for a weak State was never listened to; that we know from experience." (Tr. p. 6070.) 180 Goering testified: "I told the Fuehrer that in spite of this principal point of view I oversaw a menace threatening from Russia; I still would ask him to rather let this menace continue to exist and, if it was at all possible, to try to direct the interests of Russia against England." (Tr. p. 5957.) 181 English transcript, p. 6048. 182 English transcript, pp. 5894-5, 6036, 6069. 13 English transcript, p. 5998. 134 Other defendants admitted that the wars were aggressive. Schacht testified: "Q. Well, we found something we agree on, Doctor. You knew of the invasion of Poland? A. Yes. Q. As an unqualified act of aggression on Hitler's part? A. Absolutely. Q. And of Holland? A. Absolutely. And of Denmark? A. Absolutely. Q. And of Norway? A. Absolutely. Q. And of Yugoslavia? A. Absolutely. Q. And of Russia? A. Absolutely, sir; and Norway and Belgium, which you left out." (Tr. p. 8910.) Q. 135 Goering testified: "I urged him not at that moment or an even short time thereafter to start any war against Russia." (Tr. p. 5956; see also Tr. p. 6056.) Keitel testified that he wrote a memorandum to Hitler opposing the attack on Russia. He said: "But I did in that memorandum most certainly refer to the fact that the Non-aggression Pact existed." (Tr. p. 7096.) 130 English transcript, p. 12929. 137OKW Directive for Unified Preparation for War 1937-1938, with covering letter from von Blomberg, 24 June 1937. (C-175, USA-69, Tr. p. 547). Yet it was in this period that Goering was trying out the strength of his Luftwaffe in the Spanish Civil War (Tr. p. 5871). Goering has admitted the non-defensive nature of the Luftwaffe (Tr. p. 5869). 1Final argument of Dr. Stahmer, counsel for Goering. "Therefore a conspiracy with a dictator at its head is a contradiction in itself. A dictator does not enter into a conspiracy with his followers, he does not make any agreement with them, he dictates." (Tr. p. 12970.) 130 English transcript, p. 12155. 140 English transcript, p. 12183. English transcript, pp. 5854, 6036, 6056 14Extracts from Organization Book of the NSDAP, 1943 edition. (1893PS, USA-323, Tr. p. 1578). 143 Criminal Code, 1871, Sec. 128 (never repealed). 144 Goering testified: "In the case of Schacht he was a very strong personality and whilst not wanting to over-emphasize my importance and disregarding whether we were friends or not, on the basis of the two positions we had to get into difficulties and one or the other had to cede finally.” (Tr. p. 6082.) 145Q. Mr. Dahlerus, will you tell me whether I got all of your last answer to Dr. Stahmer correctly? Did you say that 'I then realized that it was on the 26th of September, that his, Goering's aim, had been to split Poland and grab and occupy Poland with the consent of Great Britain'? Is that right? A. Yes, it is correct but I should like to say it was the German Government's including Goering's aim." (Tr. p. 6119.) The Fuehrer informed Goering some time before the attack on Poland was launched that the task was to "eliminate British intervention." (TC-90, GB-64). 744400-47-6 146 Hitler's speech to Commanders-in-Chief, 22 August 1939. (1014-PS, USA-30, Tr. p. 376). 147Frank Diary, Tagebuch, 1 January 1944 to 28 February 1944. Entry of 14 January, 15 January, 8 February 1944. (2233-BB-PS, USA-295, Tr. p. 1501). 14 Note, 11 April 1943, and report of speech of Koch in Kiev on 5 March 1943, concerning treatment of civilian population in Ukraine. (1130-PS, USA-169, Tr. p. 1269). 140 Frank testified: "Q. Did you ever participate in the destruction of Jews? A. I say yes, and the reason why I say yes is because, being under the impression of these five months of this trial, and particularly under the impression of the statements made by the witness Hoess, I cannot allow it before my conscience that responsibility for all this should be handed over to these small people alone. I myself have never installed an extermination camp for Jews or demanded that they should be installed, but if Adolf Hitler personally has turned that dreadful responsibility over to these people of his, then it must be mine too. We have fought against Jewry; we have fought against it for years; and we have allowed ourselves to make utterances, and my own diary has become a witness against me in this connection -utterances which are terrible. It is my duty-my only duty-therefore, to answer your question in this connection with Yes. A thousand years will pass and this guilt of Germany will still not be erased." (Tr. p. 8099.) 150 Funk explained that he did not hold "the position of minister as one would generally think of it." (Tr. p. 9014). 151 Ribbentrop, Tr. p. 6857, 6823; Keitel, Tr. p. 7157; Funk, Tr. p. 9118; Goering, Tr. p. 6247. 152 English transcript, p. 8910, supra note 121. 163 English transcript, p. 8809, 8814-17, 8923-25. 15466 "The fact was that Hitler tried to use this defeat for the self-destruction of the German people, as Speer has testified and confirmed, in a most terrible way, and as I could observe in the last phase of the conflict in Berlin when, under the pretense of a false hope, fifteen-year-old, fourteen-year-old, and thirteen-year-old boys were equipped for war with hand firearms and called into battle, boys who perhaps might have been the hope for the period of reconstruction. Hitler fled into death, and he left the decree and the order to keep on fighting. He also left the official report that he had died in battle. I learned that he had committed suicide, and my last public statement, on 2 May 1945, was the publication of the fact of this suicide, for I wanted to kill a Hitler legend in the bud." (Tr. p. 12547). Dahlerus has recorded his impression of Hitler, before the war, as "a completely abnormal person." (Tr. p. 6125). 155 English transcript, p. 12080. 150 English transcript, p. 12117. 157 Milch testified: "My offer that I would try to speak to Hitler against war once more was rejected by the Reichsmarshal as absolutely hopeless." p. 5576). 15 English transcript, p. 12118. 150 English transcript, p. 6881. (Tr. 100 Minutes of second session of Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council held on 26 April 1933. (EC-177, USA-390, Tr. pp. 1699, 1727). 101 Raeder testified: "That is the circumvention of the Versailles Treaty as far as that was necessary to improve our defenses, which I explained during the recent days here. It was a matter of honor for every man to do it." (Tr. p. 9919). 162 That 103 Goering testified: "During a conversation which I had with Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop who was in London at that time, I stressed that the ultimatum had not been put by ourselves but by Seyss-Inquart. was absolutely true. Legally, in fact, of course I put it, but that telephone conversation was heard on the English side and I had to conduct a diplomatic conversation, and I have never heard yet that diplomats in such cases say later how it was in fact, but they always stress how it was de jure, and why should I be an exception there?" (Tr. p. 5891). But the transcript of the telephone conversation between Goering and Seyss-Inquart which led to the capitulation of Austria shows Goering saying: "Now, remember the following: You go immediately together with Lt. General Muff and tell the Federal President that if the conditions which are known to you are not accepted immediately, the troops who are already stationed in and advancing to the frontier will march in tonight along the whole line, and Austria will cease to exist." Transcript of telephone calls from Air Ministry, 11-14 March 1938. (2949-PS, USA-76, Tr. p. 566). 103 German assurance to Czechoslovakia of 11 March 1938. (TC-27, GB-21, Tr. p. 962). 104 Speer's conference minutes of Central Planning Board, 1942-44, concerning labor supply. (R-124, USA-179, Tr. pp. 1286, 1293, 1309, 2989). 16 English transcript, p. 5878. 172 English transcript, p. 6857. Examples of the application of this philosophy may be found in Goering's explanation of his art looting: he had intended to put his pictures in a gallery which he intended to construct for the German people-some day (Tr. p. 5334); his statement that he had always held that captured enemy airmen were to be treated as "comrades" (Tr. p. 5979); and his attempt to minimize his words advocating harsh treatment of the Jews, as the result of conversational excitement (Tr. p. 6192). CLOSING ADDRESS FOR UNITED KINGDOM, GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND by SIR HARTLEY SHAWCROSS The Purpose of The Trial That these Defendants participated in and are morally guilty of crimes so frightful that the imagination staggers and reels back at their very contemplation is not in doubt. Let the words of the Defendant Frank, which were repeated to you this morning, be well remembered: "thousands of years will pass and this guilt of Germany will not be erased." Total and totalitarian war, waged in defiance of solemn undertakings and in breach of Treaties; great cities, from Coventry to Stalingrad, reduced to rubble, the countryside laid waste, and now the inevitable aftermath of war so fought-hunger and disease stalking through the world: millions of people homeless, maimed, bereaved. And in their graves, crying out, not for vengeance but that this shall not happen again, ten million who might be living in peace and happiness at this hour, soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians killed in battles that ought never to have been. Nor was that the only or the greatest crime. In all our countries when perhaps in the heat of passion or for other motives which impair restraint some individual is killed, the murder becomes a sensation, our compassion is aroused, nor do we rest until the criminal is punished and the rule of law is vindicated. Shall we do less when not one but on the lowest computation twelve million men, women, and children are done to death. Not in battle, not in passion, but in the cold, calculated, deliberate attempt to destroy nations and races, to disintegrate the traditions, the institutions and the very existence of free and ancient States. Twelve million murders. Two thirds of the Jews in Europe exterminated, more than six million of them on the killers' own figures. Murder conducted like some mass production industry in the gas chambers and the ovens of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Maidanek and, Oranienburg. (2738-PS, USA 296) And is the world to overlook the revival of slavery in Europe, slavery on a scale which involved 7,000,000 men, women, and children taken from their homes, treated as beasts, starved, beaten, . and murdered? |