18 Dec. 45
directives for the Reich Ministries and the Prussian
Ministry of the Interior." I will skip the next reference. I
believe I will skip over to the affidavit of Defendant Frick, on Page
60.
THE PRESIDENT: What is that?
COL. STOREY: It is, if Your Honor pleases, Document 2986-PS. It is
Exhibit USA-409. It is the original affidavit, signed by the Defendant
Frick. I believe Defendant Frick sums up pretty well how the work was
carried on.
"I, Wilhelm Frick, being first duly
sworn, depose and say:
"I was Plenipotentiary General for the Reich Administration from
the time when this office was created until 20 August 1943. Heinrich
Himmler was my deputy in this capacity. Before the outbreak of the war
my task as Plenipotentiary General for Reich Administration was the
preparation of organization in the event of war, such as, for
instance, the appointment of liaison men in the different ministries
who would keep in touch with me. As Plenipotentiary General for Reich
Administration I, together with the Plenipotentiary General for
Economy and the OKW, formed a so-called 'Three-Man College.' We were
also members of the Reich Defense Council, which was to plan
preparations and decrees in case of war, which later were published by
the Ministerial Council for Defense of the Reich. Since, as soon as
the war had started, everything would have to be done speedily and
there would be no time for planning, such war measures and decrees
were prepared in advance. All one then had to do was to pull out of
the drawer the war orders that had been prepared. Later on, after the
outbreak of the war, these decrees were enacted by the Ministerial
Council for Defense of the Reich." — Signed and sworn to by
Dr. Wilhelm Frick, on the 19th of November 1945. "
To sum up this particular phase of the proof, the Cabinet by its own
decision and its own laws created a large war-planning body — the
Reich Defense Council — the members of which were taken from the
Cabinet. Within the Council they set up a small working committee, again
composed of Cabinet members and certain defense Officials, a majority of
whom were appointed from the Cabinet members. And to streamline the
action, they placed all of its ministries — except Air, Propaganda,
and Foreign Affairs — into the groups headed respectively by the
Plenipotentiaries for Economy and Administration, and the OKW; and
everything was organized in and for the greatest of secrecy.
That is this Three-Man College.