20 Dec. 45
of RSHA be used exclusively in internal relations of
the Reich Ministry of Interior, and the heading "The Chief of the
Security Police and SD" in transactions with outside persons and
offices. The directive provided that the Gestapo would continue to use
the designation and heading "Secret State Police" according to
the particular instructions.
This order is Document L-361, Exhibit USA-478, which we now offer in
evidence; and I refer Your Honors to the first paragraph of L-361. That
is found in the first volume. I just direct Your Honors' attention to
the date and to the subject, which is the amalgamation of the Zentralämter
of. the Sicherheitspolizei and of the SD, and the creation of the four
sections, and then to the words:
" ... will be joined to the RSHA in
accordance with the following directives. This amalgamation carries
with it no change in the position of these Ämter in the Party nor
in the governmental administration."
I might say here parenthetically, if the Tribunal please, that we like
to think of the RSHA as being the so-called administrative office
through which a great many of these organizations were administered and
then a number of these organizations, including the Gestapo, maintaining
their separate identity as operational organizations. I think a good
illustration, if Your Honors will recall, is that during the war there
may be a certain division or a certain air force which is
administratively under a certain headquarters, but operationally, when
they had an invasion, it may be under the general supervision of
somebody else who was operating a task force. So the RSHA was really the
administrative office of a great many of these alleged criminal
organizations.
The Gestapo and SD were therefore organized functionally on the basis
of the opponents to be combatted and the matters to be investigated.
I now invite the attention of the Tribunal to this chart, which has
already been identified, and I believe it is Exhibit USA-53. This chart
— I am in error — that is the original identification number.
This chart shows the main chain of command from Himmler, who was the
Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police, to Kaltenbrunner,
who was Chief of the Security Police and SD, and from Kaltenbrunner to
the various field offices of the Gestapo and the SD.
We now formally offer in evidence this chart, Document L-219, as
Exhibit USA-479. The chart itself is based upon the document, which is
L-219. We have photostatic copies, and you probably want to refer to the
one on the wall.
This chart, from which the one on the wall is taken, has been certified
by Otto Ohlendorf, Chief of Amt III of the RSHA, and by