FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG
1st Morning Edition 26 Sept. 1931
HITLER'S TESTIMONY BEFORE THE COURT FOR HIGH TREASON
The witness, Adolf Hitler testified that he was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau on the Inn, without citizenship.
President:
You have been invited to testify at the request of Dr. Frank to give evidence that the NSDAP is striving to attain its goal by purely legal means, does not intend to take violent action against the Constitution or Government neither encourages its members or supporters to violent action against Constitution or Government or even to prepare for this, even in 1923. I ask you to describe in broad outline the
EVOLUTION OF THE NAZI PARTY.
You are to consider this matter objectively. You are not here to defend the existence of the Party. No one has attacked you. You should confine your statements and facts to actual evidence. You will be obliged as a witness to swear this on oath. Then the President referred the witness to Art. 55 of the Penal Law whereby he might refuse to give evidence if he would as a result jeopardize himself or place himself in danger of criminal proceedings.
Hitler:
I fought on the Westfront as a German soldier in the fall of 1918. At that time I already saw the collapse coming. This resulted because all political organizations were suffering from the same sickness. There are in general three phenomena which always reappear at such times, when the country is declining and
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which have siowiy disintegrated the German people also. The nonutilization of our own national strength brought about by the general international attitude.
President:
I believe that the witness is wandering from the point. Will you please describe the formation of the Party.
Hitler:
I wanted first of all to depict the three main points, because they will show the type of struggle we are waging.
President:
If you think this necessary, please proceed.
Hitler:
The second factor is the setting aside of all authority and the third the pacifist spirit, the pandering to corrupt influences and the international feeling in general. It is obvious that the only kind of movement which could rise above this debacle is one which makes a determined stand against these aspects. But this can only be a new movement in consideration of the fact that all the old Parties were bound in theory to fight for freedom, when in actual fact since 1918, mob rule has prevailed. We had to take up the struggle fanatically for everything German [Deutschtum] and if necessary defend this spirit; thus our two-fold organization. That is where our Protection Detachments [Schutzabteilungen] originated. They were exclusively for the purpose of protecting the Party propaganda, but not to fight against the State. I have been a soldier so long that I know it is impossible to allow a Party Organization to fight against the disciplined organization of the Armed Forces, or against the Freikorps and Police. When meetings are disturbed and disrupted, only then does the State step in and dissolve the gathering. But in this way those attempting the disturbance achieve their aim. In the beginning therefore it was only possible to carry on at all, if one took one's own steps against such a pantomime. That was the sole purpose of our Sturmabteilungen [S.A.] It is obvious that a movement of many thousands of people cannot be judged on the statements of individuals.
The President then drew the attention of the Court to: the Happenings in Muenich in 1923
Hitler:
I don't know whether I may speak about them.
President:
I believe the Public is fully informed today of these occurrences. You, witness were sentenced on 1 April 1924 to five years con-
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finement in a fortress for high treason. Furthermore it was also said at the Party Rally [Parteitag] in Nürnberg in September 1923 that the Party was a fighting organization and that force would certainly be used.
Hitler :
At that time, the S.A. were going to be changed into a military organization. I myself did not make them into soldiers, they were forced into being soldiers. [Nicht ich habe damals die Abteilungen in die Kasernen hineingefuehrt sondern sie sind hineinge-fuehrt worden] The situation was such that the latent state of war between the Reich and Bavaria had to break out. But I asserted in 1925 that the happenings in 1923 must be completely forgotten and that the movement must be led back to its basic aims. I published a decree completely prohibiting arms for the S.A. On no account were they to assume a military character. Rather should all the S.A. serve exclusively to protect the movement from other Parties. All military exercises were forbidden and if a platoon was in possession of arms and one single one of them had a weapon in his possession without a license then these platoons were dissolved and their members expelled. I did everything to prevent the organization from assuming any kind of military character. This was particularly difficult at a time when one tried to equal the Fascists as best one could, and because of the inward pleasure it gives the German people, to carry a gun. I have always expressed the opinion that any attempt to replace the Reichswehr would be senseless. (In an excited voice) We are none of us interested in replacing the Reichswehr, I have only one wish, that the German Reich and the German people imbibe a new spirit.
As the witness became more and more exicted, the President warned him to discontinue this public propaganda and to confine himself to actual evidence.
Hitler: '
Naturally a movement which aspires to take over the State will bring to the forefront the idea of being able to defend oneself.
We want to make sure once and for all that out of the present German Reichswehr a great German Peoples Army is formed.
There are thousands of young men in the Reichswehr of the same opinion. But that does not mean the replacement (of the Reichswehr). Nevertheless we regard the realization of this conception as the first essential for the future of Germany.
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President:
You could hardly attempt to carry out these ideals, purely by legal means. There is something else inferred in your program even if it is only between the lines.
Hitler:
It would not be possible to lead such a great organization as ours, if we wanted to issue secret directives in addition to our public announcements. It would also be impossible after it had been publicly announced that no military exercises were to be carried out, nevertheless to carry out these. On questions of this kind only my orders are valid. All my political opponents and the State can control my speeches and directives. But above all this my basic principle holds good: if a (party) regulation conflicts with the Law, it is not to be carried out. I am even now punishing the failure to comply with my orders. Countless Party Members have been expelled for this reason; among them Otto Strasser.
Otto Strasser actually toyed with the idea of revolution.
I never declared myself in agreement with this.
The President then put statements to the debate, which had , been made by the NSDAP author Reinhold Muchow. In these it was said that those countries with older constitutions had already had their revolution. But that Germany was on the threshold of a revolution and that this imminent revolution could only be National Socialist.
Hitler:
I think Mr. Muchow only wanted to illustrate a general spiritual movement. But I may assure you that if the Nazi movement's struggle is successful, then there will be a Nazi Court of Law too, the November 1918 revolution will be atoned, and there'll be some heads chopped off. (Cheers from the gallery, the President asked that the applause be discontinued and said: We are in Court and are here to seriously dispense justice).
President:
(to the witness Hitler) What do you mean by the expression "German National Revolution".
Hitler:
The expression "National Revolution" should always be considered in a purely political sense. For the Nazis it is simply an uprising by the oppressed German people of today.
President:
Do you mean independent movement, or one instigated by a Party ?
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2512-PS Hitler:
Naturally a movement will always represent an uprising, but it does not need to prepare it by illegal means. If we were to have two or three elections today, the Nazi movement would have the majority in the Reichstag and would prepare the Nazi revolution then.
President:
You mean the spiritual (revolution) ? And if we understand something different by this, you will say "We can't do anything about that." .
Hitler :
Germany is being strangled by Peace Treaties. All German legislation today is nothing more than an attempt to foist the Peace Treaty onto the German people. The Nazis do not consider the Treaty as a law, but as something forced upon us. We do not want future generations, who are completely innocent, to be encumbered by this. When we fight this with all the means at our disposal, then we are on the way to a revolution.
President:
' Even by illegal means?
Hitler:
I will declare here and now, that when we have become powerful [gesiegt haben] then we will fight against the Treaty with all the means at our disposal, even those which are illegal from the world's point of view.
The President then referred to another pamphlet by Helmuth Brueckner, in which it says "Reform is only a half measure, revolution goes all the way."
Hitler:
The German National People's Party is an opposition party just as we are. But the German National People's Party is a reform party. The Nazi movement sees as the core of the State, that which is summed up in the term "people" (Volk). Therefore we cannot be compared with other Parties. But it cannot therefore be said, because we used other methods—therefore by forces—Our propaganda is the spiritual revoluntionizing of the German people. This change is at least as gigantic as that brought about by the Marxist ideology. It is a completely new world. Our movement has no need of force. The time will come when the German nation will get to know our ideas.. Then 35 million Germans will stand behind me. Whether we take over the Government today or form an opposition is immaterial to us. The next election will increase the number of Nazi in the Reichstag from 107-200. There will come a time when people will be
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glad that there is such a movement, the members of which are now trembling before the Court. Our opponents are interested in representing our movement as anti-state, because they know our goal is to be attained by legal means. Nevertheless they realize that our movement must lead to a complete change of State.
President:
What relation does this bear to the so-called THIRD REICH?
Hitler:
We honor the memory of the old German Empire, we have fought for it. But this State had an inner weakness from the very beginning. Out of it came the present Germany. It is the embodiment of Democracy and Internationalism. This second State wants to leave the German people no men behind, who will defend their rights before the world. We hope, therefore, for a new Reich in which all institutions—beginning with the organization of the State itself down to those which serve to maintain the national life [Volkstums]—will lead the people towards a splendid future. It is only natural that this Third Reich will quarrel with the decadent forces of today. Consequently the attempts by our opponents to designate our methods as illegal and to attribute to us a trend which we do not have. He who maintains that isolated quotations are proof of a point of view, which he cannot construe from regulations and Party orders, will find a thousand possibilities for this. I have in our movement countless millions of people, whose hearts bleed for Germany. These young men, themselves fighters, are pushed about, come before the Court, although they had only the best intentions. They are struck down and hounded by the "red" mobs. That these people make statements, which are not m accordance with the spirit of the movement, is understandable because of their youth.
President:
How do you imagine the setting up of a Third Reich?
Hitler:
This term only describes the basis of the struggle but not the objective. We will enter the legal organizations and will make our Party a decisive factor in this way. But when we do possess constitutional rights then we will form the State in the manner which we consider to be the right one.
President: '
This too by constitutional means?
Hitler:
Yes. - '
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Hitler's testimony in court on the origins of the NSDAP, the role of the SA, and the goal of a political revolution achieved by legal and constitutional means
Authors
Adolf Hitler (Fuehrer, Reich Chancellor, Supeme Commander of Wehrmacht)
Adolf Hitler
Austrian nationalized German politician, leader of the National Socialist party and dictator of Germany (1889-1945)
- Born: 1889-01-01 1889-04-20 (Braunau am Inn) (country: Austria-Hungary; located in the administrative territorial entity: Archduchy of Austria above the Enns; statement is subject of: Adolf-Hitler-Geburtshaus)
- Died: 1945-04-30 (Berlin Führerbunker) (country: Nazi Germany; located in the administrative territorial entity: Berlin; statement is subject of: death of Adolf Hitler)
- Country of citizenship: Cisleithania (period: 1889-04-20 through 1918-11-11); First Republic of Austria (period: 1919-01-01 through 1925-04-30); Nazi Germany (end cause: death of Adolf Hitler; period: 1933-01-30 through 1945-04-30); Republic of German-Austria (period: 1918-01-01 through 1919-01-01)
- Occupation: painter (statement is subject of: paintings by Adolf Hitler); political writer; politician (reason for preferred rank: generally used form); soldier
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party (period: 1919-09-12 through 1921-07-11); Nazi Party (series ordinal: 556)
- Member of: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Aktion T4; Beer Hall Putsch; The Holocaust; ethnic cleansing
- Significant person: Albert Speer; Benito Mussolini; Eva Braun; Joseph Stalin
Date: 26 September 1931
Literal Title: Frankfurter Zeitung . . . 26 Sept. 1931[.] Hitler's Testimony before the Court for High Treason
Total Pages: 5
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-2512
Citation: IMT (page 255)
HLSL Item No.: 450144
Notes:The document does not indicate which trial Hitler was testifying in as a witness. The date is stated as 26 Sept. 1931, but the document book table of contents gives the date as 26 September 1930. Another copy is in document book B.
Trial Issues
Conspiracy (and Common plan, in IMT) (IMT, NMT 1, 3, 4) IMT count 1: common plan or conspiracy (IMT) Nazi regime (rise, consolidation, economic control, and militarization) (I…
Document Summary
PS-2512: Frankfurter Zeitung, first morning edition of 26 Sept 1930, containing Hitler's statements in connection with the treason trials of German army officers
PS-2512: Article in Frankfurter Zeitung, 26 September 1931, reporting a speech by Hitler, ("there will be some heads chopped")
Article in Frankfurter Zeitung, 26 September 1931, pp. 1 and 2, reporting speech by Hitler. ("there will be some heads chopped")
Article in Frankfurter Zeitung, 26 September 1931, reporting a speech by Hitler, ("there will be some heads chopped")