19 Dec. 45
never again in Germany, the heart of
Europe, will the Jewish-Bolshevistic revolution of sub-humans be able
to be kindled either from within or through emissaries from without.
Without pity we shall be a merciless sword of justice for all those
forces whose existence and activity we know, on the day of the
slightest attempt, may it be today, may it be in decades or may it be
in centuries."
This
conception necessarily required an extension of the duties of the SS
into many fields. It involved, of course, the performance of police
functions. But it involved more. It required participation in the
suppression and extermination of all internal opponents of the regime.
It meant participation in extending the regime beyond the borders of
Germany; and therefore came to mean eventually participation in every
type of activity designed to secure a hold over those territories and
populations which, through military conquest, had come under German
domination.
The expansion of SS duties and activities resulted in the creation of
several branches and numerous departments and the eventual development
of a highly complex machinery. Those various branches and departments
cannot be adequately described out of the context of their history. That
description I hope will emerge fully as evidence of the activities of
the SS is presented. But it may be appropriate to anticipate; and at
this point, to say a word about the structure of the SS.
For this purpose, a glance at a chart depicting the organization of the
SS as it appeared in 1945 may be helpful. There are being handed to the
Tribunal small copies of this chart, two in English, one in French and
one in Russian. In addition, there are handed eight larger copies of the
chart in the original German, bearing on it the photostat of the
affidavit of Gottlob Berger, formerly Chief of the SS Main Office, who
examined the chart and stated that it correctly represented the
organization of the SS.
I now offer in evidence the chart of the Supreme and Regional Command
of the SS, as Exhibit Number USA-445.
At the very top of the chart is Himmler, the Reichsführer SS, who
commanded the entire organization. Immediately below — running
across the chart and down the right hand side, embraced within the heavy
line — are the 12 main departments constituting the Supreme Command
of the SS. Some of these departments have been broken down into the
several offices of which they were composed, as indicated by the boxes
beneath them. Other departments have not been so broken down. It is not
intended to indicate that there were not subdivisions of these latter
departments as well. The breakdown is shown only in those cases where
the constituent