CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ PROSECUTING „HATE SPEECH“ AT THE IMT, NUREMBERG … Propaganda Ministry; a position he occupied till 1937. 13 He was then appointed Deputy to Alfred Ingemar Berndt (who headed the German Press Division) in the summer of 1938. In December of that same year (1938), Fritzsche succeeded Berndt as the head of the German Press Division; and received three promotions between 1938 and 1942. Advancing in titles from Superior Government Counsel to Ministerial Counsel, he finally became a Ministerial Director ( Ministerialdirektor ). 14 In November 1942, Dr Goebbels relieved him of his position, and he took charge of a newly created position in the Propaganda Ministry, that of Plenipotentiary for the Political Organization of the Greater German Radio. 15 He also headed the Radio Division of the Propaganda Ministry, positions he held till the demise of the Nazi regime in 1945. 16 In Nazi Germany, Fritzsche was not just a member of cabinet, but also an active subscriber and supporter of the ideas, plans and policies of the Nazi Regime. George Wilhelm Mueller, Ministerial Director in the Propaganda Ministry, in excerpts from a book, wrote of the general functions of the German Press Division of the Propaganda Ministry. In an affidavit made by Fritzsche, he described the functions of the German Press Division. 17 That description in the affidavit by Fritzsche unambiguously disclosed that the German Press Division was the principal instrument for subordinating the entire German press to the political aims of the Nazi regime. The Nazi regime relied on the media to engage in a psychological warfare. Each major atrocity, with few exceptions, was preceded by the dissemination of propaganda and campaigns in the press, all calculated to prepare the Germans psychologically for the attack while weakening their victims. The press became a tool that was used to influence foreign politics. As head of the German Press Division, Fritzsche personally gave representatives of the main German papers the daily role of the Reich Press Chief, taking the role of the principal conspirator directly concerned with the manipulation of the press. In his capacity as head of the German Press Division, the first major international aggression launched by the Nazi regime was the incorporation of Bohemia and Moravia, an attack that was flooded with the extensive use of propaganda. 18 Similar propaganda preceded the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, which bore the fingerprint and handiwork of Fritzsche. Fritzsche used the German Radio Network to paint the episode. 19 Customary definitions, fabrication and dissemination of lies, instigations, threats, and other tactics devised to polarize and debilitate the victim became the conventional pattern of the Ministry of Propaganda. These were reflected in some of the media rhetoric in the days preceding the invasion of Yugoslavia. 20 On the day “Operation Barbarossa” was launched, Fritzsche’s propaganda gave the German people a justification for the war. 21 (3469-PS)

13 See para. 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. 14 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. 15 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. 16 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. 17 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. See also paras. 14–16 (2434-PS).

18 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. See para. 3469. 19 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. See para. 3469.

20 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials. 21 2030-PS of the Affidavits at Nuremberg Trials.

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