19 Dec. 45
secret Political police forces in all the states of
Germany except Prussia, and deputy chief of the Prussian Gestapo. In
that capacity he infiltrated these forces with members of the SS until a
virtual identity of membership of the SS and the Gestapo was achieved.
On 17 June 1936, by the "Decree on the Establishment of a Chief of
the German Police," published in the Reichsgesetzblatt for
1936, Part I, Pages 487 and 488, our Document Number 2073-PS, of which I
assume the Court will take judicial notice, the new post of Chief of the
German Police was created in the Ministry of the Interior. Under the
terms of the decree Himmler was appointed to this post with the title of
"Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police in the
Ministry of the Interior."
The combination of these two positions, that of leadership of the SS
and head of all the police forces in the Reich, was no accident but was
intended to establish a permanent relation between the two bodies and
not a mere transitory fusion of personnel. The significance of this
combination of these two positions was referred to by Hitler in his
secret order of 17 August 1938 on the organization and mobilization of
the SS, our Document Number 647-PS, which I introduce in evidence as
Exhibit Number USA-443 and from which I will now quote just the
preamble, which will be found on the first page of our Document Number
647-PS and at the beginning of the original order. I quote:
"By means of the nomination of the "Reichsführer
SS and Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of the Interior on
June 17, 1936 (Reichsgesetzblatt I, Page 487), I have created
the basis for the unification and
reorganization of the German Police. With this step the Schutzstaffeln
of the NSDAP, which were under the Reichsführer SS and Chief of
the German Police even up to now, have entered into close connection
with the duties of the German Police."
Upon his appointment Himmler immediately proceeded to reorganize the
entire police force, designating two separate branches: (1) The regular
uniformed police force (Ordnungspolizei, or Orpo, as they were called by
their abbreviated title); and (2) the so-called Security Police, or as
they came to be known by their abbreviated title, Sipo. The Security
Police was composed of all the criminal Police in the Reich and all the
Gestapo. This reorganization was achieved by the decree assigning
functions to the Office of the Chief of the German Police, published in
the Reichsministerialblatt for 1936, Pages 946-948, our Document
Number 1551-PS. Of that decree assume the Court will take judicial
notice.
To be head of the Sipo, that is, of the Criminal Police and the
Gestapo, Himmler appointed Reinhard Heydrich, who was at that time the
Chief of the SD, the SS intelligence agency to which I have