17 Dec. 45
I believe the next portion has been quoted, too. I now
pass to the participation of the Leadership Corps in the suppression of
the Christian Church and persecution of the clergy and cite some
illustrative crimes.
The evidence relating to the systematic effort of the defendants and
co-conspirators to eliminate the Christian churches in Germany has been
previously introduced in U.S.A. Exhibit Book H by Major Wallis with
respect to the Nazi efforts to eliminate the Christian Church. The
evidence now to be presented is limited to proving and pointing out the
responsibility of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party and the members
thereof for illegal activities against the Christian Church and clergy.
The Defendant Bormann issued a secret decree to all Gauleiter entitled,
"Relationship of National Socialism and Christianity." And
that is Document D-75 — it is up toward the top, I believe, Your
Honor — Exhibit Number USA-348. In this decree Reichsleiter Bormann
flatly declares that National Socialism and Christianity are
incompatible and that the influence of the churches in Germany must be
eliminated. I quote from pertinent portions of this decree beginning
with the first paragraph thereof, top of Page 3, which reads as follows:
"National Socialist and Christian
concepts are irreconcilable ...
Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than the concepts of
Christianity which, in their essential points, have been taken over
from Jewry. For this reason, also, we do not need Christianity.... If,
therefore, in the future our youth learn nothing more of this
Christianity whose doctrines are far below ours, Christianity will
disappear by itself ... It follows from the irreconcilability of
National Socialist and Christian concepts that a strengthening of
existing confessions and every assistance to originating Christian
confessions is to be rejected by us. A differentiation between the
various Christian confessions is not to be made here. For this reason,
also, the thought of an erection of an Evangelical National Church by
merger of the various Evangelical churches has been definitely given
up, because the Evangelical Church is just as inimical to us as the
Catholic Church. Any strengthening of the Evangelical Church would
merely react against us ...
"For the first time in German history, the Führer
consciously and completely has the leadership of the people in his own
hand. With the Party, its components, and attached units, the Führer
has created for himself and thereby the German Reich Leadership, an
instrument which makes him independent of the Church. All influences
which might impair or damage