The Defendant Goering shares their responsibility for commando groups.
The Defendant Sauckel directed the work of war the civilian population of several French Departments.
The through his initial order, "Struggle against Partisan Bands," dated 6 May, 1945, which provides for "collective measures against the inhabitants of entire villages."
These blows against mankind which is found in "Mein Kampf."
spiritual ideological formation of the Nazi Party. The Defendant agitators.
In the execution of the policy of Germanization and General Staff, i.e., the Defendants Keitel and Jodl, the Central Office for all the occupied territories, i.e., the Defendant Frick.
of them; the directors of the Nazi Party are unquestionably among dreadful responsibilities of these men.
Without the existence of have been perpetrated.
The systematic war of criminality could not without the men who composed then.
It is they who for Germany barbarity of the.
National Socialist doctrine could have been values of civilization.
The education of the Nazi Party of the extermination will they recoil?
The ethics of immorality, the of man.
The crime against race is punished without pity. The crime on behalf of race is exalted without limit.
The regime and authorized.
So many acts which appear incomprehensible to the rigid framework created by the espirit de corps by the soldierly solidarity which bound individuals and insured through the regimency of the crime an unlimited theme of action, the individual who committed them would not only be covered by the regime itself, but spurred on by the discipline and the camaraderie of these established corps of Nazi criminality.
adventure. By the Party and its massive grip, dispensing mercy to itself with the unlimited power the Nazi youth were asked to carry out on the highest echelon of grandiose dreams of the National Socialist Pan-Germanism. no simulation. It solicited from its youth the desire to distinguish itself to accomplish exploits beyond the common order and beyond nature. The Hitlerion youth, the Gestapo, and the SS that knew that their acts, no matter how cruel or how inhumane they might be, would always be judged by the regime in the name of the racial community of its needs and of its triumphs. The Nazi Party, thanks to the youngmen of the SS, of the SD, and of the Gestapo had thus become culpable on a criminal plane where before no one nor any nation would ever have been able to commit. inequitable mass of crimes executed frequently with the disconcerting synacism, and with a refined sadism, not only in the concentration camps of Germany, but also in the divers occupied countries, and especially in those of Western Europe.
The crimes are monstrous. The crimes ore sure, and their responsibility is established. There is no possible doubt. ordinary in the history of the world, before the exceptional nature, on the justice of which your high Tribunal is asked to render for the United Nations, and the German people, and before all humanity, a few objections have arisen in our minds. still only unconscious within us, for soon a pseudo-patriotic propaganda may arise in Germany, and even may echo in some of our countries.
Who can say: "I have a clean conscience, I am without fault? To have two weights and two measures are both abhored by God." This text from the scripture already arisen here and there; it will serve tomorrow as a theme of propaganda, but above all, it is profoundly written in our soul by raising us in the name of our immortal peoples as accusers of Nazi Germany. We have never for a moment held it in check as an unwanted appeal. is faultless in his life. Yes, every war in itself generates iniquitous evils, and entails almost necessarily individual and collective crimes, because it easily unleashes in man the evil passions which always slumber there. lessly; we find no common measure between them and ourselves.
If this criminality was accidental; if Germany had been forced into war; if crimes had been committed only in the excitement of combat; we might question ourselves on the text of the Scriptures. But the war was prepared and deliberated upon long in advance, and up to the very last day it would have been easy to avoid it without sacrificing any of the legitimate interests of the German people. And the atrocities were perpetrated during the war, not under the influence of a mad passion, nor of a warlike anger, nor of an avenging resentment, but as a result of cold calculation, of perfectly conscious methods, of a pre-existing doctrine. to assemble in a body of dogmas formed around the concept of race, all the instincts of barbarism, repressed by centuries of civilization, but always present within the depths of men, all the negations of the traditional values of humanity, without which nations, as Well as individuals, question their conscience in the troubled hours of their evolution and of their life; to construct and to propagate a doctrine which organizes, regulates, and aspires to command crime. appeal to the forces of evil in order to establish his domination over the German people, and subsequently the domination of Germany over Europe, and perhaps over the world.
They planned to incorporate organized criminality into a system of government, into a system of international relation, and into a system of war conduct, by unleashing within the whole nation the most savage passions. perhaps be their explanation; far from constituting an excuse, if any excuse were possible in view of the enormity of their crime, these determining causes would make it still greater. They have profaned the sacred concept of country, linking it to a willed return to barbarism. of a whole country, formerly among the greatest in the order of spiritual value, and have lowered it to the lowest level. The moral confusion, the economic difficulties, the obsession of the defeat of 1918, the loss of might and the Pan-Germanic tradition are the basis of the empire of Hitler and of his companions over the dis-oriented people; to abandon oneself to force, to renounce moral concern, to satisfy a love of collectivity, to revel in lack of measure are the natural temptations strongly emplanted in the German, which the Nazi leaders exploited with cynicism. The intoxication of success, the madness of greatness completed the picture, and put practically all Germans, some without doubt unconsciously, in the service of the National Socialist Doctrine by associating them with the diabolical enterprise of their Fuehrer and his companions. societies, but all animated with the common bond of their human lot, France and Great Britain entered the war only to remain faithful to their word. The peoples of the occupied countries, tortured in their flesh, and in their souls, never renounced their liberty, nor their cultural values, and it was a magnificent epic of clandestine opposition and of Resistance which through a splendid heroism, testifies to the spontaneous refusal of the populations to accept the Nazi myths. Millions and millions of men of the Soviet Union fell to defend not only the soil and independence of their country, but also their humanitarian universalism. The millions of British and American soldiers, who landed on our unhappy continent carried in their hearts the ideal of freeing from Nazi oppression, both the occupied countries, and the peoples who willingly or by force became the satellites of the Axis and of the German people itself.
or without uniforms, soldiers of great hope with throughout centuries has fed on popular suffering, the great hope of a better future for mankind. way, or tires to deceive itself, or known the dread return of barbarism, but it persists always, and finally constitutes the powerful lever which brings about the progress of humanity. These aspirations always reborn, these concerns constantly awakened, this anguish uncessingly present, this perpetual combat against evil, form in a permanent fashion the submlime grandeur of man. National Socialism only yesterday imperiled all of this. were at grips, in the name of the people whom we represent here, and in the name of the great human hope for which they have so greatly suffered, so greatly fought, we can without fear and with a clean conscience arise as accusers of the leaders of Nazi Germany.
As Mr. Justice Jackson said so eloquantly at the opening of this trial: "Civilization could not survive if these crimes were to be committed again." and he added: "The true plaintiff in this court is civilization." verdict which will also be a sort of supreme warning at the hour when humanity appears still at times to enter the path of the organization of peace only with apprehension and hesitation. martyred countries, the sacrifices of victorious nations, end also the expiation of guilty people, will engender a better humanity, justice must strike those guilty of the enterprise of barbarism from which we have just escaped. The reign of Justice is the most exact expression of the great human hope. Your decision can mark a decisive stage in its difficult pursuit. sible only because as a first condition free peoples emerged victorious from the conflict. There is a relationship in the facts between the force of the victors, and the guilt of the vanguished leaders who appear before your high Tribunal.
wisdom of nations that justice, in order to impose itself effectively and constantly upon individuals, and upon nations, must have force at its disposal. The common will to put force in the service of justice animates our nations and commands all our civilization. the facts are examined scrupously under all their aspects. The penal nature of the offense rigorously established, the competency of the Tribunal incontestable, the rights of the defense intact, total publicity insured. for the moral uplist of the German people, first stage in its integration into the communicyt of free countries. Without your verdict, history might incur the risk of repeating itself, crime would become epic, and the National Socialist enterprise a last Wagnerian tragedy; and new Pan-Germanists would soon say to the Germans: "Hitler and his companions were wrong because they finally failed, out we must begin again some day on other foundations the extraordinary adventure of Germanism." over their first steps on the road to liberty, National Socialism will be Inscribed permanently in their history, as the crime of crimes which could only Lead it to material and moral perdition, as the doctrine which they should forever avoid with horror and scorn in order to remain faithful to the great forms of communal civilization. posthumous book entitled "International Ethics" reminds us that, as all ethical rules, those which should rule international relations will never be definitely established unless all peoples succeed in convincing themselves once and for all that there is greater profit to be gained through their observation than through their transgression. That is why your judgment can contribute to enlighten the German people and all peoples. national Law in order to prepare the establishment of a true international society excluding recourse to war, and putting force permanently in service of the justice of nations; it will be one of the foundations of this peaceful new order to which nations aspire on the morrow of this frightful torment.
The need for justice of the martyred peoples will be satisified, and their sufferings will not have been useless for the progress of mankind.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Menthon, would you prefer to continue the case on behalf of France this afternoon, or would you prefer to adjourn?
M. MENTHON: We are at the disposal of the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Well then, if that is so, I think that we had better go on until five o'clock.
M. MENTHON: We are preferable to adjournment, because the brief which is going to be presented will last at least an hour. Perhaps it is better to adjourn until tomorrow morning. However, we will remain at the disposal of the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: When you said the proof shich now will be presented will take an hour, did you mean, when you said that the proof which you are going to present would take an hour, is that an introductory proof, or is it a part of the main case?
M. MENTHON: It is part of the general case. Your Honor, that is part of the general case, this brief.
THE PRESIDENT: Would it not be possible then to go ahead until five o'clock?
M. MENTHON: Yes, quite so.
THE PRESIDENT: We would prefer to go on until five o'clock.
M. MENTHON: All right, agreed.
MR. FAURE: Mr. President, and your Honors, I propose to submit to the Tribunal an introduction common to the first and the second course of the French case.
The first part relates to forced labor; the second part to economic looting. These two over-all questions are complementary to each other and form a whole. Manpower on the one hand, and material property on the other, constitute the two aspects of the riches of a country and the conditions of existence in that country. Measures taken with regard to the one necessarily react on the other, and it is understandable that in the occupied countries, German policy with regard to economic property were inspired, from the very beginning, by common directing principles. successively to the Tribunal those two briefs corresponding to the letters "h" and "e" of the third Count of the Indictment. My present purpose is to define the initial directives covering the German procedure in regard to manpower and to material in the occupied territories. Belgium, Luxemburg, and, in part, continental France, they thereby assumed a material power of constraint with regard to the inhabitants and the material power of acquisition with regard to its property. They thus had in fact the possibility of utilizing these dual resources on behalf of the war effort. as to International Law relating to the occupation of territories by the military forces of a belligerent State.
These rules very strictly limit the rights of the occupier, who may solely exercise the right of requisition of property and services for the needs of the army of occupation. I here allude to the regulation attendant to the convention concerning the laws and customs of war signed at the Hague on the 18th of October 1907, Section III and in particular to the Articles 46, 47, 49, 52, and 53. If it please the Tribunal, I shall merely cite the paragraph of Article 52 which defines in a perfectly exact manner the lawful conditions of requisition of persons and property.
"Requisitions in kind and of services may only be demanded of communities or from inhabitants for the needs of the army of occupation. They will be proportionate to the resources of the country and of such a nature that they do not imply for the population the obligation of taking a part in war operations against their native country." defined in the general preamble of the Convention, from which I take the liberty of reading the last paragraph to the Tribunal:
"Until such time as a more complete code of the laws of war can be enacted, the high contracting parties deem it opportune to state that in cases not included in the regular steps adopted by them, populations and belligerents remained under the safeguard and direction of the principles of the law of people derived from the established usages among civilized nations, the laws of humanity and the exigencies of public conscience." total exploitation of the resources of occupied countries for the benefit of the enemy's war economy is absolutely contrary to the rights of nations and to the exigencies of public conscience. that she made no reservations at that time except with regard to Clause 44, which relates to the supply of information to the belligerents. She made no reservation with regard to the Clauses which we have cited nor with regard to the preamble. These clauses and the preamble moreover reproduce the corresponding texts of the previous Hague Convention of the 28th of July, 1899.
of September, 1900 and the 27th of November 1909. I have purposely recalled these well-known facts in order to emphasize that the Germans could not fail to recognize the constant principles of International Law to which they subscribed on two occasions, long before their defeat in 1918 and consequently outside the alleged pressure which they invoked in regard to the Treaty of Versailles. the agreement signed at Versailles on the 28th of June, 1919, in connection with the military occupation of the territories of the Rhine, reference is made, in Article 6, to the Hague Convention in the following terms:
"The right of requisition in kind and in services as formulated by the Hague Convention of 1907 will be exercised by the allied and associate armies of occupation." occupiers is confirmed by a new international agreement subscribed to by Germany, who in regard to the occupation of her own territory is here the beneficiary of this limitation. factual situation, which comprises the power and temptation and of the legal situation which involves a limitation? of the American prosecution, that the conduct of the Germans was to profit through fact and to ignore the law. of nations both by forced labor and by spoliation. Detailed illustrations of these acts in the western countries will be laid before you in the briefs which will follow my own. For my part I propose to concentrate for a moment on the actual concepts which the Germans laid down from the outset. In this connection I shall submit to the Tribunal three complementary proposals of which I shall formulate the proof.
First Proposal. From the very beginning of the occupation the Germans decided, in the interests of their war effort, to seize all the resources, both material and human, of the occupied countries. Their plan was not to take any account of legal limitations. It is not under the spur of occasional necessity that they subsequently perpetrated their illicit acts, but in pursuance of a deliberate intention. Second Proposal. However, the Germans took pains to mask their real intentions. They did not announce that they rejected international juridical rules. On the contrary, they gave assurance that they would be respected.
The reasons for this dissimulation are easy to understand. The Germans were anxious from the beginning not to upset public opinion in the occupied territory. Brutal proceedings would have aroused immediate resistance which would have hampered their actions. They also wished to deceive world opinion and more particularly American public opinion since the United States of America had not yet entered the war.
Third Proposal.
the first two. As the German contemplated achieving their aims and masking their intentions, they were of necessity bound to organize a system of round-about means, whilst maintaining an appearance of legality. The complexity and the technical character of the procedure they used enabled them easily to conceal the real state of affairs from the uninitiated or the merely uninformed. These disguised means turned out, in fact, as efficient and possibly just as efficient and perhaps even more so than would have been brutal siizure. They moreover enabled the Germans to have recourse to such brutal action the day they deemed that this would yield them more advantages than disadvantages. interest to the Tribunal for, on the one hand, it demonstrates not only that the illegal acts were premeditated, but that their officers were aware of their reprehensible character. Furthermore, it enables one party to understand the scope and extent of these acts, despite the precautions taken to mask them. documentary proofs regarding the three proposals which I have just formulated. These proofs refer naturally to the second and third proposals, for as regards the first, I should say, the delictual intention and premeditation. This will be shown by the desparity between the facade and reality. tion to observe the rules of the law of the people. Here is, by way of example, a proclamation to the French population, signed by the Commander in Chief of the German Army: This is a public document which is reproduced in the Official Journal, containing the decrees made by the military governor for occupied French territories, No. 1 dated 4 July 1940.
I submit to the Tribunal this document which will bear No. 1 of the French documentation and from it I cite merely the following sentence:
"The troops have received the order to treat the as long as the population remains calm."
I therefore submit to the Tribunal the text of the same proclamation, dated 10 May 1940, which was published in the Official Journal of the Commander in Chief in Belgium and in the north of France, No. 1, page 1, under the title:
Proclamation to the population of Belgium. The German text, as well as the Flemish text, bear the morecomplete title ...... Proclamation to the Population of Holland and Belgium. In view of the identical nature of these texts, this copy bears No. 1 B of the French documentation.
I now submit another proclamation entitled "To the Inhabitants of Occupied Countries", dated June 20, 1940, and signed "The Military Governor of France." This is likewise published in the Official Journal of German decrees. This will be Document No. 2 of the French documentation. I will cite the first two paragraphs:
"The Commander in Chief of the German Army has given me full authority to announce the following: Firstly, the German Army guarantees the inhabitants full personal security and the safeguard of their property. Those who behave peacably and quietly have nothing to fear."
I also quote passages from paragraphs V, VI, and VII:
V -- "The administrative authorities of the state, communities, the police and schools must continue their activities. They therefore remain at the service of their own population."
VI -- "All industrial enterprises, commercial houses, and banks will continue their work in the interest of the population."
VII -- "(Finally) producers of goods of prime necessity, as well as merchants, must pursue their activities and place their goods at the disposal of the public." tion of international conventions, but they reflect their spirit. Repetition of the terms: "At the service of the population", "In the interest of the population," "At the disposal of the public," must necessarily be construed as an especially firm assurance that the resources of the country and its manpower will be preserved for that country and not diverted in favor of the German war effort.
I now submit, under Document No. 2b, the text of the same statement signed by the Commander in Chief of the army group and published in the Official Journal of the Commander in Chief in Belgium.
, numbered as above, page 3. by the representatives of the actual authority constituting the Government of France. This convention is likewise a public document. It will be submitted to the Tribunal at a later stage as Document L.D.F. Eco. 1. At this time I merely wish to cite the first sentence of paragraph 3, which reads as follows:
"In the occupied districts of France, the German Reich exercises all the rights of an occupying power." Moreover, the German plenipotentiaries gave in this respect complementary oral assurances. At this stage I submit to the Tribunal, in the form of French Document No. 4, an extract from the deposition made by Ambassador Leon Noel in the course of proceedings before the French high court of Justice. This extract is reproduced from an account in extenso of the hearings of the trial of Marshal Petain, printed at Paris in 1945 at the printing works of the Official Journals, and constitutes a document acceptable in proof in accordance with the Charter of the Tribunal, Article 21. I will now give the statement of Mr. Leon Noel, of which I respectfully request the Tribunal to take notice. Mr. Leon Noel was a member of the armistice delegation.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you going to present these documents to us?
M. FAURE: This document has been presented to the Tribunal. We have given to the Tribunal the transcript of the proceedings, and you will find the document therein.
THE PRESIDENT: We haven't actually got them in our hands. I don't know where they are.
M. FAURE: I think that possibly this document was handed to the Secretariat of the Tribunal rather late, and possibly it didn't reach you today. I merely intend to read a short extract, and the document will be presented to the Tribunal later.
THE PRESIDENT: We will have it tomorrow, I hope?
M. FAURE: Certainly, Mr. President.
(quoting) "I have also obtained a certain number of replies which, I believe, could have been subsequently used from German General Jodl, who in the month of May last signed at Rheims the unconditional surrender of Germany, and from General, subsequently Marshal, Keitel, who a few weeks later was to sign in Berlin the ratification of this surrender. In this way I got them to declare in the most categorical manner, that in no event would they meddle with administration, that the rights which they claimed for themselves under the convention were purely and simply those which in similar circumstances international law, and international usage, concede to occupation armies, that is to say, those indispensable for the maintenance of security, transportation, and the food supply needs of these armies. In the same way, with Alsace and Lorraine in mind, I had them admit --" therefore formal. The Prosecution will show that they were not kept. Indeed, not only did the Germans subsequently violate them, but from the very beginning they organized a system whereby they were enabled to accomplish these violations in the most efficacious manner and at the same time in a manner which enabled them to some extent to hide them--to mask them. from a very simple idea. It consisted in supervising production at its beginning and at its end.
requisitioning of all raw materials and all goods in the occupied countries. materials to national industries. They were thus in a position to develop one branch of production rather than another, to favor certain undertakings, and, conversely, to oblige other undertakings to close down. As events and opportunities demanded, they organized this appropriation of raw materials, principally with a view to facilitating their distribution in their own interest. This principle was continously maintained. They thus held, in a way of speaking, the entry key to production. finance. By taking over the financial resources in the currency of an occupied country, the Germans were able to purchase products and to acquire, under the cloak of a semblance of legality, the output of the economic activity of the country. In point of fact, the Germans obtained for themselves from the beginning such considerable financial means that they were easily able to absorb the entire productive capacity of each country.
(Whereupon at 1700 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1000 hours, 18 January 1946.)
Military Tribunal, in the matter of: The
M. EDGAR FAURE: Mr. President, your Honors. At yesterday's session I explained and showed to the Tribunal the principle of the provisions made by the Germans to ensure the seizure of raw materials and the manner of financing in the occupied countries. These provisions will be demonstrated by numerous documents which will be presented to the Tribunal in the course of the presentation of the case on economic spoliation and forced labor. out yesterday, the purpose of my discussion is limited to the initial concepts of the Germans in these matters. I shall only cite one document which reveals the true intentions of the Germans in the very first period. This document bears the number 3-Bis, and I offer it in evidence to the Tribunal. It particularly relates to Norway. It consists of a photostatic copy, certified and authenticated. It is a transcript of a conference in Oslo, the 21st of November, 1940.
THE PRESIDENT: Where shall we find it?
M. FAURE: I have just filed this document with the Tribunal and you have it in the book which was just given you, the text of the extract which I am going to quote in French:
"Oslo, 21 November 1940."
THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents in our books marked in any way?
M. FAURE: As there are only five documents in this book, we have put no numbers upon them. This is the fourth document in the book.
THE PRESIDENT: Conference under the presidency of the Reichs Kommissar?
M. FAURE: Yes, that is the one.
THE PRESIDENT: Something of November 1940?
M. FAURE: That is the one, yes, sir,
THE PRESIDENT: When you file a document as an exhibit, it will be given a number, will it not?
M. FAURE: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: What is the number of this one?
M. FAURE: No. 3-Bis.
THE PRESIDENT: Number 3-Bis?
M. FAURE: Bis, b-i-s.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. What is the date? The date on mine is undecipherable.
M. FAURE: November 21, 1940. presiding officer of the Kommissar of the Reich. I shall point out to the Tribunal that we file this document as particularly significant because Norway is a country which was occupied at a very early date by the Germans. The date of November 21, 1940, which you see, is naturally during the very earliest period of the German occupation, and in the text of the conference there is allusion to the fact which took place in that month. You will find there exactly the psychology of the occupation troops or occupation authorities as it existed in the period of April 1940 and November 1940. Germans were invading other countries, they made a reassuring proclamation which I read to the Tribunal yesterday. Secretary, Dr. Landfried, who represented the Ministry of Reich Economy, was present. Here is how the Kommissar of the Reich expresses himself:
To-day's conference is the result of a conference which was held in Berlin or the continuation of a conference which was held in Berlin. On this occasion I would like to first stress and establish definitely that the collaboration between the Wehrmacht and the Reichs Kommissar is exemplary. I must protest against the concept or notion according to which the Wehrmacht carried out its financial task in a confused and irresponsible manner. We must also point out the particular circumstances which were present in Norway and which are still partially present. Certain tasks were fixed here which were to be executed without delay.