E. Defendant's Membership in the SS.
In the course of its development from a group of strong
armed bodyguards, some 200 in number, to a complex
organization participating in every field of Nazi endeavor,
the SS found room for its members in high places. Persons in
high places moreover, found for themselves a position in the
SS. Of the defendants charged in the indictment at least 7
were high ranking officers in the SS. They are the
defendants Ribbentrop, Hess, Kaltenbrunner, Bormann,
Sauckel, Neurath, and Seyss-Inquart. The vital part that
Kaltenbrunner played in the SS, the SD, and the entire
Security Police system is discussed in Section 6 on the
Gestapo.
With respect to the other six defendants, the facts as to
their membership in the SS are to be found in two official
publications. The first is the membership list of the SS as
of 1 December 1936. On line 2, page 8, of that publication,
there appears the name "Hess, Rudolf," followed
by the notation, "By authority of the Fuehrer the right to
wear the uniform of an SS Obergruppenfuehrer." In the 1937
edition of the same membership list, line 50, page 10, there
appears the name "Bormann, Martin," and in line with his
name on the opposite page, under the heading
"Gruppenfuehrer," appears the following date "20 April
1937." In the same edition, line 56, page 12, is the name
"von Neurath, Konstantin" and on the opposite page, under
the column headed "Gruppenfuehrer," the date "18 September
1937."
The second publication is "Der Grossdeutsche Reichstag" for
the Fourth Voting Period, edited by E. Kienast, Ministerial
Director
[Page 235]
of the German Reichstag an official handbook containing
biographical data as to members of the Reichstag. On page
349 the following appears: "von Ribbentrop, Joachim,
Reichsminister des Auswaertigen, SS Obergruppenfuehrer"; and
on page 360 the following: "Sauckel, Fritz, Gauleiter and
Reichsstalthalter in. Thuringen, SS Obergruppenfuehrer"; and
on page 389 the following: "Seyss-Inquart, Arthur, Dr. Jur.,
Reichsminister, SS Obergruppenfuehrer."
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