rty membership. The
_Party Organization Book_ for 1940 (document 7, _post_ p. 186) also
states, "Only those racial comrades who possess German citizenship are
eligible for admission."[74]

Party members shall not exceed ten per cent of the German population
of the region. "The ideal proportion of the number of party members to
the number of racial comrades is set at ten per cent. This proportion
is to apply also to the individual Province [Gau]."[75]

_3. Pledges and Symbols of Allegiance_

Party members take an oath of loyalty to the Fuehrer in the following
terms: "I pledge allegiance to my Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. I promise at
all times to respect and obey him and the leaders whom he appoints
over me."[76]

(a) The Hitler Salute

A pledge of allegiance to the Fuehrer is also implied in the Nazi
salute, which is usually accompanied by the greeting, "Heil Hitler."
The phrase _mit deutschen Gruss_, which is commonly used as a closing
salutation in letters, is another form of the Hitler greeting. _Knaurs
Konversations-Lexikon_ (_Knaur's Conversational Dictionary_), published
in Berlin in 1934, contains the following definition:

_German greeting_, Hitler greeting: by raising the right
arm; used by the old Germans with the spear as a greeting of
arms _[Waffengruss]._ Communal greeting of the National
Socialists; introduced into general use in 1933.

That this greeting was used by the Nazis as early as 1923 is
demonstrated by a photograph which appeared in _Das Buch der NSDAP,
Werden, Kampf and Ziel der NSDAP_ (_The Book of the NSDAP, Growth,
Struggle, and Goal of the NSDAP_) by Walter M. Espe (Berlin, 1934),
illustration 34 (document 10, _post_ p. 214).

In the same book (page 23 in the supplement entitled "_Die NSDAP_")
the following distinction is made between the usual Nazi greeting and
the Storm Troopers' salute:

While the German greeting consists merely in raising the
right hand in any desired manner and represents rather a
general comradely greeting, the SA salute is executed, in
accordance with the specifications of the SA service
regulations, by placing the left hand on the belt and
raising the extended right arm.

The SA salute is to be given to all higher ranking leaders
of the SA and the SS and of the veterans' organization which
has been incorporated into the SA, as well as to the Army
and the national and security police fo