Читать книгу The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.7) - International Military Tribunal - Страница 7

THE PRESIDENT: With reference to the motion which was made before the adjournment by counsel for the General Staff, the opinion of the Tribunal is this:

In the first place the Tribunal is not confined to direct evidence from eyewitnesses, because Article 19 provides that the Tribunal shall admit any evidence which it deems to have probative value.

Secondly, there is nothing in Article 21 of the Charter which makes it improper to call the member of a governmental committee as a witness to give evidence with reference to the governmental committee’s report. But the Tribunal considers that if such a witness is called the governmental committee’s report must be put in evidence; as a matter of fact, the Counsel for the Prosecution have offered to put the committee’s report in evidence in this case and not only to do that, but also to make available to Counsel for the Defense the affidavits of witnesses upon which that report proceeded.

Thirdly, there were other matters upon which the witness, Mr. Van der Essen, gave evidence which was altogether outside the report or so it appeared to the Tribunal.

As to the weight which is to be attached to the witness’ evidence, that, of course, is a matter which will have to be considered by the Tribunal. It is open to the Defense to give evidence in answer to the evidence of Mr. Van der Essen and also to comment upon or criticize that evidence, and so far as his evidence consisted of his own conclusions drawn from facts which he had seen or evidence which he had heard, the correctness of those conclusions will be considered by the Tribunal, conclusions being matters for the final decision of the Tribunal.

For these reasons the motion of counsel is denied.

It is suggested to me that I did not in that statement say that the report was to be filed in evidence. I intended to say that. I thought that I had said so. The report must be filed in evidence and the affidavits, as they are to be made available to the defendants’ counsel will, of course, also be made available to the Tribunal.

M. FAURE: If it please the Tribunal, M. Fuster is going to project the films of which I spoke just now.

M. SERGE FUSTER (Assistant Prosecutor for the French Republic): Mr. President, I am to show you a few examples of direct propaganda in the occupied countries.

During the whole period of the occupation the inhabitants of the occupied countries had the walls of their houses covered with enormous posters, varying in color and text. There was very little paper in any of these countries, but there was always enough for propaganda; and this propaganda was carried on without regard for probability or moral considerations. If the Nazis thought any sort of campaign would prove effective, no matter in how small a degree, they immediately launched this campaign.

In France, for instance, the most illustrious names in history appeared on posters and were made to proclaim slogans against the enemies of Germany. Isolated sentences were taken from the works of Clemenceau, Montesquieu, and many others who in this way were made to utter sentiments in favor of Nazism.

But German propaganda went beyond the adulteration of the works of the great historical geniuses of our nation. They also tried to pervert and cripple most sacred sentiments. We saw in France posters advertising work in Germany, which showed a mother saying to her children, “How happy we are now that father has gone to work in Germany.” In this way, the family sentiment was made to further the ends of Nazism.

German propaganda tried also to attack the sentiment of national patriotism. We saw posters asking young men to serve in the German forces; and these existed in every country. M. Faure stated yesterday that these unfortunate wretches who had served in the various legions must, in spite of their guilt, be considered to a great extent as victims of the Nazi system. In this way, German propaganda, in attacking simultaneously the genius of a nation and the most intimate sentiments of its people, committed a crime against the spirit; and that is something which, according to the quotation used by M. Dubost in his peroration, cannot be pardoned.

Publicity may be permitted, by all means, but publicity must remain within limits. It must have some respect for persons, laws, and morality. Guarantees for the protection of the individual exist in every country; there are laws against libel, against defamation; but in international matters, German propaganda had an unlimited field, without restrictions or penalties, at least until the day when this Tribunal was established to judge it.

That is why it seemed to us a useful and necessary duty to submit to this Tribunal one or two practical illustrations. We did not choose the best-known examples, but rather those which were most genuinely characteristic of the excesses and extremes of this propaganda.

First of all, we are going to show a very short extract from a very specialized film directed against Freemasonry, which was imposed by the Germans in the manner explained in the brief. The film in itself is of no interest, but it contains pictures illustrating the crude campaign of lies in which the Germans indulged in France.

As it is a very short film and will be shown very rapidly—we cannot slow it down on account of technical difficulties—I should like before showing it to draw attention to the Tribunal to the two kinds of pictures which will follow one another without transition: First you will see a map of the world. This map will be rapidly covered by a color indicating the influence of the Jews and the Freemasons, except for the two victorious islands, the Nazi-fascist bloc in Europe, on the one hand, and Japan on the other.

We give this picture to show the degree of crude simplicity arrived at by Nazi propaganda and how it submitted to the people the most stupid and misleading formulas.

An even worse example of calumny follows the portrait of President Roosevelt with the heading, “Brother Roosevelt Wants War.”

This is all we have taken from the film. It will now be shown. Mr. Abbett, you can begin.