Part 11 (1/2)

[Footnote 87: Gauweiler, _op. cit._, p. 3.]

[Footnote 88: Huber, _Verfa.s.sungsrecht des grossdeutschen Reiches_ (Hamburg, 1939), p. 361.]

[Footnote 89: _Ibid._, pp. 365-366.]

[Footnote 90: _Ibid._, pp. 372-373.]

[Footnote 91: _Reichsgesetzblatt_ (1937), pp. 39-70.]

[Footnote 92: Gauweiler, _op. cit._, p. 156.]

[Footnote 93: Reported in a bulletin of the official German news agency, DNB, Apr. 14, 1942.]

n.a.z.i AIMS AND METHODS

Political Aims

The political aims of National Socialism have been written so clearly in history in the past 10 years that it does not appear necessary to discuss them at length here.

The detailed program of the n.a.z.i Party consists of the 25 points which were adopted on February 24, 1920 at a party ma.s.s meeting in Munich.

(The 25-point program appears in the Appendix as doc.u.ment 12, _post_ p. 222.) The points of particular interest in this study are the first four, which are set forth below:

1. We demand the union of all Germans to form a Great Germany on the basis of the right of the self-determination enjoyed by nations.

2. We demand equality of rights for the German People in its dealings with other nations, and abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain.

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the nourishment of our people and for settling our superfluous population.

4. None but members of the nation may be citizens of the State. None but those of German blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. No Jew, therefore, may be a member of the nation.[94]

_1. Internal Objectives_

A statement of the internal objectives of National Socialism is made by Gauweiler in his _Legal Organization and Legal Functions of the Movement_ (doc.u.ment 8, _post_ p. 204). The laws of the Reich must seek to establish and promote the five basic values recognized by n.a.z.i ideology:

1. Race: The legal protection of the race, which has created a new concept of nationality [_Volkszugehorigkeit_], is consciously put in first place, for the most significant historical principle which has been established by the victory of National Socialism is that of the necessity for keeping race and blood pure. All human mistakes and errors can be corrected except one: ”the error regarding the importance of maintaining the basic values of a nation.”

The purpose of this legal protection of the basic value of _race_ must be the prevention for all time of a further mixture of German blood with foreign blood, as well as the prevention of continued procreation of racially unworthy and undesirable members of the people.

2. Soil [_Boden_]: The living-s.p.a.ce and the basis for the food supply of the German people are its territory and soil.

The farmer is the first and deepest representative of the people since he nourishes the people from the fertility of the earth and he maintains the nation through the fertility of his own family. Here National Socialism had to accomplish two great legal ends: the reestablishment and the protection of the farmer cla.s.s and the securing of its land for the farmer family.

3. Work: The nation's work as a basic national value is grounded on the leading concept of ”work of the hands and of the head” within and for the community of the people and the elevation of work to the only criterion for the value of an individual within the community. In place of the idea of cla.s.s warfare, National Socialism had to establish the national community legally; in place of the defamation of work and its degradation to an object of barter, National Socialism had to raise it to an ethical duty and the right to work had to become the most clearly defined personal right of the individual. The concept of the honor of work had to be established as the basic concept of the national honor.

4. The Reich: With the securing of the three basic values of race, soil, and work arises the National Socialist Reich.

The infusion of foreign cultural and legal influences in Germany was a consequence of the weakening of the central authority of the German Reich since the Middle Ages. The creation and insuring of a strong central authority in contrast to the disorganized, federalistic system of the Weimar Republic became one of the princ.i.p.al lines of National Socialist legal policy. In consequence of the National Socialist revolution, the Reich took on the legal form of a totalitarian state and received a supreme and completely authoritative lawgiver in the person of the Fuhrer. The principle of a division of power could no longer maintain itself: The formulation, the interpretation, and the execution of the law are all performed by the Fuhrer himself or under his authority.

5. Honor: The fifth great value of the nation is its honor.