. NMT05-T0803
Volume V · Page 803
| Fuehrer Order No. 1,1 that is to
say, you told your subordinate nothing of orders or decrees, no matter whether
they were secret or not. What you told them was only in as far as that
concerned your subordinates themselves immediately. In this connection I wish
to discuss the question of the leadership principle, the Fuehrerprinzip. Would
you please tell the Court briefly what the Fuehrer principle meant to Germany?
DEFENDANT POHL: The Fuehrer principle was a basic law of all political and economic matters. Its most prominent mark perhaps was that the man at the helm of a political, or any other organization, was the one who was solely in charge of that organization and was solely responsible. His orders and instructions had to be complied with by all, and it was he who above all was responsible for the strict observation of Fuehrer Order No. 1. Everybody, when the matter concerned was a secret one, must be informed of it only inasmuch as he required it to carry out his share in this matter. Within his own activity everyone was responsible himself. That responsibility, however, rested finally with the Fuehrer who was in charge of the organization. He alone represented the organization towards the outside and to people above him. That roughly is the essential thing. |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF
DEFENSE WITNESS SS GENERAL KARL WOLFF² |
| CROSS-EXAMINATION |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| MR. ROBBINS: Now, Witness, we have heard
quite a lot in this trial about the Fuehrerprinzip. I think you are in a very
good position to tell us just what that principle was. WITNESS KARL WOLFF: May I point out to you that the last parts of the translation have been most distorted, and therefore I couldn't quite answer the questions. Maybe you could have them repeated slowly and clearly. Q. Are you familiar with the Fuehrerprinzip? A. Yes, indeed. Q. I believe you are in an excellent position, General, to tell us the meaning and the significance of that principle. Would you do so? A. Yes. The Fuehrer principle embodies entire responsibility on the part of an individual person and has far-reaching possibili- […ties] |
¹ Hitler Order is quoted in Document Sommer E/33, Sommer Defense Exhibit 31, on pp.809 to 810.
² Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 3- 5 June 1947, pp. 2090-2206.
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