23 Nov. 45
and through other channels to be passed on to the Combined
Services Intelligence.
Finally, the third paragraph states that: "On our part we
undertook to supply information to the Combined Services Ministry . .
. as required."
I have concluded reading from that document, and I pass now to
discuss the conspirators' program, which proceeded, as I have said so
many times here today, with amazing--really amazing speed. The
production of steel, for example, as shown in official German
publications, rose as follows:
In the year of 1933, 74,000 tons were produced; in 1934, 105,000
tons; 1935, 145,000 tons; 1936, 186,000 tons; 1937, 217,000 tons; and
in 1938, 477,000 tons. The production of gasoline increased at even a
greater tempo: from 370,000 tons in 1934 to 1,494,000 tons in 1938.
The Nazi conspirators pressed the completion of the armament
program with a sense of urgency which clearly indicated their
awareness of the imminence of war. At a 4th of September meeting in
1936 Göring pointed out that "all measures have to be taken
just as if we were actually in the state of imminent danger of
war." He pointed out that ``if war should break out tomorrow we
would be forced to take measures from which we might. . . shy away at
the present moment. They are therefore to be taken." The extreme
urgency was manifested by Göring's remark that "Existing
reserves will have to be touched for the purpose of carrying us over
this difficulty until the goal ordered by the Führer has been
reached . . . in case of war," he added, "they are not a
reliable backing in any case."
By a letter marked "Top Secret", on the 21 of August of
1936, the Defendant Schacht was advised that Hitler had ordered that
all formations of the Air Force be ready by April 1 of 1937. This
served to accentuate the urgent sense of immediacy that had pervaded
the Nazi war economy from the outset. Flushed with their successes in
the Rhineland, the Nazi conspirators were laying the groundwork for
further aggressive action.
THE PRESIDENT: Insofar as I understand you, you
have not referred us to any document since Document 167.
MR. DODD: No, Your Honor, the figures on the production of steel
and of oil are from the statistical year book for the German Reich of
1939 and 1940 and the statistical year book for the German Reich of
1941 and '42--that is, with respect to the steel figures. And the
figures which I quoted with respect to the production of gasoline are
from the statistical year book for the German Reich in 1941 and 1942.
The statements of the Defendant Göring are based upon the
document marked EC-416, in the document book.