the German Reich. The first level was the Party controls, which are represented on the chart by the top block. And you will see that the Party through its Examining Commission controlled the books and magazines, and issued books and magazines setting forth the ideology of the Party.

The second block, the Press Leader Division, supervised all publishers, headed Party newspapers and book publishers.

The third block, Press Chief,--this office controlled the Press Political Office, the Press Personnel Office, and supervised Party treatment of the press and treatment of Party affairs in the press. The center block, the Office of Propaganda Leader, had under its control not only the press, but exhibits and fairs, speaker bureaus, films, radio, culture, and other means of expression and dissemination of the ideology of the Party and its purposes.