18 Dec. 45
succeed in a few months in establishing
peace with the churches for all time.'
"After this catastrophic ignorance, I gave up the conversation
...
"Dear Party Member Hess, the reading of Von Rabenau's pamphlet,
The Spirit and Soul of the Soldier, has reminded me again of
this. In this brochure Rabenau affirms as before the necessity of the
Church straightforwardly and clearly, even though he is shrewdly
careful. He writes on Page 28: 'There could be more examples; they
would suffice to show that a soldier in this world can scarcely get
along without thoughts about the next one.' Because Von Rabenau has a
false spiritual basis, I consider his activities as an educator in
spiritual affairs dangerous; and I am of the opinion that his
educational writings are to be dispensed with, by all means, and that
the publication section of the NSDAP can and must forgo these writings
...
"The churches with their Christianity constitute a danger
against which a struggle absolutely must be carried on."
That the Party Chancellery shared with the Gauleiter hostility to the
Christian Churches is further revealed by the Defendant Bormann's
instruction to the Defendant Rosenberg, set forth in Bormann's letter of
transmittal, that Rosenberg take action on the Gauleiter's
recommendation that the General's writings be suppressed.
I now offer in evidence Document 089-PS, Exhibit Number USA-360, which
is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, as Deputy of the Führer to
the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 8 March 1940, enclosing a copy of
Bormann's letter of the same date to Reichsleiter Amann. Amann was a
top-member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as
Reichsleiter for the Press and Leader of the Party publishing company.
In this letter to Amann Bormann expresses his dismay and dissatisfaction
that only 10 percent of the 3,000 Protestant periodicals in Germany have
ceased publication for what are described as "paper saving"
reasons. Bormann then advises Reichsleiter Amann that "the
allocation of any paper whatsoever for such periodicals is blocked."
I now refer to this Document 089-PS; and I quote the second paragraph
of Bormann's letter to Amann, which appears on the first page — the
second paragraph — of the English translation:
"I urge you to see to it, in any
re-allocation of paper to be considered later, that religious
writings, which according to experiences so far gathered, possess very
doubtful value for strengthening the power of resistance on the part
of the