Schacht testified as to his first meeting with Hitler, his attitude on the Jewish Question and his changing attiute toward Hitler. Schacht was on the stand for 4 days. Schacht was later acquitted of all charges. Justice Jackson cross-examined Schacht for more than one-half day. Jackson pressed him to identify the criminals of the Regime. Jackson confronted Schacht with a number of photographs which place Schacht with those criminals.
Fritz Sauter. Some of the cross-examination of Funk is among the fascinating episodes of the Trial. The testimony concerned the Fuehrer Principle and its application to the German people.
Also, how he met Hitler. May 4, , testimony of Defendant Walter Funk on direct examination by his counsel, Dr. It was conducted by his Counsel, Dr. Otto Kranzbuehler. He testifies through a translator in English about U-boats and his political career. This segment occurred on May 8, Doentz agreed the labeling U-boats as an aggressive weapon but stated that it does not mean that it was a weapon for an aggressive war.
The tactics were received from Admiral Raeder. Concern yourself only with the safety of your own boat and with efforts to achieve success as soon as possible. We must be hard in this war. On May 8, , Dr. U-boats was an aggressive weapon but that did not mean it was a weapon for an aggressive war.
This May 10, segment deals with the orders of Admiral Doenitz concerning responsibility to the seamen in boats after the sinking of their ship. His response is translated into English. Subjects covered included positions of Doenitz after January when he became Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, denial of knowledge of the concentration camps, use of foreign worker and the laws concerning Submarine warfare.
The purpose of the affidavit was to indicate that Puhl had informed Funk of the nature of the deposits from the inmates of the concentration camps.
This excerpt shows Dr. He had worked in the vaults of the Reichsbank as a Councillor. He testified regarding the deliveries to the Bank of gold, silver, jewelry, pearls and pearl necklaces.
This testimony was part of the Funk presentation. He also testified regarding the Melmer affair and Vice President Puhl. Fritz Sauter calling him to the stand. The defendant testified about how he got involved and how the Youth Group functioned. He asked about songs included in the song book of the Hitler Youth. One spoke of the Jews as traitors who enslaved misguided people. On May 23, , Dr. You hear the testimony through an English translator.
Following the direct examination is the cross examination conducted by Thomas Dodd, Deputy U. On May 27, , Dr. In German, He explained his role. On May 28, , Dr. He testified, in German, about the forced evacuations of Jews from Vienna and the procedures used for resettlement.
On May , , Dr. His case concerned the charges of slave labor. He briefly talks about the difficulty of meeting the demands of the Central Planning Board. He is cross examined by M. On May Robert Servatius. Ironically, Dr. Sevatius would represent Adolf Eichmann in his Trial in Jerusalem in A June 4, excerpt from the questioning by Dr.
On June 4, , Dr. He stated, in German, that he was chief of one of the many departments subordinate to Keitel. He did not have authority to issue orders. This is an excerpt from witness, Dr. Wilhelm Jaeger, the senior camp director for foreign workers at the Krupp concern in Essen.
The examination is conducted by Dr. Robert Servatius, counsel for Fritz Sauckel. He testifies as to his relationship with Krupp and the German Labor Front.
On June 6, , British prosecutor, G. Roberts, cross examined defendant Alfred Jodl on the Hossbach Conference and his understanding of its significance leading to war. This is an excerpt from the cross examination of Alfred Jodl by British prosecutor ,G.
Roberts on June 6, On June 6, , G. He questions regarding the Sagan order regarding the killed British air men and his feelings towards Hitler thereafter. On June 10, , Dr.
He controlled Austria, Poland and the Netherlands. In German, Seyss-Inquart testifies regarding his early memberships. The sound is not good but gives you a sense of this Defendant. Rainer testified regarding Seyss-Inquart and the Austrian leader Schushnigg relationship which lead to the Austrian expansion. The testimony in this excerpt is translated in English. This excerpt finds Von Papen, in German, trying to explain the early rise of Hitler and his possible role.
Speer had been a close friend and confidant to hItler since He said that his Ministry collected the demands for labor from industries subordinate to it without specification as to whether the laborers be German, foreign workers, or prisoners of war.
It was one of the highlights of the Trial. He conceded that the Nazis were anti-semitic and the Jews were being evacuated from Germany. He acknowledge that there was a deportation of , Jews from Hungary.
June 20, saw the beginning of the defense case on behalf of Albert Speer, Reich minister for Armaments and War Production. Justice Robert H Jackson conducted the first and by far the longest cross examination of Albert Speer on June 21, In August , nearly a year and a half after von Neurath became Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, he wrote a letter of Dr.
Lammers, head of the Reich Chancellery, a letter on the future organization of Bohemia and Moravia. The letter outlined the Germanization and treatment of the natives. It was not longer possible either to have a voice in the press… any more than in Russia. On June 26, , Hans Fritzsche was called to the stand by his counsel Dr.
Heinz Fritz. In German, he testified on his motivation and attitude towards the Nazis. He also spoke of Kaltenbrunner, Hess and Goebbels. On June 26, , Dr. Gerhard Kopke to the stand. He testified von Neurath repeatedly tried to exercise his moderating and calming influence on the Party. Boris Bazilevskzy, former deputy mayor of the city of Smolensk during the German occupation, testified that before the German occupation there were Polish prisoners of warworking on roads.
He testified that early Sept. Two weeks later, he said the Poles had been shot. Uopn cross, he said he had not seen the burial grounds as the Germans had denied access. On direct exam by Dr. Stahmer, he said that during his soldiers state that shootings were supposed to have taken place in the Katyn Forest. Upon cross, Ahrens said he had not been there during September and October He had seen the graves in and the graves had been open.
He never prepared a report. Otto Kranzbuehler obtained the permission of the Tribunal obtain an interrogatory from U. Pacific Fleet. On July 2, Dr. Kranzbuehler offered the Nimitz answers into evidence. It was cruciall testimony for Doenitz.. On July 5, , Dr. Martin Horn, counsel for Joachim von Ribbentrop, presented his final arguments on behalf of his client.
The presentation is in German. Otto Nelte tried to show that the SS and Police organizations influenced the conduct of the war and how the Wehrmacht was drawn into events. On July 12, , Dr. Hermann Marx, Counsel for Julius Streicher presented the closing argument on behalf of his client. In German, Dr. His speech was four hours long. He declared that all major actions by the Nazi leaders were related to preparation for watr. In this excerpt, he quotes extensively from the affidavit of Herman Graebe, a German engineer who observed one of the Einsatzgruppen executions of Jews at the airport near Dubno in the Soviet Union.
In these filmed excerpts, the scenes of Jackson in a long necktie are trial footage; the scenes of Jackson in tuxedo were filmed after hours, in the empty courtroom, for the U. The French summation was delivered by the chief prosecutor M.
Auguste Champetier de Ribes on July 29, He began by paying tribute to the disclosures of the Trial for the benefit of history. In summarizing the kinds of atrocities committed he mentioned the taking and shooting of hostages, the burning down of whole villages in France and Holland, the maltreatment of prisoner of war and forced labor. In he became Commander-in-Chief West. In this excerpt, Von Rundstedt , in German.
In this excerpt Taylor reads from an order of July 23, signed by Keitel. Reference was also made to the Commissar Order and a certain Order he signed. He had difficulty recalling these. This is a short excerpt of a cross examination by Maj. Juettner was examined for 4 straight days and on Aug. This excerpt deals with the training of the SA. On Aug. He admitted that he had discussed with him the deposit of valuables in the Reichsbank.
In German, Funk said he knew that the SS had thousands of members who naturally had valuables. He denied that Pohl had informed him that they were taken from Jews who died in the concentration camps. The subject dealt with SS deposits in the Reichsbank. In his final statement Kaltenbrunner once again claimed that his title inflated his real authority.
He declared that he had concentrated his activites on military intelligence. Thereafter was the head of the Radio Division of the Propaganda Ministry. Fitzsche placed great emphasis on the fact he had been deceived by Hitler. Franz Von Papen, on Aug. I spoke without fear of man whenever I had to speak.
To carry out this duty was for me an honor, and the highest law. President Lawrence called upon the defendants in order in which they were listed in the Indictment.
Near the end of his presentation, Goering absolved the German people of any guilt. He showed no contrition and did not ask for any special considerations. I served this man. And now? Fritz Sauckel, Gauleiter and Plenipotentiary for the Utilization of Labor, summarized his defense, in German, be emphasizing his humble social background, his empathy for workers, his commitment to Hitler, his efforts to secure good treatment for all workers and his surprise at the revelations of evil during the Trial.
In this segment, portions of the final statements from Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbruner and Speer are shown. After the final statement by Fritzche, the Tribunal adjourned to deliberate on the Judgments which would be delivered on Sept.
On August 31, , Wilhelm Keitel gave his final satement. That is my fate. His statement throughout emphasized the danger of dictatorship in an age of great technological development. He uttered not on word in his own defense. Hess asked for permission to remain seated. I do not regret anything.
The Soviets dealt with slave labor and Nazi organizations. On Sept. Following the reading a recess occurs. Judge Norman Birkett on Sept. All of the members and alternate members of the Tribunal participated in the reading which lasted over one and one half days. The Judgment began by describing the foundations of the Tribunal, the scope of the proceedings and the kinds of evidence.
These are vignettes of all 8 Judges reading portions of the Judgment at Nuremberg on Sept. The afternoon session would be the announcements of the sentences. This scene show the adjournment and the defendants reacting to the Verdicts. It was subsequently learned Bormann had died in Berlin in On the morning of Oct. Three were acquitted: Schacht, Fritzche and von Papen. After lunch on Oct. Life: Hess, Raeder and Funk. Twenty Years: Speer and von Schirach.
Fifteen years: von Neurath. Ten Years: Doenitz. May 02, - The Appointment. Credit: U. Chief Prosecutor, Mr. In the second place, it was a totally unploughed field. Jun 06, - The Report to the President. Robert H. President Harry S.
Truman and Justice Robert H. Jackson, June Credit: Harry S. Jackson's Notes We then went to work with might and main to get out a report to the President on a plan for conducting the trials. On reading this report they had a new confidence in our enterprise. Jackson's Notes The conference at London was planned for June 25, In the first place, the representative who held that life position of the independence and power had among the legal profession a good deal of prestige by reason of the office.
Jackson's Notes On August 8, we signed the agreement, as I was authorized to do on behalf of the United States, and it was announced to the world. Oral History Research Office, Nov 20, - The Indictment. Nov 21, - Justice Robert H. Justice Roberrt H. Jackson gestures with his left hand as he delivers the prosecution's opening statement before a packed courtroom at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, where high-ranking ex-Nazi officials will be tried for war crimes.
Jackson's Notes So the task that immediately fell to me was to prepare the opening speech which I would deliver, and to get the evidence arranged for presentation in the following week to support my opening remarks. Nov 23, - The Nazi Party. Nov 27, - Dr. Nov 27, - Aggressive War. Nov 29, - Concentration Camp Film. Nov 30, - Hess. Nov 30, - Lahousen. Dec 05, - Maxwell-Fyfe. Dec 05, - British Opening Statement.
Dec 11, - Servatius. Dec 11, - The Nazi Plan. Jan 2, Santiago de Chile. There are legal issues with the Nuremberg trials, but in a moral sense it's something that is rarely seen in human history, that perpetrators of massacres on grand scale be put to justice even an erroneous concept of it and made accountable for their transgressions.
The irony is that if it wasn't for the Americans and British who providentially happened to have the most actual Nazi's and war criminals in their hands at wars end the Nazi leadership would not have even had a trial, the soviets wanted kangaroo courts and quickly hang and shoot all of them, it took american persuasion to convince the other allies to actually hold a trial knowing there was a possibility some would get off.
The trials might not be great by a legal point of view, but they were essentially just and moral in a an ethical sense, at least in my book. Most of the crimes the allies omitted were omitted because of the Soviet Union, and its nefarious track record before and during the war with war crimes, and other issues we all know, not much the western allies could have done about that, if it helps any they managed to at least get an actual trial for those convicted, and set a very important precedent in international law that still stands, that it is not a viable excuse to claim 'I was following orders'.
Reactions: Druid and PeabodyKid. Kevinmeath Ad Honoris. May 15, Navan, Ireland. Jaquet said:. And everything they were accused at Nuremberg was done also by the Allies, Kevinmeath said:.
What should have happened to mass murderers or doctors who for little or no medical reason experimented on children? But these are the things which have turned the stomach of the world and set every civilized hand against Nazi Germany. Germany became one vast torture chamber.
Cries of its victims were heard round the world and brought shudders to civilized people everywhere. I am one who received during this war most atrocity tales with suspicion and scepticism. But the proof here will be so overwhelming that I venture to predict not one word I have spoken will be denied.
These defendants will only deny personal responsibility or knowledge. Under the clutch of the most intricate web of espionage and intrigue that any modern state has endured, and persecution and torture of a kind that has not been visited upon the world in many centuries, the elements of the German population which were both decent and courageous were annihilated. Those which were decent but weak were intimidated. Open resistance, which had never been more than feeble and irresolute, disappeared.
But resistance, I am happy to say, always remained, although it was manifest in only some events as the abortive effort to assassinate Hitler on July 20, With resistance driven underground, the Nazi had the German State in his own hands. But the Nazis not only silenced discordant voices. They created positive controls as effective as their negative ones.
Propaganda organs, on a scale never before known, stimulated the Party and Party formation with a permanent enthusiasm and abandon such as we, democratic people, can work up only for a few days before a general election.
All these controls from their inception were exerted with unparalleled energy and single-mindedness to put Germany on a war footing. Finally, a conscript army was brought into being. Financiers, economists, industrialists joined in the plan and promoted elaborate alterations in industry and finance to support an unprecedented concentration of resources and energies upon preparations for war.
Germany rearmament so outstripped the strength of her neighbors that in about a year she was able to crush the whole military force of continental Europe, exclusive of that of Soviet Russia, and then to push the Russian armies back to the Volga. These preparations were of a magnitude which surpassed all need of defense, and every defendant, and every intelligent German, well understood them to be for aggressive purposes. Before resorting to open aggressive warfare, the Nazis undertook some rather cautious experiments to test the spirit of resistance of those who lay across their path.
They advanced, but only as others yielded, and kept in a position to draw back if they found a temperament that made persistence dangerous. On 7 March the Nazis reoccupied the Rhineland and then proceeded to fortify it in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Pact of Locarno.
Their encountered no substantial resistance and were emboldened to take the next step, which was the acquisition of Austria. Despite repeated assurances that Germany had no designs on Austria, invasion was perfected. On March 12th invasion began. The next day, Hitler proclaimed himself Chief of the Austrian State, took command of its armed forces and a law was enacted annexing Austria to Germany.
Threats of aggression had succeeded without arousing resistance. Fears nevertheless had been stirred. They were lulled by an assurance to the Czechoslovak Government that there would be no attack on that country. We will show that the Nazi Government already had detailed plans for the attack. We will lay before you the documents in which these conspirators planned to create an incident to justify their attack. They even gave consideration to assassinating their own Ambassador at Prague in order to create a sufficiently dramatic incident.
They did precipitate a diplomatic crisis which endured throughout the summer. Hitler set September 30th as the day when troops should be ready for action. Under the threat of immediate war, the United Kingdom and France concluded a pact with Germany and Italy at Munich on September 29, , which required Czechoslovakia to acquiesce in the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany.
It was consummated by German occupation on October 1, The Munich Pact pledged no further aggression against Czechoslovakia, but the Nazi pledge was lightly given and quickly broken. On the 15th of March , in defiance of the treaty of Munich itself, the Nazis seized and occupied Bohemia and Moravia, which constituted the major part of Czechoslovakia not already ceded to Germany.
Once again the West stood aghast, but it dreaded war, it saw no remedy except war, and it hoped against hope that the Nazi fever for expansion had run its course. But the Nazi world was intoxicated by these unresisted successes in open alliance with Mussolini and in covert alliance with Franco. Then, having made a deceitful, delaying peace with Russia, the conspirators entered upon the final phase of the plan to renew war. I will not prolong this address by detailing the steps leading to the war of aggression which began with the invasion of Poland on September 1, The further story will be unfolded to you from documents including those of the German High Command itself.
The plans had been laid long in advance. That plan in the original bears the initials of the Defendants Keitel and Jodl. They were planning the attack and planning it long in advance of the declaration of war.
That attack began the war. The plan was issued by Keitel on April 3rd, The attack did not come until September. Steps in preparation for the attack were taken by subordinate commanders, one of whom issued an order on June 14, providing that:.
The initial superiority over the Polish frontier guards and surprise that; can be expected with certainty are to be maintained by quickly bringing up other parts of the Army as well to counteract the marching up of the Polish Army…. The basis of all preparations will be to surprise the enemy….
We have also the order for the invasion of England, signed by Hitler and initialed by Keitel and Jodl. As early as November 5, Hitler told Defendants Goering, Raeder, and Neurath, among others, that German rearmament was practically accomplished and that he had decided to secure by force, starting with a lightning attack on Czechoslovakia and Austria, greater living space for Germans in Europe no later than and perhaps as early as PS.
Over and above the natural fertility, thorough-going German exploitation will enormously increase the surplus. We cannot expect a repetition of the Czech affair. There will be war. On August 22nd, Hitler again addressed members of the High Command, telling them when the start of military operations would be ordered. He disclosed that for propaganda purposes, he would provocate a good reason.
After all, the victor will not be asked whether he talked the truth or not. We have to proceed brutally. The stronger is always right. For the first time in history we have to fight on only one front, the other front is at present free. But no one can know how long that will remain so.
I have doubted for a long time whether I should strike in the East and then in the West. Basically I did not organize the armed forces in order not to strike. The decision to strike was always in me. Earlier or later I wanted to solve the problem. Under pressure it was decided that the East was to be attacked first …. We know the bloody sequel.
Frontier incidents were staged. Demands were made for cession of territory. When Poland refused, the German forces invaded on September 1st, Warsaw was destroyed; Poland fell. The Nazis, in accordance with plan, moved swiftly to extend their aggression throughout Europe and to gain the advantage of surprise over their unprepared neighbors. Despite repeated and solemn assurances of peaceful intentions, they invaded Denmark and Norway on 9th April ; Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg on 10th May ; Yugoslavia and Greece on 6th April As part of the Nazi preparation for aggression against Poland and her allies, Germany, on 23rd August , had entered into a non-aggression pact with Soviet Russia.
It was only a delaying treaty intended to be kept no longer than necessary to prepare for its violation. On June 22, , pursuant to long-matured plans, the Nazis hurled troops into Soviet territory without any declaration of war. The entire European world was aflame. The Nazi plans of aggression called for use of Asiatic allies and they found among the Japanese men of kindred mind and purpose.
They were brothers, under the skin. He wrote:. These Russians had the mission to kill Stalin. A number of additional Russians, whom he had also sent across, had been shot at the frontier.
On March 5, a top-secret directive was issued by Defendant Keitel. The aim was stated to be to crush England quickly thereby keeping the United States out of the war. Matsuoka reassured Ribbentrop about the Far East. Japan, he reported, was acting at the moment as though she had no interest whatever in Singapore, but intends to strike when the right moment comes. The proofs in this case will also show that the leaders of Germany were planning war against the United States from its Atlantic as well as instigating it from its Pacific approaches.
Deliberations on this subject are being embarked upon here. The Wehrmacht was at the gates of Moscow. Taking advantage of the situation, and while her plenipotentiaries were creating a diplomatic diversion in Washington, Japan without declaration of war treacherously attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines.
These aggressions were met in the only way that they could be met, with instant declarations of war and with armed resistance which mounted slowly through many long months of reverses until finally the Axis was crushed to earth and deliverance for its victims was won. We are within 5 minutes of the recessing time.
It will be very convenient for me if it will be agreeable to you. Justice Jackson, I understand that you wish to continue to , when you may be able to conclude your speech? Even the most warlike of peoples have recognized in the name of humanity some limitations on the savagery of warfare. Rules to that end have been embodied in international conventions to which Germany became a party. This code had prescribed certain restraints as to the treatment of belligerents.
The enemy was entitled to surrender and to receive quarter and good treatment as a prisoner of war. We will show by German documents that these rights were denied, that prisoners of war were given brutal treatment and often murdered.
This was particularly true in the case of captured airmen, often my countrymen. It was ordered that captured English and American airmen should no longer be granted the status of prisoners of war. They were to be treated as criminals and the Army was ordered to refrain from protecting them against lynching by the populace.
R The Nazi Government, through its police and propaganda agencies, took pains to incite the civilian population to attack and kill airmen who crashlanded. They are to make this instruction known to their subordinate officers verbally. We will show the circulation of secret orders, one of which was signed by Hess, to be passed orally to civilians, that enemy fliers or parachutists were to be arrested or liquidated PS.
By such means were murders incited and directed. This Nazi campaign of ruthless treatment of enemy forces assumed its greatest proportions in the fight against Russia.
Eventually all prisoners of war were taken out of control of the Army and put in the hands of Himmler and the SS PS. In the East, the German fury spent itself.
Russian prisoners were ordered to be branded. They were starved. I shall quote passages from a letter written February 28, by Defendant Rosenberg to Defendant Keitel:. Of 3,, prisoners of war, only several hundred thousand are still able to work fully. A large part of them has starved, or died, because of the hazards of the weather. Thousands also died from spotted fever …. They lay under the open sky during rain or snow. Even tools were not made available to dig holes or caves ….
Civilized usage and conventions to which Germany was a party had prescribed certain immunities for civilian populations unfortunate enough to dwell in lands overrun by hostile armies. The German occupation forces, controlled or commanded by men on trial before you, committed a long series of outrages against the inhabitants of occupied territory that would be incredible except for captured orders and captured reports which show the fidelity with which those orders were executed.
We deal here with a phase of common criminality designed by the conspirators as part of the common plan. We can appreciate why these crimes against their European enemies were not of a casual character but were planned and disciplined crimes when we get at the reason for them.
To Germanize or to destroy was the program. He urged deportation of Slavic children to deprive potential enemies of future soldiers. Against this background, we must view the plan for ruthless warfare, which means a plan for the commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. Hostages in large numbers were demanded and killed.
Mass punishments were inflicted, so savage that whole communities were extinguished. Rosenberg was advised of the annihilation of three unidentified villages in Slovakia. The population does not know if they will still live tomorrow. They are faced with death by starvation….
Russian girls were deloused by men, nude photos in forced positions were taken, women doctors were locked into freight cars for the pleasure of the transport commanders, women in night shirts were fettered and forced through the Russian towns to the railroad station, etc.
All this material has been sent to the OKH. Perhaps the deportation to slave labor was the most horrible and extensive slaving operation in history. On few other subjects is our evidence so abundant or so damaging. The authority is not affected by the changes connected with the evacuation and transportation to the reception camps of Bialystok, Krajewo, and, Olitei The Fuhrer wishes that this activity be increased even more.
When enough labor was not forthcoming, prisoners of war were forced into war work in flagrant violation of international conventions PS. The treatment of these slave laborers was stated in general terms, not difficult to translate into concrete deprivations, in a letter to the Defendant Rosenberg from the Defendant Sauckel, which stated:. Their production must be brought to the highest possible level …. In pursuance of the Nazi plan permanently to reduce the living standards of their neighbors and to weaken them physically and economically, a long series of crimes were committed.
There was extensive destruction, serving no military purpose, of the property of civilians. Dikes were thrown open in Holland almost at the close of the war not to achieve military ends but to destroy the resources and retard the economy of the thrifty Netherlanders. There was carefully planned economic syphoning off of the assets of occupied countries.
An example of the planning is shown by a report on France dated December 7, made by the Economic Research Department of the Reichsbank. The question arose whether French occupation costs should be increased from 15 miliion Reichsmarks per day to 25 million Reichsmarks per day. The Reichsbank analyzed French economy to determine whether it could bear the burden. The report concluded:. In this connection, it must be noted that the economic powers of France never equalled those of the German Reich and that the vanquished France could not draw on foreign economic and financial resources in the same degree as Germany after the last World War.
It is small wonder that the bottom has been knocked out of French economy. We need not be hypocritical about this business of looting. I recognize that no army moves through occupied territory without some pilfering as it goes.
Usually the amount of pilfering increases as discipline wanes. If the evidence in this case showed no looting except of that sort, I certainly would ask no conviction of these defendants for it. But we will show you that looting was not due to the lack of discipline or to the ordinary weaknesses of human nature.
The German organized plundering, planned it, disciplined it, and made it official just as he organized everything else, and then he compiled the most meticulous records to show that he had done the best job of looting that was possible under the circumstances. And we have those records. The Defendant Rosenberg was put in charge of a systematic plundering of the art objects of Europe by direct order of Hitler dated 29 January PS.
On the 16th of April Rosenberg reported that up to the 7th of April, 92 railway cars with 2, cases containing art objects had been sent to Germany; and that 53 pieces of art had been shipped to Hitler direct, and to the Defendant Goering. The report mentioned something like 20, pieces of seized art and the main locations where they were stored. Moreover this looting was glorified by Rosenberg. Here we have 39 leather-bound tabulated volumes of his inventory, which in due time we will offer in evidence.
One cannot but admire the artistry of this Rosenberg report. The Nazi taste was cosmopolitan. Of the 9, articles inventoried, there were included 5, paintings, sculptures, 1, pieces of antique furniture, textiles, and 2, small objects of art.
Rosenberg observed that there were approximately 10, more objects still to be inventoried. I shall not go into further details of the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity committed by the gangster ring whose leaders are before you.
It is not the purpose in my part of this case to deal with the individual crimes. I am dealing with the Common Plan or design for crime and will not dwell upon individual offenses. My task is to show the scale on which these crimes occurred, and to show that these are the men who were in the responsible positions and who conceived the plan and design which renders them answerable, regardless of the fact that the plan was actually executed by others.
At length, this reckless and lawless course outraged the world. It recovered from the demoralization of surprise attack, assembled its forces and stopped these men in their tracks. Once success deserted their banners, one by one the Nazi satellites fell away.
Sawdust Caesar collapsed. Resistance forces in every occupied country arose to harry the invader. Even at home, Germans saw that Germany was being led to ruin by these mad men, and the attempt on July 20, to assassinate Hitler, an attempt fostered by men of highest station, was a desperate effort by internal forces in Germany to stop short of ruin.
Quarrels broke out among the failing conspirators, and the decline of the Nazi power was more swift than its ascendancy. German Armed Forces surrendered, its Government disintegrated, its leaders committed suicide by the dozen, and by the fortunes of war these defendants fell into our hands. Although they are not, by any means, all the guilty ones, they are survivors among the most responsible.
Their names appear over and over in the documents and their faces grace the photographic evidence. We have here the surviving top politicians, militarists, financiers, diplomats, administrators, and propagandists, of the Nazi movement. Who was responsible for these crimes if they were not? The end of the war and capture of these prisoners presented the victorious Allies with the question whether there is any legal responsibility on high-ranking men for acts which I have described.
Must such wrongs either be ignored or redressed in hot blood? Is there no standard in the law for a deliberate and reasoned judgment on such conduct? Following the instructions of the late President Roosevelt and the decision of the Yalta conference President Truman directed representatives of the United States to formulate a proposed International Agreement, which was submitted during the San Francisco Conference to Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the Provisional Government of France.
With many modifications, that proposal has become the Charter of this Tribunal. But the Agreement which sets up the standards by which these prisoners are to be judged does not express the views of the signatory nations alone. Other nations with diverse but highly respected systems of jurisprudence also have signified adherence to it.
You judge, therefore, under an organic act which represents the wisdom, the sense of justice, and the will of 21 governments, representing an overwhelming majority of all civilized people. The Charter by which this Tribunal has its being, embodies certain legal concepts which are inseparable from its jurisdiction and which must govern its decision. These, as I have said, also are conditions attached to the grant of any hearing to defendants. The validity of the provisions of the Charter is conclusive upon us all, whether the have accepted the duty of judging or of prosecuting under it, as well as upon the defendants, who can point to no other law which gives them a right to be heard at all.
My able and experienced colleagues believe, as do I, that it will contribute to the expedition and clarity of this Trial if I expound briefly the application of the legal philosophy of the Charter to the facts I have recited. While this declaration of the law by the Charter is final, it may be contended that the prisoners on trial are entitled to have it applied to their conduct only most charitably if at all.
It may be said that this is new law, not authoritatively declared at the time they did the acts it condemns, and that this declaration of the law has taken them by surprise. I cannot, of course, deny that these men are surprised that this is the law; they really are surprised that there is any such thing as law. These defendants did not rely on any law at all. Their program ignored and defied all law. That this is so will appear from many acts and statements, of which I cite but a few.
That men may be protected in relying upon the law at the time they act is the reason we find laws of retrospective operations unjust. But these men cannot bring themselves within the reason of the rule which in some systems of jurisprudence prohibits ex post facto laws. They cannot show that they ever relied upon international law in any state or paid it the slightest regard. I have outlined to you the systematic course of conduct toward civilian populations and combat forces which violates international conventions to which Germany was a party.
Of the criminal nature of these acts at least, the defendants had, as we shall show, clear knowledge. Accordingly, they took pains to conceal their violations. It will appear that the Defendants Keitel and Jodl were informed by official legal advisors that the orders to brand Russian prisoners of war, to shackle British prisoners of war, and to execute commando prisoners were clear violations of international law.
Chief American prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson delivers the opening speech of the American prosecution at the International Military Tribunal trial of war criminals at Nuremberg. The first international war crimes tribunal in history revealed the true extent of German atrocities and held some of the most prominent Nazis accountable for their crimes. This article is part of a series commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II made possible by the Department of Defense.
Must-reads of picked by historians and scholars in the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy. The signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan in was one of the truly momentous and horrifying conjunctures of the twentieth century. As an adult, Janine Simone Hopkins was encouraged by her family to record her experiences and reflections of her life in Paris during the German occupation.
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