18 Dec. 45
and 2194-PS, respectively. Document EC-177, which is
Exhibit USA-390, is a long copy of the minutes; and I beg the indulgence
of the Tribunal for referring to it again. It is EC-177 ...
THE PRESIDENT: Is it in this book?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, EC-177. Your Honors, I didn't intend to quote
from that. I am simply referring to it as being the minutes of the
second session of the working committee of the delegates for Reich
defense and being signed by the Defendant Keitel.
Document 2261-PS consists of a letter dated the 24th of June 1935. That
transmits a copy of a secret, unpublished defense law of 21 May 1935 and
also a copy of a decision of the Reich Cabinet of the same date, in the
Council for Defense of the Reich. These have been previously introduced,
but they are illustrative laws passed by this Cabinet.
Document 2194-PS also transmits a copy of the secret, unpublished Reich
Defense Law, 4 September 1938.
I will skip down to the laws passed by the Reich Defense Council, on
Page 50, for the record.
The Reich Defense Council was a creation of the Cabinet. On 4 April
1933 it was decided to form that agency. The decision of the Cabinet
attached to Document 2261-PS, which is Exhibit USA-24, Page 4 of the
translation, Paragraph 1, proves that fact. The two secret laws
contained in Document 2261-PS, as well as 2194-PS, were passed by the
Cabinet; nor was this a case of one group setting up an entirely
distinct group to do its dirty work. The Cabinet put itself into the
picture. This might have been a difficult task to accomplish before the
Nazis assumed power, but with the Nazis in control, things could move
swiftly; and I now refer again to Document EC-177, but I will not
undertake to quote from that, although the quotation is set out here.
There is only one point in that connection which would not be
cumulative. It is Page 5 of the translation and Page 8 of the original
of EC-177, on the question of security and secrecy, that I think would
be pertinent to the criminal nature. I quote:
"The question has been brought up by
the Reich Ministries. The secrecy of all Reich defense work has to be
maintained very carefully. Communications with the outside, by
messenger service only, has been settled already with the Ministry of
Posts, Ministry of Finance, Prussian Ministry of the Interior, and the
Reichswehr Ministry. Main principle of security: no document must be
lost, since otherwise enemy propaganda would make use of it. Matters
communicated orally cannot be proved; they can be denied by us in
Geneva. Therefore the Reichswehr Ministry has worked out security