Use of word "Master Race" at First Nuremberg Trial

"What is a word but breath, and what is breath, but air?" - Shakespeare
--

The word "Master Race" appears 82 times in the Nuremberg Trial transcript.
Not bad for an extremely rare word, mistranslated, used a known total of 8 or 9 times.
Note the extreme confusion as to who said it, where, oh, he's dead, I never said it, what does it mean, what does it correspond to in German, and oh, well, if it's wrong for us, then it's wrong for the Jews, too.
The prosecution never proved the existence of any "Master Race doctrine" and/or the correctness of their translation with sources and examples.
The defendants did not basically dispute these things, it is true; nor did they dispute the existence of the gas chambers, steam chambers, electrical chambers, pedal-driven brain-bashing machines, or any of the rest of it.
Instead, partly as a result of intimidation and partly under the influence of their lawyers, they took flight into technicalities: he did it, not me, I didn't know (which is true, they didn't know), etc.
And who the hell are the Soviets to lecture the Germans about genocide or the persecution of religion? - C.P.]

The word "Master Race" at Nuremberg was used...

4 times in volume 1
14 times in volume 2
8 times in volume 3
3 times in volume 4
3 times in volume 5
0 times in volume 6
6 times in volume 7
1 time in volume 8
5 times in volume 9...

GORING: Yes, absolutely incorrect.
DR.STAHMER: What did you understand by the term "master race"?
GORING: I myself understood nothing by it. In none of my speeches, in none of my writings, will you find that term. It is my view that if you are a master you have no need to emphasize it.
p. 263, volume 9, 14 March 1946

GEN. RUDENKO: Quite generally. I have a few concluding questions to put to you. First of all, regarding the so-called theory of the master race. I should like to put to you only one question in this connection and I should like you to reply directly to it. Were you in accord with this principle of the master race and education of the German people in the spirit of it, or were you not in accord with it?
GORING: No, and I have also stated that I have never used that expression either in writing or orally. I definitely acknowledge the differences between races.
GEN. RUDENKO: But do I understand you correctly that you are not in accord with this theory?
GORING: I htave never expressed my agreement with the theory that one race should be considered as a master race, superior to the others, but I have emphasized the difference between races.
GEN. RUDENKO: You can answer this question; it seems, you do not consider it right?
GORING: I personally do not consider it right.
GEN. RUDENKO: You do not consider it right?
GORING: I personally do not consider it right.
GEN. RUDENKO: The next question: You have stated here to the Tribunal that you did not agree with Hitler regarding the question of the annexation of Czechoslovakia, the Jewish question, the question of war with the Soviet Union, the value of the theory of the master race, and the question of the shooting of the British airmen who were prisoners of war. How would you explain that, having such serious differences, you still thought it possible to collaborate with Hitler and to carry out his policy?
GORING: That was not the way I worded my answers. Here, too, we must consider separately various periods of time. As to the attack against Russia, there were no basic differences but differences as to the date.
GEN. RUDENKO: You have told that already. Excuse me; I do not want you to be lengthy on this theme. Will you reply directly?
GORING: All right. I may have a different opinion from that of my Supreme Commander, and I may also express my opinion clearly. If the Supreme Commander insists on his opinion and I have sworn allegiance to him, then the discussion comes to an end, just as is the case elsewhere. I do not think I need to elaborate on that.
pp. 651-52, volume 9, 22 March 1946

0 times in volume 10

4 times in volume 11...


DR. THOMA: Then I should like to ask the defendant how he will answer the charge that National Socialism preached a master race.
ROSENBERG: I know that this problem is the main point of the Indictment, and I realize that at present, in view of the number of terrible incidents, conclusions are automatically drawn about the past and the reason for the origin of the so-called racial science. I believe,' however, that it is of decisive importance in judging this problem to know exactly what we were concerned with. I have never heard the word "master race" ("Herrenrasse") as often as in this court room. To my knowledge, I did not mention or use it at all in my writings. I leafed through my writings and speeches again and did not find this word. I spoke only once of super humans as mentioned by Homer, and I found a quotation from a British author, who in writing about the life of Lord Kitchener said the Englishman who had conquered the world had proved himself as a creative superman ("Herrenmensch"). Then I found the word "master race" ("Herrenrasse") in a writing of the American ethnologist, Madison Grant, and of the French ethnologist, Lapouge. I would like to admit, however, and not only to admit, but to emphasize, that the word "superman" (Herrenmensch) came to my attention particularly during my activity as Minister in the East, and very unpleasantly, when used by a number of leaders of the administration in the East.

[COMMENT BY C.PORTER: If this isn't confusing, I don't know what is.

In the end, "Herrenvolk" is just a word, an extremely rare word, with many synonyms and many connotations, nothing more. it should never have been translated at all. it should have been introduced into english as a loan word, like "Schadenfreude", "Weltschmerz", "Gemütlichkeit" or "Gesundheit".  The English language is full of loan words. This was never done. The original German was never given, obviously because the translation would have been questioned.

"Herr" usually means "man" or "gentleman", and "Volk" usually means "people". To address someone as "Herr" is a term of respect.

Rosenberg used the word "Herrenvolk" twice in his "Myth of the Twentieth Century", once in the sense of "ruling people" or "nation of men", in reference to the Amorites, an ancient people much admired by Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and once... (drum roll, fanfare, great suspense)... in reference to the British (!!!), with obviously begrudging admiration, in what is otherwise a lengthy and otherwise rather uncomplementary passage, in the sense of "ruling people" or "colonial power".

I think this proves that the single word "Herrenvolk" had no real significance, or people would remember using it.

Rosenberg also says that the culture of a country is the culture of its ruling race, but the word he uses in German is not "Herrenvolk", but, rather, "Grundrasse", "founding race".

In other words, "Herrenvolk" is one of many synonymous words, all of which mean the same thing: "Ruling People", "Dominant race" or "Colonial Power".

These are basic concepts of history. How can you discuss history for even 30 seconds, even with a child, without the concept of "Ruling People" or "Dominant Race"?

For example, that the Normans became the "ruling people" or "dominant race" in England after the Battle of Hastings?

Gobineau never used the term "Race des Seigneurs"; he used two other terms, "type dominateur" and "race d'elite". "Herrenvolk" is not used in the German translation of his book.

Houston Stewart Chamberlain never used the term "Herrenvolk", rather, he used other, synonymous terms.

History is full of "Herrenvölker", the most obvious of which would be the Greeks and Romans.

Neither Chamberlain nor Rosenberg ever advocated aggressive war, genocide or the enslavement of other nations. Rosenberg even said that the Europeans should abandon all their Asian colonies and leave the Asians alone.

Hitler uses the term "Herrenvolk" 3 times, and 3 times only, in Mein Kampf, in the sense of "ruling people" or "dominant race", in purely theoretical abstract discussions of the distant past or future. He never identifies this "Herrenvolk" with the Germans.

Goebbels [?] uses the term "Herrenvolk" once, in the sense of "colonial power". The date of the speech, apparently the only alleged occasion upon which he ever used the term, is always given as 17 January 1936, on the Berlin "Gautag" (Regional or Provincial Day). But just try to find the text of the speech! It is not included in Helmut Heibig's 850-page collection of Goebbel's speeches, and is, or was, apparently considered so utterly unimportant as to be unworthy of mention anywhere else, at least as far as I can tell. In fact, there appears to be no trace of the existence of this speech, anywhere; the National Archives do not have it. My personal belief is that the quote is authentic, but is probably a misattribution.

"Colonial power" is one of the obvious meanings of the word. What Goebbels [or whoever really made the speech] actually says is, "We must participate in governing the world... we must become a Herrenvolk". To "participate in governing the world" was common N.S. jargon for "possessing colonies". These terms are practically synonymous.

In the sentence immediately preceding, however, Goebbels [?] also uses another, almost incomprehensible, coined word, "Weltvolk", apparently a synonym for the same thing: "a nation with colonies", or "Weltreich", which means exactly the same thing (at least as used by Himmler in his speech of 24 October 1943, mentioned below). More on this later.

All European nations had colonies, even Denmark. Only the German colonies were stolen. It seems obvious that these words have no real significance, and have nothing to do with any "Master Race".

Dr. Robert Lei, in an extraordinarily passionate and well-organized 49-minute speech given at a Siemens factory on February 6, 1942 (available in its entirety from www.HitlerLibrary.org), uses the word "Herrenvolk", once -- and only once -- in the same sense as Goebbels, in a purely industrial context, criticizing the failure of industrialists and bureaucrats to treat workers as individuals, as human beings. Lei says, approximately, you must know your workers, you must select them very carefully; you must consider their inclinations, their habits, their mentality. You can't put a 20-year old on an assembly line next to a 60-year old, because the 60-year old can't work as fast and you're wasting a lifetime of experience. In an extraordinary attack on governmental and industrial bureaucracy and useless paperwork, he says that rationalization has become a mania. In Berlin, they rationalize everything -- everything except conferences, conferences, more conferences -- committees, guidelines, regulations, paperwork, proposals, systems, and all how you're supposed to do everything. They dream this stuff up in offices, on a desk -- using lead pencils, red pencils, blue pencils, yellow pencils, until they run out of colours [great applause]. There's only one place to rationalize, and that's in the factory. Rationalization means dealing with things rationally -- people, machinery, technology. Stay in your factory, my friend, walk around and look into everything, see where improvements can be made. Don't tell me everything's in order; wherever there are human beings, you get instant disorder. Stay home. Don't go to any more conferences, don't sit on any more committees. You won't learn anything anyway. Take my advice, stay at home and put your factory in order. Finally, and perhaps most remarkably, he goes on to say, "We Germans are great at prohibiting things. Every town prohibits things, every mayor prohibits things, every office prohibits things. It is prohibited to walk on the grass, it is prohibited to sit on the bench -- prohibited on pain of death. No, my friend, we have a lot to learn. Anybody who wants to be Herrenvolk and a Weltvolk musn't prohibit, but rather, permit -- reward, reward, pay bonuses." ["Wir Deutschen sind großbartig im Verbieten. Jede Stadt verbietet, jeder Burgermeister verbietet, jedes Amt verbietet. Es ist verboten, den Rasen zu betreten. Es ist verboten, auf den Bank zu sitzen. Es ist verboten -- bei Todestrafe. Nein, mein Freund, wir haben viel zu lernen. Wer ein Herrenvolk und Weltvolk sein will, muss nicht verbieten, sondern erlauben: belohnen, belohnen, Premien zahlen"].
The idea of organizing competitions for bonuses for increased production is then developed at great length-- approximately ten minutes -- remarking, finally, that you've got to pay the bonuses, too -- you can't just promise them. In other words, in modern jargon, Lei was an advocate of "positive reinforcement".

Used seriously -- instead of as a mere sarcastic reflection of Allied propaganda -- "Herrenvolk", "Weltreich" and "Weltvolk" all mean the same thing: "world power", "nation with colonies", or something similar.

What is ironic is that the first 20 minutes of Lei's speech are dedicated to an extraordinarily violent (and prescient) attack on the Jews, whom he calls the "vampires of humanity". If "Herrenvolk" were a racial term, surely the place to have used it would have been during the first part of the speech as an antithesis to these human "vampires". Finally, the sarcastic mention of getting the "death penalty" for "walking on the grass" or "stitting on a bench" indicates that his use of the words "Herrenvolk" and "Weltvolk" was probably ironic as well.

Heinrich Himmler uses the term "Herrenvolk" twice, "Herrenmensch" once, and "Herrenrasse" once, sarcastically, in the sense of an attitude of arrogant superiority, but he makes it clear that this attitude is mistaken.

In his speech at Posen on 4 October 1943, in attacking laziness, he says, "a Master Race allows itself to be shot, but it does not dig in."

In his "Tag der Freiheit" speech with Arthur Greiser in the Warthegau outside Posen on 24 October 1943, he says, more or less, there are two attitudes towards the Slavs; first, we must win them over, treat them as friends and equals; and, second (and when everything started it was usually this way), "I am a Herrenmensch, or we are a Herrenvolk" -- they hang a sign around their necks saying so, because otherwise nobody would notice -- "Slavs are inferior trash, they must be ruled by brute force", adding, it's a pendulum effect, they swing from one extreme to another, it's often a matter of chance just where you end up on this scale. He then discusses the psychology and history of the Slavs at great length, making it clear that both extremes are wrong: we must avoid over-familiarity, but at the same time we must avoid giving offense, because whatever Germanic blood the Slavs possess makes them very proud people. If you offend them unnecessarily, you just make unnecessary enemies.

In his "Haus der Flieger" speech in Berlin on June 9, 1942, he says, "When your foreign labour slaves see you stumbling around drunk, it really gives an excellent, convincing impression of this Herrenrasse that just got here". This is the way Himmler uses these words: always sarcastically.

Erich Koch, an unimportant and very unpopular official in the Ukraine, allegedly used the term "Herrenvolk" twice, with great arrogance, in a typical Nuremberg trial document, in the sense of "we won the war".

All victorious peoples have a whole vocabulary of self-praise with which to assert their authority. In Britain, the equivalent phrase is "We Won the War". If I had a dollar for every time I've heard the British say "We Won the War" -- those four short words thought to serve as proof of infinite superiority -- I could retire.

And to believe that Koch even said these things, you've got to believe a Nuremberg trial document -- an unsigned "certified true copy" full of omissions and deletions, the original of which has apparently never been found.

You can listen to all of Hitler's speeches -- I've listened to 50 or 60 hours of them myself -- and you'll never hear any of these words.

I've also listened to an estimated 180 hours of non-Hitler National Socialist speeches, and the only person who ever used the terms "Herrenvolk" or "Herrenmensch" was Himmler, always sarcastically, in a single speech only, as mentioned above. There may be more, but I doubt it.

Finally, who the hell was Erich Koch compared to Hitler?

Rosenberg also uses the word "Herrenrasse" once, as the alleged title of a handwritten manuscript by Rosenberg, which has never been printed, published or translated, and it is never quoted. Maybe it doesn't prove what it was supposed to prove. -C.P.]

[Back to Alfred Rosenberg]

Perhaps when we come to the question of the East, I may return to this subject in detail and state what position I took in regard to these utterances which came to my attention. In principle, however, I was convinced that ethnology was, after all, not an invention of the National Socialist movement, but a biological discovery, which was the conclusion of 400 years of European research. The laws of heredity, discovered in the 1860's and rediscovered several decades later, enable us to gain a deeper insight into history than many other earlier theories.  Accordingly, race. ..

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Thoma, the defendant is going back now into the origins of the views which he held. Surely, all we have got to consider here is his statement in speeches and in documents and the use to which he put those statements, not as to whether they were 400 years old, or anything of that sort.
pp 450-51, volume 11, 15 April 46

2 times in volume 12...

DR. DIX: I know that, because I was present on the occasion of that address. What did you think about the ideology of the master race (Herrenvolk)?
SCHACHT: I have always considered it a very unhappy precedent to speak of a "chosen people," or of "God's own country," or of things like that. As. a convinced adherent to the Christian faith I believe in Christian charity, which bids me extend love to all men without regard to race or faith. I would like to mention also that the silly talk about the master race, which some Party leaders made their own, was held up to constant ridicule by the German public. That was not surprising, because most of the leaders of the Hitler Party were not exactly ideal types of the Nordic race. And in that connection, when these things were discussed among the German population, little Goebbels was referred to as "Der Schrumpfgermane”, the shrivelled Teuton.
Only one thing I have to say this to be just did most of the leaders of the Party have in common with the old Teutons, and that was drinking; excessive drinking was a main part of the Nazi ideology.
DR. DIX: What did you think of the so-called National Socialist Weltanschauung?
SCHACHT: Weltanschauung in my opinion is a summation of all those moral principles which enable me to acquire a clear judgment on all aspects of life. Therefore it is a matter of course that a Weltanschauung cannot take root in the tangible world, but must rise above it; it is something metaphysical, that is to say, it is based on faith, on religion. A Weltanschauung which is not rooted in religion is in my opinion no Weltanschauung at all. Consequently I reject the National Socialist Weltanschauung which was not rooted in religion.
pp 445, volume 12, 30 April 1946

0 times in volume 13
0 times in volume 14
9 times in volume 15...

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal think that you must answer the question, whether or not you approve of the doctrine of Lebensraum.
SAUCKEL: I am not fully acquainted with the statements made by the Führer about the doctrine of Lebensraum. I should like ' to emphasize that I never thought of Lebensraum in connection with the carrying out of wars, or wars of aggression; neither did I promote the idea; but the idea of Lebensraum is perhaps best brought home to us by the fact that the population of Europe in the last 100 years has increased threefold, from 150 million to 450 million.  
M. HERZOG: Did you, or did you not approve of the theory 'of Lebensraum? Answer "yes" or "no."
SAUCKEL: I did not agree with the theory of Lebensraum if it had to do with wars of aggression.
M. HERZOG: Did you approve of Hitler's theory of the master race?
SAUCKEL: I could give abundant proof that I personally always refused to emphasize the idea of a master race, and said so in my speeches. I am personally much more interested in proficiency than in ideas about a master race.
M. HERZOG: Then you did not think that the foreign policy of Germany should have been conducted according to these two theories; the theory of Lebensraum on the one hand, and the theory of the master race on the other hand?
SAUCKEL: I have already stated to my counsel that I did not concern myself with foreign policy and was not informed about it, as I am not versed in matters of foreign policy.
p. 62 vol. 15, 29 May 1946

...SAUCKEL: May I ask you to repeat the question? I did not quite understand it in German.
M. HERZOG: I was asking you yesterday if you considered that the foreign policy of Germany was based on the two Hitlerian theories, Lebensraum and the master race.
SAUCKEL: I have understood whether German foreign policy was based on the principles of Lebensraum and the master race.
M. HERZOG: Yes, I am asking you to answer whether, in your opinion, it was so.
SAUCKEL: Not on the principle of a master race. I should like to be permitted to give an explanation of this.
I personally have never approved of the statements made by some of the National Socialist speakers about a superior race and a master race. I have never advocated that. As a young man I travelled about the world. I travelled in Australia and in America, and I met families who belong to the happiest memories of my life. But I loved my own people and sought, I admit, equality of rights for them; and I have always stood for that. I have never believed in the superiority of one particular race, but I always held that equality of rights was necessary.

p. 63, vol 15, 29 May 1946

0 times in volume 16
14 times in volume 17...   

DR. FRITZ: You are accused, furthermore, of having spread the doctrine of the "master race." The Prosecution makes this charge indirectly against you. How about that?
FRITZSCHE: I never set up or voiced the theory of the "master race." I even avoided this term. I expressly prohibited this term being used by the German press and the German radio when I was in charge of one or the other. I believe that the term "master race" played a greater role in the anti-National Socialist propaganda than in Germany proper. I do not know who invented this term. To my knowledge it was publicly mentioned only by men like Dr. Ley, for example, men, and I must explain this frankly and expressly, who were not taken seriously by anyone in this connection. It is true, however, that this term played a great role, without being expressed openly, among the SS because of its racial exclusiveness; but people of intelligence, tact and insight, and with some knowledge of the world, very carefully avoided the use of this word.
Hans Fritschze p. 150 volume 17, 27 June 1946

[Turning to the defendant.] The second quotation used by the Prosecution is an excerpt from your radio speech of 18 March 1941. The Prosecution was of the opinion that this was also an incitement for the persecution of Jews, and they said, further, that it was proof of your propaganda with the term "master race."
Mr. President, this speech of 18 March 1941 may be found in my Document Book Number 1, Pages 2 to 7.
[Turning to the defendant.] The Prosecution quoted only one paragraph from this speech. What can you tell us in this connection?
FRITZSCHE: I do not wish to read this quotation. I rather ask that you read it carefully yourself, and after you have read it you will see that I completely agreed with Mr. Roosevelt when he said that there was no master race. I endorsed the correctness of this sentence not only as it applied to the German people, but to Jewry as well. The Prosecution concluded from this sentence that it was a justification for acts committed in Jewish persecutions in the past and that it was a foreboding of more persecutions to come. I do not understand this conclusion; it has no basis whatsoever.
Hans Fritschze, p. 169, volume 17, 27 June 1946

GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): I should like to begin the cross-examination in determining the role which German propaganda played in the criminal activity of the Hitler Government. Tell me, do you admit that German propaganda disseminated racial theories and introduced into the minds of the German people the ideas of the superiority of the German race that means, the idea of the "master race"? Do you admit that?
FRITZSCHE: The question touches upon two problems. May I reply to both of them? I admit that German propaganda spread the racial theory, but I deny that German propaganda spread the theory of the "master race."
GEN. RUDENKO: You do not admit it?
FRITZSCHE: No.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You admit that the German propaganda incited in the German people racial hatred toward the Jews and propagated the necessity of their extermination?
FRITZSCHE: Once again two problems are contained in this question. May I answer to both?
GEN. RUDENKO: I beg your pardon, you do not have to emphasize this. Just answer the question; if there are Bwo, answer two. ,
FRITZSCHE: I admit, as I have done in my answer to your first question, that German propaganda spread the racial theory but I deny most emphatically that German propaganda had made preparations for, or had called for, the mass murder of Jews.
GEN. RUDENKO: But you do not deny that German propaganda preached to the German people racial hatred toward Jews? You do not deny that?
FRITZSCHE: I cannot even affirm that without reserve. That is the reason why, in my answer to the second question, I made a slight distinction. German propaganda, and under that I under stand official German propaganda, did not even preach racial hatred. It only spoke about racial distinctions, and that is something quite different; but I will admit that there was a certain type of German propaganda which went beyond that and which did preach the clear-cut and primitive racial hatred.
GEN. RUDENKO: You will admit that the activity of German propaganda was also directed against the Church?
FRITZSCHE: No, even that I have to deny.
GEN. RUDENKO: Will you pretend that the German propaganda was not directed toward the persecution of the Church?
FRITZSCHE: That is exactly what I wanted to say. The official German propaganda did not persecute the churches. On the other hand, in order to clear up this point for you, here again there was an unofficial, illegal propaganda which preached against the Church. However, the State and its organizations, during the time of the struggle with the Church, made many utterances and declarations which might have created an impression as if they had participated in the struggle against the churches. By this I mean the trials against clergymen which were given sensational importance.
GEN. RUDENKO: Very well. You will admit that the propaganda conducted by the Hitlerite Government in connection with the so-called problem of the expansion of the Lebensraum of Germany, cultivated and developed in the German nation militaristic tendencies.
FRITZSCHE: I deny that, too, and most emphatically.
GEN. RUDENKO: Do you admit that German propaganda used provocative methods, lies, and slander in order to camouflage the aggressive plans of the Hitlerite Government?
FRITZSCHE: Mr. Prosecutor, it is most difficult for me to answer that question after all I have voluntarily testified to in this courtroom yesterday. If I am to make the attempt to summarize very briefly, then I shall have to say this: I maintain that the German propaganda gave the German nation in the case of every individual action which was carried out, from the occupation of the Rhineland to the attack against the Soviet Union, a picture of the events which, among the Germans, must have created the impression that we were in the right. On the other hand, however, I myself -- and I explained already when this happened -- had recognized that the structure of these arguments had a basis which was shaky in various respects.
GEN.RUDENK0: That is to say, on the basis of lies and slander?
FRITZSCHE: No. Please let me apologize, but your way of putting it does not appear to be quite factual enough.
GEN. RUDENKO: You will persist then in denying that German propaganda used methods of slander and lies; you do deny this?
FRITZSCHE: Yes, certainly, I deny it, based on my thorough knowledge of German propaganda; and I should like you to permit me to give you a very brief explanation in this connection.
GEN. RUDENKO: Please, will you give an explanation, but directly, to my question?
FRITZSCHE: But of course. Looking at it today, it was the misfortune of the German people that its propaganda, particularly with regard to those details which can be checked and controlled, was so clean that it was completely overlooked that in its three basic principles there were three fundamental mistakes. I cannot be more explicit.
GEN. RUDENKO: What kind of mistakes are you speaking about?
FRITZSCHE: The first, the trust in Adolf Hitler's humaneness, which was destroyed by the order to murder 5 million people

[NOTE: NO SUCH ORDER HAS EVER BEEN FOUND. -C.P.]

; the second, the trust in the ethical purity of the system, which was destroyed by the orders to apply torture

[DITTO. AT THIS POINT I EVEN WONDER WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT. -C.P.];

and the third, the absolute trust in Adolf Hitler's peaceful intentions, shaken by what has been brought up in this courtroom

[A "TRIAL" IN WHICH MOST OF THE EVIDENCE IS OF SOVIET ORIGN, WITH HUNDREDS OF OBVIOUS FORGERIES. -C.P.].

Fritschze, pp 195-97, volume 17, 28 June 1946

DR. FRITZ: Now we shall turn to a different subject. The Prosecution charges the Defendant Fritzsche with having influenced the German people in the idea of the master race and thus with having incited hatred against other nations. Did Fritzsche ever receive instructions at all to conduct a propaganda campaign on behalf of the theory of the master race?
VON SCHIRMEIST'ER: No, under no circumstances. In this connection, one must know that Dr. Goebbels could not at all use this Party dogma and myth. These are not things which attract the masses. To him, the Party was a large reservoir, in which as many different sections of the German people as possible should be united; and particularly this idea of the master race, perhaps on account of his own physical disability, he ridiculed and rejected completely; it did not appeal to him. Shall I answer the question of hatred now? You also asked me about that.
DR. FRITZ: Yes.
VON SCHIRMEISTER: A propaganda of hatred against other nations was quite contrary to the propaganda line as set out by Dr. Goebbels, for he hoped, and to the end he clung to this hope like a fata morgana, that one day he could change from the policy of "against England'' and "against America" to the policy of "with England” and "with America." And if one wants to do that, one cannot foster hatred against a nation. He wanted to be in line with the nations, not against them.
DR. FRITZ: Against whom then was this propaganda in the press and on the radio directed?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: Primarily, against systems; it was Dr. Goebbels who established the concept "plutocracy" in the sense in which the whole world knows it today, later the concept "Bolshevism" was added from the other side. Sometimes his propaganda was directed against some of the men in power; but he could not get the full cooperation of the German press on that point. That annoyed him; and in a conference he once said, "Gentlemen, if I could put 10 Jews in your place, I could get it done." But later he stopped these attacks on personalities such as Churchill; he was afraid that these men would become too popular as a result of his counterpropaganda. Apart from that, he did not hate Churchill personally at all, secretly he actually admired him; just as, for example, throughout the war he had a picture of the Duke of Windsor on his desk. Therefore the propaganda of hatred was directed temporarily against individual men but always against systems.
DR. FRITZ: Witness, before answering the next question, will you check your memory very carefully, and particularly remember your oath. Was it the aim of this propaganda for which Fritzsche received orders and which he carried out, to arouse unrestrained passions tantamount to incitement to murder and violence, or what was its purpose?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: No. The minister could not use passions at all in his propaganda, for passions flare up and die down again. What the minister did need was a steady and constant line, stead fastness even in hard times. Stirring up of passions, inciting to hatred, or even murder would not have appealed to the German people nor could Dr. Goebbels use anything like that.
29 June 46
pp. 253-254, volume 17, 29 June 1946 

VON SCHIRMEISTER: Very well, I can leave that. The differences between the two men are well known. However, in regard to Russia, I must add that there both press and propaganda came under the jurisdiction of Herr Rosenberg up to about March of 1944. And in this sphere as well, Dr. Goebbels . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute, wait a minute. What has this Russian propaganda got to do with the defendant?
DR. FRITZ: No; the German propaganda in Russian territory that is what I asked him about. He is only going to say one sentence about it; in fact, he has already said it.
VON SCHIRMEISTER: Up to 1944, Rosenberg, to the great concern of Dr. Goebbels, who believed that the Russian campaign could have been won in the field of propaganda.
DR. FRITZ: I have one more question to put to you. Yesterday, when Herr Fritzsche was being cross-examined, the Prosecution submitted several interrogation records; among them, for example, that of Field Marshal Schorner, in which the testimony is unanimous in saying that Fritzsche was the permanent deputy of Goebbels as Propaganda Minister. Is that correct?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: That is bare nonsense. I cannot imagine how a statement like that came to be made. There is not a word of truth in it.
DR. FRITZ: Thank you. Mr. President, I have no further questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Does any of the other defendants' counsel want to ask any questions of the witness?
[There was no response.]
Does the Prosecution wish to cross-examine?
GEN. RUDENKO: Mr. President, the Prosecution do not intend to question this witness; but this does not mean that we accept without objection the testimony which he has given here.
THE PRESIDENT: The witness may retire.
Von Schirmeister, pp. 253-55, volume 17, 29 June 1946

6 times in volume 18...

DR. THOMA: I shall try to do that, Mr. President. I once more refer to Mr. Jackson's statement that Rosenberg's nationalism, or militarism, was "wild." In this connection I should like to refer only to the fact that such nationalism was a compensatory symptom, which is easily found in a conquered country. The accusation dealing with anti-Christianity and neo-paganism is something which I have already mentioned, and I should just like to refer to it. I have dealt with the term "master race," mentioning the fact that these words are not found in Rosenberg's works at all.
p 119, volume 18

The term "master race," to my knowledge, does not appear in Rosenberg's writings, nor does it fit into Rosenberg's ideology, which proceeds from the race as a general law. Therefore. Rosenberg speaks of the Nordic, Mediterranean, Dinaric race, in relation to races which are biologically different, not in the sense of an arrogant judgment as to value, but in the sense of racial facts, in the sense of honoring the entire human race of Europe.
p. 121, volume 18

According to the assertion of the Prosecution, the members of this Party started out with the plan of subjugating the world, of annihilating foreign races, and of setting the German master race above the whole world. They are accused of having harbored the will to carry out these aims and plans from the very outset by means of aggressive wars, murder, and violence. If, therefore, the Defendant Streicher's mere participation in the NSDAP and his support of it are to be ascribed to him as a crime, it must be proved that the Party had such plans and that the defendant knew and approved of them.

The gentlemen who spoke before me have already demonstrated sufficiently that a conspiracy with such aims did not exist. Therefore I can save myself the trouble of making further statements on this subject and I can refer to what has already been set forth by the other defense counsel. I have only to deal with the point that the Defendant Streicher did not in any case participate in such a conspiracy, if the latter should be considered by the High Tribunal to have existed.

The official Party Program strove to attain power in a legitimate way. The aims advocated therein cannot be considered as criminal. Thus, if such aims did actually exist, they could only by the very nature of a conspiracy be known in a restricted circle.
The Party Program was not kept secret but was announced at a public meeting in Munich, so that not only the whole public of Germany but also that of the entire world could be informed about the aims of the Party. Therefore that element supplied by secret agreement towards a common aim, which is usually the characteristic sign of a conspiracy, is not present.

The evidence too, has shown nothing to the effect that already at that time there existed a plan for a war of revenge or aggression connected with the previous or simultaneous extermination of the Jews. If, nevertheless, a conspiracy should have existed, the latter would have confined itself to the restricted circle which revolved exclusively around Hitler. But the Defendant Streicher did not belong to that circle. None of the offices he occupied provides the least proof of that. As an old Party member he was just one among many thousands. As honorary Gauleiter, as honorary SA Obergruppenführer, he was also only an equal among equals. Thus one cannot find in any of the offices he held any connection or complicity with the innermost circle of the Party. It is also impossible to discern after the end of 1938 any personal relations with the leading men of the Movement, either with Hitler himself or with the Defendant Goring, or with Goebbels, Himmler, or Bormann.

The Prosecution did not offer any evidence on this point, nor did the proceedings produce any proof to that effect. Of all the material presented during all these months of the Trial, nothing can be taken as even a shadow of proof that the Defendant Streicher was so closely connected with the supreme authority of the Party that he could have, or even must have, known its ultimate aims.

In the Jewish question, too, the final aims of the Party the effects of which were manifest in the concentration camps were not, before the seizure of power and for several years after, formulated and determined as they appeared in the end. The Party Program itself provided for Jews to be placed under aliens' law, and so the laws issued in the Third Reich followed this line. Only later on, it may be added, the program in this as in many other points became more radical and finally went haywire altogether under the influence of the war. But any proof that the Defendant Streicher knew other aims than those of the official Party Program has not been offered. Consequently it has not been proved that the defendant supported the seizure of power of the Party in cognizance of its criminal aims; and only on such a basis could a penal charge be brought against him.
The fact that the defendant, as Gauleiter, further endeavored to increase and maintain the power of the Party after the seizure of power is not disputed by him. But here, too, the defendant's conduct can only be considered punishable if he knew at that time the objectionable aims of the Party. As a matter of actual fact

pp 193-94, volume 18 defense counsel for Streicher

Nowhere has Schirach, I would like to state in conclusion with regard to this topic, at any time up to the outbreak of the second World War expressed the idea that he might wish Germany to conquer foreign territories; neither has he ever uttered the odious slogans of the German "Master Race" or the "Sub-humanity" of other nations; on the contrary, he was always in favor of preserving peace with the neighboring nations and always advocated the peaceful settlement of any conflicts that cropped up out of inevitable clashes of interests.

pp 441, defense counsel for von Schirach

9 times in volume 19...

GEN.RUDENKO
All the activities of the defendants were directed toward the preparation and the launching of aggressive wars. All their so-called "ideological work" consisted in the cultivation of 'bestial instincts, in the installation of the absurd idea of racial superiority in the conscience of the German people, and in the practical realization of their plans for the extermination and enslavement of peoples of "inferior" races, who were supposed only to serve for fertilizing the growth of the "master race." Their "ideological work" consisted in a call to murder, to plunder, to the destruction of culture, and to the extermination of human beings.
p.  571, volume 19

This connection is evident and indisputable. If the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoess, extracted the gold teeth of the dead, we may say that the Reich Minister, Walter Funk, opened special vaults in the cellars of the Reichsbank in which to keep these gold teeth. If Kaltenbrunner's subordinates exterminated people in "murder vans", the vans themselves were built at the works of Sauer, Daimler and Benz, who again were the subordinates of the Defendant Speer. If the prisoners of war were destroyed by professional henchmen of the Death's Head unit and by the camp guards, the orders to exterminate were signed by Keitel, Generalfeldmarschall of the German Armed Forces. That is to say, it is the defendants who gave the sign for extermination, issued the orders to create a special murder technique, and explained the ideological reasons for the right of the master races to exterminate "inferior races." It was they who calmly and ruthlessly watched the tortured victims and, as Hans Frank, delivered solemn speeches about "one more step forward" taken by German fascism toward ridding "the living space" of "the inferior races."

same, p. 573, volume 19

And when the representatives of the "master race" elaborated and committed acts of aggression, when the German occupation troops enslaved and exterminated nations and peoples, when the factories of death were created at Maidanek and Auschwitz, Treblinka and Chelmno, Rosenberg's share in all these crimes was not insignificant. All this was the outcome of the fascist racial ideology, the essence of which consists in the idea that the "Aryan, North Germanic" race is a "master race," and that all other races and nations belong to "lower strata."
Rosenberg's counsel said: "The Tribunal mast judge crimes and not theories." In Rosenberg's case such an argument is clearly unconvincing. For Rosenberg not only confessed the fascist racial theory, but knowingly propagated it and instilled it into the conscience of the German people, this very theory which became a direct menace to the existence of the democratic European states. The person who carries microbes must be isolated, but the person who willingly disseminates microbes must be tried.
same, p. 600, volume 19

0 times in volume 20
5 times in volume 21...

DR. LATERNSER: What was the attitude of the generals toward the Party and its methods?
VON RUNDSTEDT: The generals either rejected the Party or were indifferent. As for the methods regarding the Jewish question, they absolutely rejected them,  particularly because many comrades were severely affected by the Aryan laws. The so-called master race is an absurdity. There is a mixture of Slav, Romanic, and Dinaric races in Germany. We also rejected the attitude in the Church question, and we succeeded in retaining chaplains in the Army up to the end.
DR. LATERNSER: Was this attitude also true of the younger generals who, in the course of the war, came into positions subject to the Indictment?
VON RUNDSTEDT: As far as my own close acquaintances are concerned, absolutely.
p. 21, volume 21, 12 August 1946

HERR BOHM: What was the opinion and the attitude of the SA on the Jewish question?
JUTTNER: The SA demanded that the influence of the Jews in national affairs, in the economy, and in cultural life, be reduced in accordance with their position as a minority in Germany. It advocated a numerus clausus.
HERR BOHM: And what was the reason for this demand or this attitude?
JUTTNER: This demand, which was not only that of the SA, became general in Germany when after the first World War, in 1918 and 1919, great numbers of Jewish people emigrated from Poland to Germany and entered into the economic and other spheres of life, where they gained considerable influence in an undesirable manner. Through certain large judicial proceedings all this profiteering and this disintegrating influence had become known, and it caused much ill will and resulted in a movement of opposition. Even Jews who had lived in Germany for a long time, and societies of German citizens of the Jewish faith, took position against these influences in a decided manner. So one can readily see that the .demand of the SA was well-grounded.
HERR BOHM: Did the SA incite, others to active violence against the Jews?
JUTTNER: No, in no way. Never did, the Chiefs of Staff, Rohm, Lutze, or Schepmann treat the Jewish question in their speeches, or issue any directives in that respect, much less incite others to violence. The concept of a so-called "master race" was never fostered in the SA; that would have been quite contrary to reason, for the SA received its replacements from all strata. The extermination of a people because of its type was never given any support by the SA, and actions of violence against Jews were not favored by the SA. Quite the contrary, the leader ship always objected most strongly to actions of that kind.
pp 134-35, volume 21, 13 August 1946

The presentation given by Dr. Best in Document 1852-PS does not give the true facts and is wishful thinking. The affidavits taken together in the third group contain material to refute the assertion of the Prosecution that the SS was trained in the doctrine of the "Master Race" and in racial hatred, and that it prepared for war mentally and physically. This assertion also appears in the trial brief on Page 6, and in the transcript of 19 and 20 December.
They are Affidavits Numbers 57, 58, 59, 60, and 83, and they prove that the SS was not trained in racial hatred and certainly not for racial extermination, also that the SS was not trained for war either mentally or physically.
DR. PELCKMANN, p. 353, volume 21, 20 August 1946

[COMMENT: I think that what is meant here is that the SS were elite police personnel, and perhaps not specifically trained militarily.
The principle involved is explained by Hitler on p. 300 of MEIN KAMF, Murphy translation: "For this reason it was decided that the Storm Detachment of the German National Socialist Party ought not to be in the nature of a military organization. It had to be an instrument of protection and education for the National Socialist Movement and its duties should be in quite a different sphere from that of the military defence association." Otherwise these affidavits would make no sense, since every able-bodied male in the country was "trained for war" in some capacity. One would have to obtain these 5 affidavits and read them. DR. PELCKMANN was a defense attorney, not a defendant and not a Nazi. Fritzsche was acquitted. - C.P.]

HERR PELCKMANN: Yes. It deals with the training which the SS members received. 55,303 SS members state that in this training they had no indication of criminal aims. It was training for character, for decency, for comradeship, and exemplary conduct of life. It is noteworthy that none of the SS men in connection with the training mentions Hitler's book Mein Kampf. Statistics will prove that the mass of SS men did not read this book at all.
289 affidavits deal with the evaluation of the racial doctrine. 233 do not consider it conducive to racial hatred, to the desire to destroy other races, or to create a master race. They see therein only a demand for a separation of the races from one another. 57 affidavits see in the doctrine the purpose of selecting the best among the people. Various affidavits say that the racial doctrine included respect for other peoples. The problem of colonization and  Germanization is not mentioned in any affidavit as a so-called training problem.
p. 368, volume 21, 29 June 46

Final statement before the court:
To this charge I can only say that if I had spread the kind of propaganda in my radio talks of which the Prosecution now accuses me; if I had advocated the doctrine of the master race; if I had preached hatred against other nations; if I had incited people to wars of aggression, acts of violence, murder, and inhumanity; if I had done all that -- then, Gentlemen of the Tribunal, the German nation would have turned from me and would have repudiated the system for which I spoke.
Even if I had done this only in disguised form, my listeners would have noticed it and repudiated it.
But the misfortune lies precisely in the fact that I did not advocate all these doctrines which were secretly guiding the actions of Hitler and a small circle which, in the light of the testimony of the witnesses Hoess, Reinecke, and Morgen, among others, is now slowly emerging from the mist in which it was hidden until now. I believed in Hitler's assurances of a sincere desire for peace...
Hans Fritzsche, p. 408, volume 22, 31 August 1946

[COMMENT: Like Frank, Fritzsche was completely deceived, perhaps the result of demoralization and fatigue in a hopeless situation. - C.P.]  

... and 3 times in volume 22...

From the earliest days of the NSDAP, anti-Semitism had occupied a prominent place in National Socialist thought and propaganda. The Jews, who were considered to have no right to German citizenship, were held to have been largely responsible for the .troubles with which the nation was afflicted following on the war of 1914-1918. Furthermore, the antipathy to the Jews was intensified by the insistence which was laid upon the superiority of the Germanic race and. blood. The second chapter of Book 1 of Mein Kampf is dedicated to what may  be called the "Master Race" theory, the doctrine of Aryan superiority over all other races, and the right of Germans, in virtue of this superiority, to dominate and use other peoples for their own ends.
MR. JUSTICE BIRKETT  (alternate member of the Tribunal for the United Kingdom ), p. 421, volume 22, 30 September 1946.  

[COMMENT: CHAPTER 2 OF MEIN KAMPF CONTAINS NO MENTION OF THE WORD "HERRENVOLK" BUT IT DOES CRITICIZE THE JEWS. THE CLAIM THAT CHAPTER 2 OF MEIN KAMPF IS DEDICATED TO "WHAT MAY BE CALLED THE 'MASTER RACE' THEORY" IS THUS AN EXPLICIT ADMISSION THAT THE WHOLE "MASTER RACE" ACCUSATION HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WORD "HERRENVOLK", AND AMOUNTS TO MERE CRITICISM OF JEWS.

IN OTHER WORDS, AS ALWAYS, SOMETHING OF SOLE CONCERN TO JEWS IS PRESENTED AS SOMETHING UNIVERSAL.

WHAT THIS MEANS IS ALL THESE HUGE COMPLICATED DISCUSSIONS OF A SINGLE WORD ARE, IN REALITY, COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT AND THAT, APART FROM CRITICISM OF THE JEWS, THERE IS NO "MASTER RACE" DOCTRINE WHATSOEVER. THE WORDS "MASTER RACE" AND "HERRENVOLK" ARE JUST A SMOKE SCREEN. I AM SURPRISED THAT JUSTICE BIRKETT WOULD ADMIT THIS. - C.P.]

TOTAL 82 TIMES
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LINKS

The Myth of the "Thousand Year Reich" by C.W. Porter (introduction)
The Myth of "Kadavergehorsam" by C.W. Porter (related problem)
MAIN ARTICLE NOT READY YET
"Master Race" Not a Term Used by the National Socialists - "Herrenvolk" as a Stand-Alone Term by C.W. Porter
Antonio Machado on the so-called "Master Race"
"Master Race" Quiz
Source Material on the "Master Race" Accusation, Nuremberg -- click here
Excerpt from introduction to "Der Lebensborn, e.V,", by Georg Lilienthal (translated by C.W. Porter) click here
Excerpts from pp 150-155 of "Der Lebensborn, e.V,", by Georg Lilienthal (translated by C.W. Porter) click here
Excerpts from “Deutsche Mutter, bist du bereit” ["German Mother, Are You Prepared?"] by Dorothee Schmitz-Köster (translated by C.W. Porter) click here
Excerpt from Chapter 1 of “Dem Führer ein Kind Schenken” by Volker Koop (translated by C.W. Porter) click here
Excerpt from pp. 232-34 of “Dem Führer ein Kind Schenken” by Volker Koop (translated by C.W. Porter) click here
Excerpts from "Master Race: The Lebensborn Experiment in Germany" by Catherine Clay and Michael Leapman -- click here
"Master-Race"/Lebensborn Internet World Lie Championships FIRST PRIZE -- I Am a Lebensborn Child -- click here
"Master-Race"/Lebensborn Internet World Lie Championships SECOND PRIZE -- "Master Race Baby" Olaf Schmedermann -- click here
"Master-Race"/Lebensborn books on amazon.com, amazon.de and amazon.fr (with translations) click here
"Master-Race"/Lebensborn World Championship Lie Videos on youtube.com (with translations) click here
Review of History Channel's "History's Mysteries: The Lebensborn (reviewed by C.W. Porter) click here
Filmography of Arthur Brauner, "German" producer of world's first "terrifying" trash film epic about "Nazi sex farms" (completed in 3 weeks) -- click here
The Non-Existence of any Nazi "Doctrine" of the "Master Race" -- click here
The "Master Race" accusation at Nuremberg -- click here
Jewish Racism - click here
Excepts from "Myth of the Twentieth Century" -- Use of word "Herrenvolk" by Alfred Rosenberg -- click here
Use of word "Master Race" in standard literature -- click here
Anti-Nazi "Master Race" sexploitation pics -- click here
Nazi "Sex Farms" -- The Lie... and the Reality... click here
Explanation of remarks on William L. Shirer -- click here