2 Jan. 46
They arrested, tried, and punished citizens of occupied
countries under special criminal procedures, which did not accord fair
trials, and by summary methods.
They murdered or sent to concentration camps the relatives of persons
who had allegedly committed crimes.
They ordered the murder of prisoners in Sipo and SD prisons to prevent
their release by Allied armies.
They participated in the seizure and spoliation of public and private
property.
They were primary agencies for the persecution of the Jews and
churches.
In carrying out these crimes the Gestapo operated as an organization
closely centralized and controlled from Berlin headquarters. Reports
were submitted to Berlin and all important decisions emanated from
Berlin. The regional offices had only limited power to commit persons to
concentration camps. All cases, other than short of duration, had to be
submitted to Berlin for approval.
The Gestapo was organized on a functional basis. Its principal
divisions dealt with groups and institutions against which it committed
the worst crimes — which I have enumerated.
Thus, in perpetrating these crimes, the Gestapo acted as an entity,
each section performing its parts in the general criminal Enterprises
ordered by Berlin. The Secret State Police should be held responsible as
an organization for the vast crimes in which it participated.
The SD was at all times a department of the SS. Its criminality
directly concerns and contributes to the criminality of the SS.
And as to the Gestapo, it is submitted that it was an organization in
the sense in which that term is used in Article 9 of the Charter, that
the Defendants Göring and Kaltenbrunner committed the crimes
defined in Article 6 of the Charter in their capacity as members and
leaders of the Gestapo, and that the Gestapo, as an organization,
participated in and aided the conspiracy which contemplated and involved
the commission of the crimes defined in Article 6 of the Charter.
And finally, I have in my hand here a brochure published in honor of
the famous Heydrich, the former Chief of the Security Police and SD; and
I quote from a speech delivered by Heydrich on German Police Day, 1941,
of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice:
"Secret State Police, Criminal
Police, and SD are still adorned with the furtive and whispered
secrecy of a political detective story. In a mixture of fear and
shuddering — and