18 Dec. 45
is shown at the top immediately under Hitler — "
Supreme Commander of the Army, Colonel General Walther von Brauchitsch;
Supreme Commander of the Navy, Grand Admiral Dr. Raeder; Chief of the
Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, General of the Artillery Wilhelm
Keitel." It will be noted that every member was either a Reich
Minister or, as in the case of the Army, Navy, and OKW heads, had the
rank and authority of a Reich Minister.
On 30 August 1939 Hitler established the Council of Ministers for
Defense of the Reich, better known as the Ministerial Council —
coming down from the year 1939, the Ministerial Defense Council. This
was the so-called war cabinet. The decree appears in the 1939
Reichgesetzblatt Part I, at Page 1539. 1 now refer to Document 2018-PS
of the Laws and Decrees, and I quote Section Number 1:
"(1) A Ministerial Council for
Defense of the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council
as a standing committee;
"(2) The standing members of the Ministerial Council for Defense
of the Reich shall include:
"General Field Marshal Göring as chairman; the Führer's
Deputy" -the Defendant Hess — "the Plenipotentiary
General for Reich Administration" — who was the Defendant
Frick — "the Plenipotentiary General for Economy" —
the Defendant Funk — "the Reich Minister and Chief of the
Reich Chancellery" — Dr. Lammers — "the Chief of
the High Command of the Armed Forces" — who was the
Defendant Keitel.
"(3) The chairman may draw on any other members of the Reich
Defense Council as well as other personalities for advice."
Again it will be seen that all were also members of the ordinary
Cabinet. But this use of the Cabinet as a manpower reservoir from whom
the trusted collaborators were selected becomes particularly poignant
when we consider the actions of the Nazi conspirators which were not
published in the Reichsgesetzblatt, which were concealed from
the world, and which were part and parcel of their conspiracy to wage
aggressive war. It will have been noted that the decree setting up the
Ministerial Council contained this language, the one to which I have
just referred:
"A Ministerial Council for Defense of
the Reich shall be formed out of the Reich Defense Council as a
standing committee — also Subparagraph 3 of the same one — "The
chairman may draw on any other members ... " There is evidence
already before this Tribunal establishing the creation — by the
Cabinet — on 4 April 1933 of this really secret war- planning
body. I refer the Tribunal to Exhibit USA-24, which