Читать книгу The Nuremberg Trials (Vol. 1-14) - International Military Tribunal - Страница 229
Morning Session
ОглавлениеDR. OTTO NELTE (Counsel for Defendant Keitel): Mr. President, you advised the Defense in yesterday’s session that the Defense should already at this stage of the Trial raise objections if they believe they have any against the documentary evidence introduced by the Prosecution.
The Chief Prosecutor introduced in Court yesterday a graphic presentation concerning the Reich Ministries and other bureaus and offices at the highest level of the German Government. My client is of the opinion that this presentation is erroneous in the following respects which concern his own person:
1. A Reich Defense Council has never existed. The Reich Defense Law, which provided for a Reich Defense Council in the event of war, has never been published; a session of a Reich Defense Council has never taken place. For this reason, the Defendant Keitel was never a member of a Reich Defense Council.
2. The Secret Cabinet Council which was to be created in accordance with the law of February 4, 1938, never came into existence. It was never constituted; it never held a session.
3. The Defendant Keitel never was Reich Minister. Like the Commanders-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy, he merely had the rank of a Reich Minister. Consequently, he never was a Minister without portfolio either. He did not participate in any advisory Cabinet session.
I should like to ask the Court for its opinion as to whether these objections may be made the object of an examination at this stage of the Trial or whether they are to be reserved for a later stage?
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal rules that the documents are admissible, but the defendants can prove at a later stage any matters which are relevant to the documents. It is not necessary for the defendants to make objections at this stage. At a later stage they can prove any matters which are relevant to the weight of the documents.
DR. DIX: May I ask the Tribunal a question?
We have now been able to see, in part, the briefs and documents which were introduced in court yesterday. In that connection we have established that some of the documents submitted by the Prosecution yesterday were not quoted in their entirety, nor were they presented in substance. My question now is: Shall the contents, the entire contents, of all the documents which were presented to Court form the basis for the Court’s decision, even in cases where the Prosecutor who presented the documents did not refer to their contents?
In other words, must we consider all of the documents presented in Court—including those the contents of which were not verbally referred to—as a basis for the judgment and, consequently, should they be examined with a view to determining whether the defendants wish to raise any objections?
Finally I wish to ask the Tribunal whether the entire contents of all the documents which were submitted to the Court yesterday, and which may possibly be submitted in the future, are to be understood by us as a basis for judgment even if the Prosecution does not present them word for word or in substance or refer to them in any other way.
THE PRESIDENT: Every document, when it is put in, becomes a part of the record and is in evidence before the Tribunal, but it is open to the defendants to criticize and comment upon any part of the document when their case is presented.
DR. DIX: Thank you. The question is clarified herewith.
THE PRESIDENT: There are three announcements which I have to make on behalf of the Tribunal; and the first is this:
That we propose that the Tribunal shall not sit on Saturday morning in this week, in order that defendants’ counsel may have more time for the consideration of the documents and arguments, which have been made up to that time. That is the first matter.
The second matter is that the Tribunal desires that all motions and applications shall, as far as practicable, be made in writing, both by the Prosecution and by the Defense. There are occasions, of course, such as this morning when motions and applications for the purposes of explanation, are more conveniently made orally, but as far as practicable, it is the desire of the Tribunal that they shall be made in writing, both by the Prosecution and by the Defense.
And the other matter is an observation, which the Tribunal desires me to make to the Prosecution, and to suggest to them that it would be more convenient to the Tribunal and possibly also to the Defense, that their briefs and volumes of documents should be presented to the Tribunal before Counsel speaking begins that branch of the case, so that the brief and volume of documents should be before the Tribunal whilst Counsel is addressing the Tribunal upon that branch of the case; and also that it would be convenient to the Tribunal—if it is convenient to Counsel for the Prosecution—that he should give a short explanation—not a prolonged explanation—of the documents, which he is presenting to the Court, drawing their attention to any passages in the documents, which he particularly wishes to draw attention to.
I will call upon the Chief Prosecutor for the United States to continue his address.
COL. STOREY: May it please the Tribunal, yesterday afternoon it appeared that there was some question about the identification of documents formally offered in evidence yesterday. Therefore, with the Tribunal’s permission I should like to offer them by number, formally, so that the Clerk can get them on his record and may be identified, with Your Honors’ permission.
The United States—and may I say, Sir, that we offer each one of these exhibits in evidence, requesting that they be received and filed as evidence for the United States of America, with the understanding that Defense Council may later interpose objections. If that is agreeable, Sir, the first is United States Exhibit Number 1, the affidavit of Major William H. Coogan, concerning the capture, processing and authentication of documents, together with Robert G. Storey’s accompanying statement:
United States Exhibit Number 2, being 2903-PS, being the Nazi Party chart, together with authentication certificates;
United States Exhibit Number 3, 2905-PS, the Nazi State chart, together with authentication certificates;
United States Exhibit Number 4, 2836-PS, the original statement of Defendant Göring as to positions held;
United States Exhibit Number 5, Document 2829-PS, the same, concerning Defendant Ribbentrop. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Could not all this be done by the General Secretary . . . the numbering of these documents?
COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir, that is correct. That is agreeable with us, Sir, but the General Secretary raised the question that it was not in the record. We have the complete tabulation describing each document by number, and if it is agreeable with Your Honors, I will offer the description on this page, correctly describing, by exhibit number, each one that was offered in evidence yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: We will authorize the General Secretary to accept the documents so numbered.
COL. STOREY: Thank you, Sir. The tabulation referred to is set forth in the following words and figures:
| USA-1, Major Coogan’s affidavit with Colonel Storey’s statement; |
| USA-2, 2903-PS, Nazi Party chart and authenticating papers; |
| USA-3, 2905-PS, Nazi State chart and authenticating papers; |
| USA-4, 2836-PS, original statement of Göring’s positions; |
| USA-5, 2829-PS, original statement of Ribbentrop’s positions; |
| USA-6, 2851-PS, original statement of Rosenberg’s positions; |
| USA-7, 2979-PS, original statement of Frank’s positions; |
| USA-8, 2978-PS, original statement of Frick’s positions; |
| USA-9, 2975-PS, original statement of Streicher’s positions; |
| USA-10, 2977-PS, original statement of Funk’s positions; |
| USA-11, 3021-PS, original statement of Schacht’s positions; |
| USA-12, 2887-PS, original statement of Dönitz’s positions; |
| USA-13, 2888-PS, original statement of Raeder’s positions; |
| USA-14, 2973-PS, original statement of Von Schirach’s positions; |
| USA-15, 2974-PS, original statement of Sauckel’s positions; |
| USA-16, 2965-PS, original statement of Jodl’s positions; |
| USA-17, 2910-PS, original statement of Seyss-Inquart’s positions; |
| USA-18, 2980-PS, original statement of Speer’s positions; |
| USA-19, 2972-PS, original statement of Von Neurath’s positions; |
| USA-20, 2976-PS, original statement of Fritzsche’s positions. |
Document books:
USA-A, Common Objectives, Methods, and Doctrines of Conspiracy;
USA-B, The Acquiring of Totalitarian Control over Germany; Political; First Steps; Control Acquired;
USA-C, Consolidation of Control; (Utilization and Molding of Political Machinery);
USA-F, Purge of Political Opponents; Terrorization;
USA-G, Destruction of Trade Unions and Acquisition of Control over Productive Labor Capacity in Germany;
USA-H, Suppression of the Christian Churches in Germany;
USA-I, Adoption and Publication of the Program for Persecution of the Jews.
May it please the Tribunal, Mr. Justice Jackson called my attention—while we are offering all of these on behalf of the United States, naturally they are for the benefit and on the behalf of all the other nations who are cooperating in this case.
THE PRESIDENT: That is understood.
MAJOR WALLIS: May it please the Court, when we adjourned yesterday afternoon, I was in the process of developing the various means by which these conspirators acquired a totalitarian control of Germany. I wish to continue on that subject this morning, and I will first discuss the reshaping of education and the training of youth; and in accordance with Your Honors’ suggestion, I offer the document book, United States Exhibit D, and would call to the Court’s attention that this book contains translations of the documents which we rely upon with respect to this portion of the case. These documents consist of German writings, German speeches of the defendants and other Nazi leaders, and are matters that we suggest are clearly within the purview of judicial notice of the Court. And in the brief which is offered for the assistance of the Court in connection with this subject, the exact portions of the documents which are desired to be brought to the attention of the Tribunal are set forth either by quotation from the documents, or by reference to the specific page number of the documents.
Meanwhile, during this entire pre-war period, the nation was being prepared psychologically for war, and one of the most important steps was the reshaping of the educational system so as to educate the German youth to be amenable to their will. Hitler publicly announced this purpose in November 1933, and I am quoting from Document 2455-PS. He said:
“When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side, and you will not get me on your side’, I calmly say, ‘Your child belongs to me already. A people lives forever. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camps. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community’.”
He further said in May 1937, and I refer to Document Number 2454-PS:
“This new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its education and its own upbringing.”
The first steps taken in making the German schools the tools of the Nazi educational system were two decrees in May 1934, whereby the Reich Ministry of Education was established and the control of education by local authorities was replaced by the absolute authority of the Reich in all educational matters. These decrees are set out in Documents 2078-PS, 2088-PS, 2392-PS. Thereafter, the curricula and organization of the German schools and universities were modified by a series of decrees in order to make these schools effective instruments for the teaching of Nazi doctrines.
The Civil Service Law of 1933, which was presented in evidence yesterday, made it possible for the Nazi conspirators to re-examine thoroughly all German teachers and to remove all “harmful and unworthy elements”, harmful and unworthy in the Nazi opinion. Many teachers and professors, mostly Jews, were dismissed and were replaced with State-spirited teachers. All teachers were required to belong to the National Socialist Teachers’ League, which organization was charged with the training of all teachers in the theories and doctrines of the NSDAP. This is set forth in Document 2452-PS. The Führerprinzip was introduced into the schools and universities. I refer to Document 2393-PS.
In addition, the Nazi conspirators supplemented the school system by training the youth through the Hitler Jugend. The law of the Hitler Jugend, which is set forth in Document 1392-PS, states:
“The German youth, besides being reared within the family and school, shall be educated physically, intellectually, and morally in the spirit of National Socialism to serve the people and community through the Hitler Youth.”
In 1925 the Hitler Youth was officially recognized by the Nazi Party and became a junior branch of the SA. In 1931 the Defendant Schirach was appointed Reich Youth Leader of the NSDAP with the rank of SA Gruppenführer. I refer to Document 1458-PS. In June 1933 the Defendant Schirach was appointed Youth Leader of the German Reich. I refer to the same document, 1458-PS. In that same month, on orders of the Defendant Schirach, the Nazi conspirators destroyed or took over all other youth organizations. This was accomplished by force in the first instance. The Defendant Schirach, by decree dated 22 June, 1933—I refer to Document 2229-PS—dissolved the Reich Committee of the German Youth Associations and took over their property. By similar decrees, all of which are set forth in the document book, all the youth organizations of Germany were destroyed. Then the Nazi conspirators made membership in the Hitler Jugend compulsory. I refer to Document 1392-PS.
The Hitler Jugend from its inception had been a formation of the Nazi Party. By virtue of the 1936 Youth Law, making membership compulsory, it became an agency of the Reich Government while still retaining its position as a formation of the Nazi Party. This is set forth in Document 1392-PS. By 1940 membership in the Hitler Jugend was over seven million. I refer you to Document 2435-PS. Through the Hitler Jugend the Nazi conspirators imbued the youth with Nazi ideology. The master race doctrine and anti-Semitism, including physical attack on the Jews, were systematically taught in the training program. I refer you to Document 2436-PS. The Hitler Jugend indoctrinated the youth with the idea that war is a noble activity. I refer to Document 1458-PS. One of the most important functions of the Hitler Jugend was to prepare the youth for membership in the Party and its formations. The Hitler Jugend was the agency used for extensive pre-military and military training of youth. I refer to Document 1850-PS. In addition to general military training, special training was given in special formations. These included flying units, naval units, motorized units, signal units, et cetera.
The full details with the accompanying documents of the methods used by the Nazi conspirators in reshaping the educational system and supplementing it with the Hitler Jugend so as to educate the German youth to be amenable to the Nazi will and prepare youth for war are set forth in the document book which has been offered, and in the accompanying briefs.
Now I would like to direct your attention to the weapon of propaganda that was used during this period, and for this purpose I offer United States Exhibit Number E with the accompanying brief. This document book and the briefs which accompany it. . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Have any copies of these documents been provided for the Defense Counsel?
COL. STOREY: I understand, Sir, they have been sent to the Defendants’ Information Center. I may say, Sir, that with tomorrow we will have them in advance to everybody, including the Court and the Defense Counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: This document book and the accompanying brief is entitled “Propaganda Censorship and Supervision of Cultural Activities.”
During this period one of the strongest weapons of the conspirators was propaganda. From the outset they appreciated the urgency of the task of inculcating the German masses with the National Socialist principles and ideology. The early utterances of Hitler and his fellow conspirators evidenced full recognition of the fact that their power could endure only if it rested on general acceptance of their political and social views.
Immediately following their accession to power, the Nazi conspirators instituted a determined program for wholesale organization of the masses by seizing control of all vehicles of public expression. The wide-spread use of propaganda by the powerful machine thus created became a key device in establishing control over all phases of the German economy, public and private. They conceived that the proper function of propaganda was to prepare the ground psychologically for political action and military aggression and to guarantee popular support of a system which was based on a permanent and steadily intensified application of terror and aggression both in the sphere of domestic politics and foreign relations.
To attain these objectives, propaganda was used to create specific thought patterns designed to make the people amenable to the aims and program of the Nazis and to foster their active participation therein to the greatest extent possible. The nature of this propaganda is within the judicial purview of the Court. As Goebbels put it, it was aimed at “the conquest of the masses.” Its intended effect was the elimination of all serious resistance in the masses. To achieve this result, as will be shown later in the evidence, the Nazi conspirators were utterly unscrupulous in their choice of means, a total disregard of veracity that presented their case purely from the standpoint of political expediency and their conception of national self-interest. Inasmuch as propaganda was the means to an end, “the conquest of the masses,” it required different strategy at different times, depending on the objectives issued and pursued by the Nazi conspirators at any given moment. According to Hitler: “the first task of propaganda is the gaining of people for the future organization.”
The recruiting of people for enlistment in the Party and supervised organizations was the primary objective in the years preceding and immediately following the seizure of power. After the rise to power, this task was broadened to include the enlistment of the people as a whole for the active support of the regime and its policies. As the Reich Propaganda Leader of the Party and Reich Minister for Propaganda, Goebbels stated:
“Propaganda, the strongest weapon in the conquest of the State, remains the strongest weapon in the consolidation and building up of the State.”
The methods which they used to control this strongest weapon in the power of the State are set forth in a chart which I would like to call to the Court’s attention at this time, and would like to introduce in evidence as USA Exhibit Number 21.
As you will note from the chart, there were three separate levels of control within the German Reich. The first level was the Party controls, which are represented on the chart by the top block. And you will see that the Party through its Examining Commission controlled the books and magazines, and issued books and magazines setting forth the ideology of the Party.
The second block, the Press Leader Division, supervised all publishers, headed Party newspapers and book publishers.
The third block, Press Chief,—this office controlled the Press Political Office, the Press Personnel Office, and supervised Party treatment of the press and treatment of Party affairs in the press.
The center block, the Office of Propaganda Leader, had under its control not only the press, but exhibits and fairs, speakers’ bureaus, films, radio, culture, and other means of expression and dissemination of the ideology of the Party and its purposes.
The next block, Ideology, was devoted exclusively to the ideology of the Party headed by the Defendant Rosenberg. It supplied all the training materials, prepared the curricula for the schools, and the indoctrination of the people into the ideology of the Party. On that same level is Youth Education, presided over by the Defendant Schirach, who had under his control the Hitler Jugend; and then there were the University Students and Teachers Division of the Party controls.
On the next level you have the controls that were exercised by the State, and reading from left to right you have the Propaganda Coordination, Foreign Coordination and Cooperation, the radio, which was under the control of the Defendant Fritzsche, film, literature, the German press, periodicals, theater, arts, other cultural things, and the Ministry for Education.
Then, in the last tier, what is known as the corporate controls. These were under a semi-official control of both the Party and the State. These are the so-called cultural chambers. Their purpose was to have full control over the personnel engaged in the various arts and cultures, and engaged in the preparation and dissemination of news. First was the press—all reporters and writers belonged to that section. The next section is the fine arts, music, theater, film, literature, radio,—then going over into the Educational Branch the organization which the University teachers, the students and former corps members of the universities had to belong to.
By means of this vast network of propaganda machinery, the Nazi conspirators had full control over the expression and dissemination of all thought, cultural activities, and dissemination of news within the Reich. Nothing was or could be published in Germany that did not have the approval, express or implied, of the Party and State. The Defendant Schacht in his personal notes explains the effect of the killing of a piece of news in a totalitarian dictatorship. As he states it, it has never become publicly known that there have been thousands of martyrs in the Hitler regime. They have all disappeared in the cells or graves of the concentration camps, without ever having been heard of again; and he goes on to say, “what is the use of martyrdom in the fight against terror if it has no chance of becoming known and thus serving as an example for others.”
THE PRESIDENT: Before you pass from this subject, there is a docket on the documents which shows that certain documents are missing. What does that mean? 1708, 2030.
MAJOR WALLIS: Those documents are in the process of being reproduced and will be furnished to the Court, I hope, before the close of the day, Sir. They have been added to that book and, as yet, have not been completed in their process of reproduction.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Have they been translated?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, Sir, they have been translated, and the translations are in the process of being reproduced.
THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents in their original form in German?
MAJOR WALLIS: Yes, I believe they are, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MAJOR WALLIS: I would now like to direct the Court’s attention to the militarization of Nazi-dominated organizations during this pre-war period and for that purpose I offer United States Exhibit Number J, which consists of a document book with English translations, and I present to the Court also a brief which accompanies this portion of the case.
Throughout this pre-war period, and while the Nazi conspirators were achieving and consolidating their totalitarian control of Germany, they did not lose sight of their main objective—aggressive war. Accordingly, they placed a considerable number of their dominated organizations on a progressively militarized footing, with a view to the rapid transformation of these organizations whenever necessary, as instruments of war. These organizations were the SS, the SA, the Hitler Jugend, the NSKK (or National Socialist Motor Corps), the NSFK (which is the National Socialist Aviation Corps), the RAD (which is the Reich Labor Service), and the OT (which is the Todt Organization).
The manner in which the militarization was accomplished is detailed in part in the documents, which have been presented to the Court and will be detailed further when the particular organizations are taken up and discussed and their criminality established at subsequent stages in the case. At this time, I would like to call the Court’s attention to a chart, and while the chart is physically being placed on the board, I would offer United States Exhibit Number 22, which is Document 2833-PS and is a reproduction of Page 15 of the book entitled, History of the Nazi Party. You will note that on the left lower corner of the chart placed on the board, there are some papers attached. The top paper is an affidavit which reads as follows: “I certify that the above enlargement is a true and correct copy prepared under my direct supervision, of Document Number 2833-PS, Page 15 of the book entitled History of the Party,” and you will note that underneath is a second paper and this affidavit states it is a correct photographic copy, which appears in the left-hand corner of the panel. This affidavit is signed by David Zablodowsky, sworn to and subscribed the 23rd day of November 1945 at Nuremberg, Germany, before James H. Johnson, First Lieutenant, Office of the United States Chief of Counsel.
This chart visualizes, as vividly as possible, just how this militarization took place in Germany. The chart is entitled, “The Organic Incorporation of German Nationals into the National Socialist System, and the Way to Political Leadership.”
Starting at the bottom of the chart, you see the young folk, between the ages of 10 and 14. The arrows point both right and left. The arrow to the right is the Adolf Hitler School, for youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Both from the school and from the young folk, they proceed to the Hitler Jugend. At 18 years of age, they graduate from the Hitler Jugend into the various Party formations, the SA, the SS, the NSKK, the NSFK. At the age of 20, they continue from these Party formations into the Labor Front, and from the Labor Front, after they have served their period of time there, back again to the Party formations, of the SA, the SS, NSKK, NSFK, until they reach the age of 21. Then they proceed into the Army, serve in the Army from the ages of 21 to 23, and then back again into the Party formations of SA, SS, et cetera.
And then from that group, the select move up to be Political Leaders (Leiter) of the Nazi Party, and from that group are selected the cream of the crop who go to the Nazi Party Special Schools and from these schools, as is represented on the top of the chart, graduate the political Führer of the people.
I would emphasize again to the Court that this chart is not anything that was prepared by Counsel in this case. It was prepared by the Nazi Party people and it comes from their own history.
Thus, by the end of the pre-war period, the Nazi conspirators had achieved one of the first major steps in their grand conspiracy. All phases of German life were dominated by Nazi doctrine and practice and mobilized for the accomplishment of their militant aims. The extent to which this was accomplished can be no better expressed than in the words of Hitler when he spoke to the Reichstag on 20 February 1938. I refer to Document 2715-PS. He said:
