19 Dec. 45
wish to clarify again: I want an admission
only if the following conditions, are fulfilled:
"1. If the man applies freely and voluntarily;
"2. If, by applying strict and peace-time standards, the
applicant fits racially and ideologically into the SS, guarantees
according to the number of his children a really healthy SS stock, and
is neither ill, degenerate, nor worthless."
Then, continuing with the third paragraph:
"I beg you not only to act
accordingly in the future, but especially also that numerous
admissions into the ranks of the SS in the past be re-examined and
revised according to these instructions."
Now I have appended this to indicate to the Tribunal the normal manner
in which a man became a member of the SS. That is discussed by Himmler
in our Document 1992(a)-PS, at Page 142 of the original and Page 5 of
the translation. If the Court thinks that it can take judicial notice of
that passage, I shall not venture to read it. What it does is to
describe how a young man comes into the SS normally, at the age of 18,
serves an apprenticeship and receives his instructions in SS ideology,
takes the SS oath, receives the SS dagger, and how long he remains in
the General SS. I will not venture to read that paragraph, since I
assume that the Court will take judicial notice of it.
I do think it may be worth quoting the very brief oath which the SS man
takes. That oath is quoted in the Waffen-SS recruiting pamphlet,
entitled The SS Calls You, our Document Number 3429-PS, which I
offer in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-446. The oath appears on Page 18
of that pamphlet, and on Page 2 of the translation, in the middle of the
page. I quote the oath:
"The Oath of the SS Man:
"I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Führer and Reich
Chancellor, loyalty and bravery; I vow to you, and to those you have
named to command me, obedience unto death, so help me God."
I turn now to a consideration of the activities of the SS, the manner in
which it carried out the purposes of the conspirators and performed its
function of guarding the internal security of the Nazi regime. The proof
of the elite Nazi quality and thorough reliability of the SS — the
test by which it won its spurs — occurred on June 30, 1934, when it
participated in the purge of the SA and other opponents or potential
opponents of the Nazi regime. That was the first real occasion for the
use of this specialized organization which could operate with the
blessing of the Nazi State, but outside the law.