Aug 26
1881 Birth: Franz Guertner:
Franz Guertner was born in Regensburg and studied law at the University of Munich. He fought for Germany in World War I and he received the Iron Cross for his bravery. He continued his law career after the war.
In 1922, Guertner was made Bavarian Minister of Justice. His career success continued and, in 1932, he was appointed Reich Minister of Justice for the Nazi regime. Before the Nazi rise to power, Guertner made his support for the party clear. He aided the Nazis in the courtroom, ensuring an easy sentence for the defendants in the Beer-Hall Putsch trial. Guertner actually allowed Hitler to have reign of the courtroom, where he gained an increasing amount of popularity. After Hitler's sentencing, Guertner had his sentence lessened.
After Guertner's appointment as Reich Minister of Justice, he created a constitution for the Nazi government. Guertner did not support the violent behavior of Hitler's Secret Police, and he tried to keep the courthouse unbiased so that SA members could be convicted of crimes. At the same time, however, Guertner had already transformed the judicial system into a Nazi-ruled branch of the government. Hitler was able to pardon all convicted members of his SA.
By the beginning of World War II, the entire Ministry of Justice had lost its power. Guertner realized this, but remained Reich Minister of Justice in hopes of having some control over the Nazis. Of course, Guertner was unable to weaken the Nazi Party and, while remaining in office, Guertner actually helped the Nazis to implement the Final Solution by removing any obstacles that remained in the way of their plan.
1882 Birth: James Franck: German-born physicist. In 1925, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, mostly for his work in 1912-1914 which included the Franck-Hertz experiment, an important confirmation of the Bohr model of the atom. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power, he left his post in Germany because his wife, Hertha Sponer, was unable to teach in Germany anymore because she was a woman, and continued his research in the United States, first in Baltimore and then, after a year in Denmark, in Chicago. This is where he became involved in the Manhattan Project during World War II. When Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, the Hungarian chemist George de Hevesy dissolved the gold Nobel Prizes of Max von Laue and James Franck into aqua regia to prevent the Nazis from stealing them. He placed the resulting solution on a shelf in his laboratory at the Niels Bohr Institute. After the war, he returned to find the solution undisturbed and precipitated the gold out of the acid. The Nobel Society then recast the Nobel Prizes using the original gold.
1900 Birth: Hellmuth Walter: German engineer who pioneered research into rocket engines and gas turbines. His most noteworthy contributions were rocket motors for the Messerschmitt Me 163 and Bachem Ba 349 interceptor aircraft, JATO units used for a variety of Luftwaffe aircraft during World War II, and a revolutionary new propulsion system for submarines known as air-independent propulsion (AIP).
1901 Birth: General Maxwell D. Taylor: former US Army chief of staff:
In 1943, Taylor's diplomatic and language skills resulted in his secret mission to Rome to coordinate an 82nd air drop with Italian forces. General Dwight D. Eisenhower would later say that "the risks he ran were greater than I asked any other agent or emissary to take during the war." Hundreds of miles behind the front lines of battle, Taylor was forced by rules of engagement to wear his American military uniform, so that if captured he could not be shot as a spy. He met with the new Italian Prime Minister, Marshal Pietro Badoglio. The air drop near Rome to capture the city was called off at the last minute, when Taylor realized that it was too late. German forces were already moving in to cover the intended drop zones. Transport planes were already in the air when Taylor's message canceled the drop, preventing the suicide mission. These efforts behind enemy lines got Taylor noticed at the highest levels of the Allied command.
After the campaigns in the Mediterranean, Taylor was assigned to command the 101st Airborne Division, which was training in England . . . . Taylor jumped into Normandy on June 6, 1944, with his men. He was the first Allied general to land in France on D-Day. He commanded the 101st Airborne Division for the rest of the war, among other things during Operation Market Garden in The Netherlands, but missed out leading the division during its most famous conflict, the Battle of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, because he was attending a staff conference in the United States . . . . Some of the paratroopers resented Taylor for this later. General Taylor called the defense of Bastogne the 101st Airborne Division's "finest hour" of the war and stated that his absence there was one of his greatest disappointments in World War II.
1903 Protocols Aug 26-Sep 3: Pavolachi Krushevan publishes the earliest known version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in abbreviated form in his Russian-language newspaper, Znamia (The Banner). (THP)
1914 World War I: Various: Battle of Tannenberg begins:
On August 26, 1914, the German 8th Army, under the leadership of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, strikes with lethal force against the advancing Russian 2nd Army, led by General Aleksandr Samsonov, in East Prussia during the opening weeks of the First World War.
In the middle of August 1914, much sooner than had been anticipated, Russia sent two armies into East Prussia, while Germany, according to its war strategy, had the bulk of its forces concentrated to the west, against France. The Russian 1st Army, under General Pavel Rennenkampf, advanced to the northeastern corner of East Prussia, while Samsonov's 2nd Army made headway into the southwest, planning to join with Rennenkampf's men and pin the outnumbered German 8th Army between them. After a Russian victory in the Battle of Gumbinnen on August 20, however, Rennenkampf paused to regroup his forces.
Meanwhile, change was afoot behind the German lines: Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German general staff, chose to replace the previous leader, Maximilian von Prittwitz, after the latter issued a misguided order for a German retreat to the River Vistula, against the advice of his corps commanders. Hindenburg, a retired general of great stature, and Ludendorff, who had just led the German capture of the Belgian fortress of Liege, arrived in East Prussia and immediately authorized an aggressive counter-action against the Russians, previously planned by a senior staff officer in the region, Colonel Max Hoffmann.
Separated by the great Masurian Lakes, the two Russian armies were unable to effectively communicate with each other as to their movements, a circumstance that would prove deadly. Though Ludendorff succumbed to nerves initially, delaying the start of the German attack by one day, Hindenburg was able to calm his subordinate—not for the last time in what would become a fabled partnership. On August 26, after intercepting uuencoded wireless messages from both Samsonov and Rennenkampf, the Germans were able to take Samsonov's army by surprise with the force of their attack near the village of Tannenberg, to the southwest of the Masurian Lakes. The delay in starting the attack had given Samsonov's forces more time to advance deeper into the sack formed by the German divisions enveloping them from both sides, the strength of which Samsonov consistently underestimated. After three days of battering by German artillery, Samsonov's troops began their retreat; more German forces cut off their path and a massive slaughter ensued. In the first hours of August 30, confronting the reality of his army's collapse, Samsonov went into the forest, away from his staff, and shot himself.
In total, over 50,000 Russian soldiers were killed and some 92,000 taken as prisoners in the Battle of Tannenberg—named thus by the Germans in vengeful remembrance of the village, where in 1410 the Poles had defeated the Teutonic Knights. By the end of August, Russia's ambitious advance in East Prussia in August 1914 had achieved at least one of its goals, albeit at a tremendous cost: two German corps had been removed from the Western to the Eastern Front in order to confront the Russian menace. Though the two corps had not arrived in time to play a role in the Battle of Tannenberg—which would remain the greatest German triumph of the war against Russia on the Eastern Front— they would also be unable to aid their comrades at the Battle of the Marne in early September, when German forces advancing towards Paris were decisively defeated by British and French troops in a crucial victory for the Allies. (History.com)
Togoland: The German colony surrenders to French and British forces:
After calling on the German colony to surrender on 6 August 1914, French and British troops invaded unopposed the next day. No military personnel was stationed in the protectorate. The police force consisted of a commander and deputy commander, 10 German sergeants, 1 native sergeant and 660 Togolese policemen deployed throughout the territory. The Entente forces occupied the capital Lome, then advanced on a powerful and new radio station near Kamina (east of Atakpame). The colony surrendered on 26 August 1914, after the German technicians who had built the radio installation now destroyed the station during the night of 24/25 August. In the weeks before the destruction, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa, German East Africa and 47 ships on the high seas were sent reports of Allied actions, as well as warnings of predicaments ahead.
The British Expeditionary Force briefly checks the German advance at Le Cateau:
The barrage continued until noon before German infantry began to advance. Fighting predominantly with rifles fired from shallow trenches prepared hastily (a tactic similarly employed with great success at Mons), the British managed to greatly slow the advance of the German infantry, to the extent that Smith-Dorrien was able to organise a strategic retreat during the late afternoon despite overwhelming odds and in the absence of flank protection. Losses however were high on both sides, including 7,812 British casualties. Nevertheless the German forces suffered losses not only in manpower but, crucially, in further delaying their planned advance on Paris.
1915 World War I: List Regiment: Gefreiter Adolf Hitler's 16 Reserve Infantry Regiment continue to occupy a position at Fromelles—pictured above in a drawing by Hitler—on a level field with water channels, willow trees and willow stalks; in the distance towards the enemy lines lies an insignificant wood with barbed wire entanglements. Under the direction of their defense-minded commander, Lieutenant General Gustav Scanzoni von Lichtenfels, the regiment works ceaselessly day and night to further fortify their position at Fromelles while fighting off repeated assaults by the enemy. [For further details, Click here.] 1916 World War I: List Regiment: Gefreiter Adolf Hitler endures trench warfare in Flanders (Artois) with 3 Company, 16 Reserve Infantry Regiment. [For further details, Click here.] 1917 World War I (July 22-September 8): Dispatch Runner Gefreiter Adolf Hitler serves at the front with 3 Company, 16 Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment during Phase 2 operations in Flanders. Most of their time in the trenches gas masks are worn, while English bombers attack from the air, and tanks attempt to advance over a long front through seas of mud. [For further details, Click here.] 1918 World War I: List Regiment: (August 21-September 27): Gefreiter Adolf Hitler attends a signals training course in Nuremberg. [For further details, Click here.] 1928 Volkishness: ONT meetings at the priory of Marienkamp in Hungary record the investitures of Georg Hauerstein, Jr. and Friedrich Schwickert, an astrologer and onetime List Society member, as Presbyters. (THP)
1935 Eugenics: Half-Jewish Berlin psychiatrist, Dr. Kallmann, is allowed to speak for the last time at a meeting in Germany. At the International Congress of Population Problems, he claims:
[It] is desirable to extend prevention of reproduction to relatives of schizophrenics who stand out because of minor anomalies, and, above all, to define each of them as being undesirable from the eugenic point of view at the beginning of their reproductive years. (THP)
1936 Britain and Egypt sign a twenty-year alliance in Cairo, ending the British military occupation of Egypt, except for the Suez Canal Zone.
1937 Far East: All Chinese shipping is blockaded by Japan.
1938 Holocaust: Austria: The Central Office for Jewish Emigration is established in Vienna under the direction of Adolf Eichmann. Within eighteen months, 150,000 Austrian Jews will be induced to emigrate. (THP) Eichmann:
It is self-evident that the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, being a German authority, is ready to assist every fellow German, but this must not be carried to the extreme where this office is mistakenly considered as being a department store or a real estate agency. With regard to the disgusting incidents which are reported to me time and again, I do not wish to examine in detail at what time the most clamorous of these gentlemen became anti-Semites. It is quite an unreasonable demand from the SS men — who have the task, unpleasant in itself, to be constantly concerned with the Jews — that they should be abused by people from the tips of whose noses one can see that only three years ago they were probably sitting in one and the same cafe together with the Jews. 1939 Countdown to War: Various: The British Chiefs of Staff advise the cabinet that the earliest possible date for any ultimatum to Germany is September 1. Dahlerus meets with Halifax again, flies back to Berlin with a letter for Goering and returns to London later that afternoon.
[Attempts] made by Goering to effect the isolation of Poland by persuading Great Britain not to stand by her pledged word, through the services of one Birger Dahlerus, a Swede. Dahlerus . . . had a considerable knowledge of England and of things English, and in July, 1939, was anxious to bring about a better understanding between England and Germany, in the hope of preventing a war between the two countries. He got into contact with Goering as well as with official circles in London, and during the latter part of August, Goering used him as an unofficial intermediary to try and deter the British Government from their opposition to Germany's intentions towards Poland. Dahlerus, of course, had no knowledge at the time of the decision which Hitler had secretly announced on the 22nd August, nor of the German military directives for the attack on Poland which were already in existence.
French Ambassador Robert Coulondre sees Hitler and appeals to him as one soldier to another. When Coulondre cites the probable fate of women and children in any war, Hitler hesitates, but Ribbentrop plays his part in strengthening his Fuehrer's resolve.
Poland: The government in Warsaw increases the pace of its military mobilization. Sir H. Kennard to Viscount Halifax:
Polish patrol met party Germans 1 kilometre from East Prussian frontier near Pelta. Germans opened fire. Polish patrol replied, killing leader, whose body is being returned. 3. German bands also crossed Silesian frontier near Szczyglo, twice near Rybnik and twice elsewhere, firing shots and attacking blockhouses and customs posts with machine guns and hand grenades. Poles have protested.
From a memorandum by the US Secretary of State regarding a conversation with the Japanese Ambassador (Horinouchi): The Ambassador then said that, speaking personally, he might say his Government on yesterday had decided to abandon any further negotiations with Germany and Italy relative to closer relations under the anti-Comintern Pact to which they have been parties for some time. He added that the change in affairs in Europe made this course manifest, and, furthermore, it was plain that his Government would find it important to adopt new foreign policy in more or less respects. I might say that he prefaced this general reference to his country by reiterating his personal desire to clear up any misunderstandings or differences between our two countries and to restore the friendly relations heretofore existing.
1941 World War II: Various: The Soviets bomb Teheran, Iran:
Iran's links to the Third Reich began during the pre-World War II years when it welcomed Gestapo agents and other operatives to Tehran, allowing them to use it as a Middle East base for agitation against the British and the region's Jews. Key among these Gestapo men was Fritz Grobba, Berlin's envoy to the Middle East, and often called "the German Lawrence" because he promised a Pan-Arab state stretching from Casablanca to Tehran.
Relations between Berlin and Tehran were strong from the moment Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, when Reza Shah Pahlavi's nation was still known as Persia. The shah became a stalwart admirer of Hitler, Nazism and the concept of the Aryan master race. He also sought the Nazis' help in reducing British petro-political domination. So intense was the shah's identification with the Third Reich that in 1935 he renamed his ancient country Iran, which in Farsi means Aryan and refers to the Proto-Indo-European lineage that Nazi racial theorists and Persian ethnologists cherished.
Barbarossa: Heeresgruppe Nord surrounds and destroys Soviet forces in the area of Velikije Luki.
1942 Various: Holocaust: Treblinka: a young deportee from Kielce, having been forbidden by one of the Ukrainian guards to say farewell to his mother, attacks the guard with a knife. The whole train of deportees is machine-gunned. (THP)
Slave Labor: From a letter addressed by Dr. Michel, the German Chief of the Administrative Staff, to the Delegate-General for Franco-German economic relations:
President Laval promised Gauleiter Sauckel, Plenipotentiary General for Allocation of Labor, to make every effort to send to Germany, to help German armament economy, 350,000 workers, of which 150,000 should be metal workers. The French Government intended at first to solve this problem by recruitment, especially of the affectes speciaux. This method has been abandoned and that of voluntary enrollment has been attempted with a view to the liberation of prisoners. The past months have shown that the end in view cannot be achieved by means of voluntary recruitment. In France, German armament orders have increased in volume and urgency. Moreover, special tasks have been set, the accomplishment of which depends upon the supply of a very considerable number of workers. In order to assure the realization of the tasks for which France is responsible in the sphere of the Arbeitseinsatz, the French Government must now be asked to put into execution the following measures: 1) The publication of a decree, concerning change of place of work. By virtue of this decree, leaving the place of employment and engaging labor depends on the approval of certain specified authorities. 2) The institution of compulsory registration of all persons out of work, as well as of those who do not work full time or are not permanently employed. This compulsory registration is to ensure the fullest recruitment possible of all the reserves still available. 3) The publication of a decree for the mobilization of workers for tasks important to the policy of state. This decree is to ensure: (a) The necessary labor for Germany; (b) the workers necessary in France for the carrying out of orders which have been transferred there and the workers needed for special tasks. 4) Publication of a decree ensuring an adequate supply of apprentices. This decree is to impose upon French enterprise the duty of turning out, by means of apprenticeship and systematic training, young workers possessing adequate qualifications. For the Military Commander, the Chief of the Administrative Staff. Signed——Dr. Michel.
1943 World War II: Various: FDR and Churchill to Stalin:
The following is the decision as to the military operations to be carried out during 1943 and 1944 which we have arrived at in our conference at Quebec (The Quebec Conference; 1943) just concluded. We shall continue the bomber offensive against Germany from bases in the United Kingdom and Italy on a rapidly increasing scale. The objectives of this air attack will be to destroy the air combat strength of Germany, to dislocate her military, economic, and industrial system and to prepare the way for an invasion across the Channel. A large-scale building-up of American forces in the United Kingdom is now under way. It will provide an assemblage force of American and British divisions for operations across the Channel. Once a bridgehead on the Continent has been secured it will be reinforced steadily by additional American troops at the rate of from three to five divisions a month. This operation will be the primary American and British air and ground effort against the Axis. The war in the Mediterranean is to be pressed vigorously. In that area our objectives will be the elimination of Italy from the Axis alliance and the occupation of Italy, as well as Corsica and Sardinia, as bases for operations against Germany. In the Balkans operations will be limited to the supply by air and sea transport of the Balkan guerrillas, minor commando raids and the bombarding of strategic objectives. In the Pacific and in South-east Asia we shall accelerate our operations against Japan, to cut her communications and to secure bases from which Japan proper may be bombed.
The United States recognizes the French Committee of National Liberation. Note: The French Foreign Legion will fight against the Germans with its usual élan, but it is almost destroyed by the disparate elements within its own ranks.
1944 World War II: Various: De Gaulle enters a free Paris:
On this day in 1944, French General Charles de Gaulle enters Paris, which had formally been liberated the day before. As he entered the Place de l'Hotel, French collaborationists took a few sniper shots at him. "There are many moments that go beyond each of our poor little lives," he was quoted at the time. "Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated!" [For further details, Click here.]
France: The great Rothschild Mansion in Paris is discovered to contain almost all of its original art and furnishings, untouched after five years of occupation as Luftwaffe headquarters in Paris and numerous visits by Hermann Goering. (THP)
FDR to Churchill:
I do not consider it would prove advantageous to the long-range general war prospect for me to join with you in the proposed message to Stalin, but I have no objection to your sending such a message if you consider it advisable to do so. In arriving at this conclusion I have taken into consideration Uncle J's present attitude toward the relief of the Underground forces in Warsaw, as indicated in his message to you and to me, his definite refusal to allow the use by us of Russian airfields for that purpose, and the current American conversations on the subject of the subsequent use of other Russian bases . . . . I have no objections to your making preparations to have in readiness a sufficient British force to preserve order in Greece when the German forces evacuate that country. There is also no objection to the use by General Wilson of American transport airplanes that are available at that time.
Churchill to Field Marshal Smuts:
So far 'Anvil' has had the opposite effects for which its designers intended. First, it has attracted no troops away from General Eisenhower at all. On the contrary . . . about five divisions have been deployed against Eisenhower, which would not have happened had we continued our advance here in the direction of the Po, and ultimately on the great city (Vienna). I hope that we may achieve this. Even if the war comes to an end suddenly I can see no reason why our armor should not slip through and reach it, as we can.
Bulgaria announces that it has withdrawn from the war and that German troops are to be disarmed.
Although Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany, for most of the war the Soviet Union maintained diplomatic relations with the Balkan nation. As Soviet forces approached in late summer 1944, however, the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria. In October 1944, Bulgaria switched allegiances and declared war on Germany. Bulgaria retained the Dobruja region, which it had acquired from Romania in 1940. After the war, Yugoslavia and Greece took back the territories annexed by Bulgaria in 1941.
Death: Adam von Trott zu Solz: German anti-Nazi diplomat. He took advantage of his travels to try to raise support outside Germany for the internal resistance against the Nazis. In 1939, he lobbied Lord Lothian and Lord Halifax to pressure the British government not to continue its policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler, visiting London three times. He also visited Washington, DC in October of that year in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain American support. Friends warned von Trott not to return to Germany but his conviction that he had to do something to stop the madness of Hitler and his henchmen led him to return. Once there, in 1940 von Trott joined the Nazi Party in order to access party information and monitor its planning. At the same time, he served as a foreign policy advisor to the clandestine group of intellectuals planning the overthrow of the Nazi regime known as the Kreisau Circle. Von Trott was part of Claus von Stauffenberg's unsuccessful plot of July 20 1944 to assassinate Hitler. He was arrested within days, placed on trial, and found guilty. Sentenced to death on 15 August 1944 by the Volksgerichtshof, he was hanged in Berlin's Ploetzensee prison on this day. He was a great-great-great grandson of John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
1946 Nuremberg Tribunal: Two Hundred and Eleventh Day. Major General Alexandrov: Witness, will you kindly tell us what you know about the preparations by the German High Command for bacteriological warfare? Anti-Semitism is not a new phenomenon; neither is it, if one studies its spiritual basis, something typically German. In my opinion it is based on the inferiority complex of the average man, on his mistrust of the Jews' superiority in certain intellectual fields. Neither is the refutation of anti-Semitism by all civilized nations and individuals anything new. It culminates in the Pope's statement, "He who discriminates between Jews and other human beings does not believe in God and is in conflict with the divine commands." But the enigma which we cannot pass by when discussing the question of criminality is that there should exist at all a Jewish -problem which is not based on religious differences, but on race. The enigma is that there still exists a race problem which leads continuously to conflicts in our modern world which has grown so small. Is it not puzzling that the Polish Cardinal Mond, who went through all the horrors of the Nazi regime, only a few weeks ago tried to justify to some extent Polish anti-Semitism by referring to the leading role played by Jews in the Polish Government? Is it not puzzling that even today, after the horrible experiences of the Hitler regime, the Arabs take action against the Jews in their traditional homeland, Palestine, and particularly against their influx, and that mutual acts of violence are committed? The situation is similar in Europe. Race problems, not only anti-Semitism, still exist in all other corners of the globe. 1947 Spandau Prison: From Spandau: The Secret Diaries, by Albert Speer: Since our tete-a-tete in the hotbed a few months ago, my relationship with Schirach has become more relaxed. Today he told me about a remarkable affront Hitler delivered to the Hitler Youth in the summer of 1938. 1957 Cold War: USSR tests an intercontinental ballistic missile:
The Soviet Union announces that it has successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of being fired "into any part of the world." The announcement caused great concern in the United States, and started a national debate over the "missile gap" between America and Russia. [For further details, Click here.]
1974 Death: Charles Lindbergh:
Charles Lindbergh, the first man to accomplish a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, dies in Maui, Hawaii, at the age of 72 . . . .
In 1932, he was the subject of international headlines again when his infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped, unsuccessfully ransomed, and then found murdered in the woods near the Lindbergh home. German-born Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of the crime in a controversial trial and then executed . . . .
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Lindbergh became a spokesperson for U.S. isolationism and was sharply criticized for his apparent Nazi sympathies and anti-Semitic views. After the outbreak of World War II, the fallen hero traveled to the Pacific as a military observer and eventually flew more than two dozen combat missions, including one in which he downed a Japanese aircraft. Lindbergh's wartime service largely restored public faith in him, and for many years he worked with the U.S. government on aviation issues. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve.
Edited by Levi Bookin (Copy editor) Click to join 3rdReichStudies Disclaimer: This site includes diverse and controversial materials—such as excerpts from the writings of racists and anti-Semites—so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and anti-Semitic discourse. It is our sincere belief that only the informed citizen can prevail over the ignorance of Racialist "thought." Far from approving these writings, this site condemns racism in all of its forms and manifestations. 
Walter Schreiber (Generalarzt, that is Major General, in the Medical Service): In July 1943, the High Command of the Wehrmacht called a secret conference, in which I took part as representative of the Army Medical Inspectorate. This conference took place in the rooms of the General Wehrmacht Office in Berlin, in the Bendler Strasse, and was presided over by the Chief of Staff of the General Wehrmacht Office, a colonel. I do not remember the name of this colonel. The colonel said by way of introduction that as a result of the war situation the High Command authorities now had to take a different view of the question of the use of bacteria as a weapon in warfare from the one held up till now by the Army Medical Inspectorate. Consequently, the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, had charged Reich Marshal Hermann Goering to direct the carrying out of all preparations for bacteriological warfare, and had given him the necessary powers.
A bacteriological warfare group was formed at this meeting. The members of this group were essentially the same gentlemen who had been taking part in the conference, that is, Ministerial Director Professor Schuhmann of the science section of the Army Armaments Office; Ministerial Councillor Stantin of the Army Armaments Office, Weapons Examination Section; Veterinary General Professor Richter, as representative of the Veterinary Inspectorate, and another younger veterinary officer of the Army Veterinary Inspectorate; and from the Army Medical Inspectorate, Chief Medical Officer Klieve; the latter only as an observer, however. In addition, there was a staff officer of the Luftwaffe as representative of the High Command of the Luftwaffe, a staff officer of the Armaments Office as its representative, a well-known zoologist, and a botanist. But I do not know the names of these gentlemen.
At a secret conference it was decided that an institute should be created for the production of bacterial cultures on a large scale, and the carrying out of scientific experiments to examine the possibilities of using bacteria. The institute was also to be used for experim6nting with pests which could be used against domestic animals and crops, and which were to be made available if they were found practicable. That is the substance of what was discussed at the conference in July 1943.
Major General Alexandrov: And what was done after that? What do you know about that?
Walter Schreiber: A few days later, I learned from the Chief of Staff of the Army Medical Inspectorate, Generalarzt Schmidt-Bruecken, who was my direct superior, that Reich Marshal Goering had appointed the Deputy Chief of the Reich Physicians' League, Blome, to carry out the work, and had told him to found the institute as quickly as possible in or near Posen. Among the people who worked at this institute in Posen were Ministerialdirektor Schuhmann, Ministerial Councillor Stantin, and a number of other doctors and scientists whom I do not know. I myself made a report of this secret conference on the same day to the Chief of Staff, and a few days later to the Army Medical Inspector, Generaloberstabsarzt Professor Handloser, since he was not in Berlin at the time.
Major General Alexandrov, And what do you know about the experiments which were being carried out for the purpose of bacteriological warfare?
Walter Schreiber: Experiments were carried out at the institute in Posen. I do not know any details about them. I only know that aircraft were used for spraying tests with bacteria emulsion, and that insects harmful to plants, such as beetles, were experimented with, but I cannot give any details. I did not make experiments myself and do not know any details.
All of them cry out for a just solution, and that can be found only in the granting of equal rights to all races. Some progressive nations have made anti-Semitism a criminal offense. But was it criminal when society, the State, under the influence of those false ideas, sought the solution by prohibiting the races from mixing and influencing public life? Here again much can be explained by what was happening in those days. The bad example of a few Jewish immigrants from Eastern European countries, such as the notorious swindlers Barmat and Kutisker, was in sharp contrast to that of the great German Jew and unforgettable statesman, Walter Rathenau, who long ago had appealed to his brethren for a reawakening of their moral consciousness. This situation offered the basis for a collective attitude, for a mass psychosis against the Jews, aided by external economic distress, as always happens in the course of great political and social upheavals, just as in this present Trial it is about to happen again by creating collective injustice against certain categories of people. The demand to put this anti-,Semitic principle into practice by legal means could not have been a crime, because the State appeared to be the guarantor that the principle would be applied without hatred and personal revenge. In a way it was merely another version and anachronistic aggravation of the American legal principle of . . .
The President: Dr. Pelckmann, I do not want to interrupt you, but you will not lose sight of the fact that you are only going to be allowed half a day for the speech, and I observe that it is said to occupy 100 pages; and I 6nly interrupt you at the present stage to point out to you that the matters which you are dealing with now are matters of a general nature, to which our attention has been drawn throughout the course of this Trial, and it may be in your interest to shorten this part of your speech rather than other parts of it. That's the only reason why I interrupt you now.
After a visit to Dessau for the dedication of a new opera house, Hitler had watched a parade. Shortly before, for reasons of foreign policy, he had ordered that the Hitler Youth were no longer to take part in public parades. Allegations had been repeatedly published abroad that the Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization. Now, after the march-past of other organizations, Hitler saw units of the youth group approaching. In the presence of all the dignitaries, Schirach said, he shouted at his adjutant, Julius Schaub. Then he ordered Gauleiter Jordan to have the Hitler Youth turn back at once. Barely a hundred meters from Hitler's car thousands of young people who had come great distances from the countryside and small towns and had waited hours were stopped and sent back.
The scandal, the offense to the Gauleiter, the disappointment of the boys—all that left Hitler completely cold. Schirach saw the act as evidence of Hitler's intemperateness, but I disagreed. It rather seems to me that once more Hitler was putting on a calculated outburst. His purpose was to drive home a lesson; from now on his orders were to be obeyed meticulously. For he could well assume that word of the incident would spread like wildfire through the leadership of the Party. Compared to the salutary results, what did a few disappointments and a scandal in a small town in Saxony amount to! (Speer II)
levi.bookin@gmail.com
Fair Use Notice: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of historical, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, environmental, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Please Note: The list-owner and moderators of 3rdReichStudies are not responsible for, and do not necessarily approve of, the random ads placed on our pages by our web server. They are, unfortunately, the price one pays for a 'free' website.
