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“Since political entanglements abroad must be avoided at present under all circumstances . . . only those preparatory measures that are urgently necessary may be carried out. The existence of such preparations, or the intention of them must be kept in strictest secrecy in the zone itself as well as in the rest of the Reich.”

The preparations are then set out, and they include, as I have indicated a few minutes ago, as the last one in the list, the preparations for economic mobilization.

There are many others, of course. The preliminary mustering of horse-drawn and motor vehicles, preparation for evacuation measures, and so forth. We say—passing now from that document—we say the rapid success of the German re-armament is attributable to the greatest extent to the work of the Defendant Schacht. In the fall of 1934, the Nazi conspirators announced the so-called “New Plan,” aiming at the control of imports and exports in order to obtain the raw materials which were needed for armaments and the foreign currency which was required to sustain the armament program. This new plan was the creation of the Defendant Schacht, and under the plan, the Defendant Schacht controlled imports by extending the system of supervisory boards for import control, which was previously limited to the main groups of raw materials, to all goods imported into Germany, whether raw materials, semi-manufactured goods, or finished products. The requirement of licenses for imports enabled the Nazi conspirators to restrict imports to those commodities which served their war aims.

Subsequently, in February of 1935, the “Devisen” Law was passed which can be found by reference in the Reichsgesetzblatt of 1935, Part I, Page 105; and under it, all transactions involving foreign exchange were subject to the approval of Devisenstellen (the Foreign Exchange Control Offices). By thus controlling the disposition of foreign exchange, the conspirators were able to manipulate foreign trade so as to serve their needs and desires.

Thus every aspect of the German economy was being geared to war under the guidance particularly of the Defendant Schacht. In a study of the economic mobilization for war as of 30 September 1934, it was stated that steps had already been taken to build up stock piles, to construct new facilities for the production of scarce goods, and to redeploy industry, to secure areas and to control fiscal and trade policies. References were made to the fact that the task of stock piling had been hampered by the requirement of secrecy and camouflage. Reserves of automobile fuels and stocks of coal were being accumulated and the production of synthetic oil was accelerated. Civilian supply was purposely organized so that most plants would be working for the German Armed Forces. Studies were made of the possibility of barter trade with supposedly neutral countries in case of war.

The matter of financing the armament program presented a difficult problem for the conspirators. In 1934 and 1935 the German economy could by no possibility have raised funds for their extensive rearmament program through taxes and public loans. From the outset, the armament program involved “the engagement of the last reserves.”

Apart from the problem of raising the huge sums required to sustain this program, the Nazi conspirators were exceedingly anxious, in the early stages, to conceal the extent of their feverish armament activities.

After considering various techniques of financing the armament program, the Defendant Schacht proposed the use of so-called “mefo” bills. One of the primary advantages of this method was the fact that figures indicating the extent of rearmament that would have become public through the use of other methods could be kept secret through the use of mefo bills, and mefo bills were used exclusively for armament financing.

Transactions in mefo bills worked as follows:

Mefo bills were drawn by armament contractors and accepted by a limited liability company, [The Metallurgische Forschungsgesellschaft m. b. H.], the initials of which spell mefo from whence the transaction takes its name. This company had a nominal capital of 1 million Reichsmarks and was therefore merely a dummy organization. The bills were received by all German banks for possible rediscounting with the Reichsbank, and the bills were guaranteed by the Reich. Their secrecy was assured by the fact that they appeared neither in the published statements of the Reichsbank nor in the budget figures.

The mefo bill system continued to be used until April 1 of 1938. To that date, 12 billion Reichsmarks of mefo bills for the financing of rearmament had been issued. Since it was no longer deemed necessary in April of 1938 to conceal the vast progress of German rearmament, mefo financing was discontinued at that time.

A further source of funds which the Defendant Schacht drew upon to finance the Secret Armament Program were the funds of political opponents of the Nazi regime, and marks of foreigners on deposit in the Reichsbank. As Schacht stated—and I am quoting: “Our armaments are also financed partly with the credits of our political opponents.”

That statement may be found in a memorandum from the Defendant Schacht to Hitler, dated 3 May 1935, and it bears the number in the document book of 1168-PS, and the specific sentence is found in the second paragraph.

The outstanding mefo bills at all times represented a threat to the stability of the currency because they could be tendered to the Reichsbank for discount, in which case the currency circulation would automatically have to be increased. Thus, there was an ever-present threat of inflation. The Defendant Schacht continued on his course, because he stands, he said, “with unswerving loyalty to the Führer because he fully recognizes the basic ideas of National Socialism and because at the end, the disturbances, compared to the great task, can be considered irrelevant.”

High-ranking military officers paid tribute to the Defendant Schacht’s contrivances on behalf of the Nazi war machine. In an article written for the Military Weekly Gazette in January of 1937, it is said:

“The German Defense Force commemorates Dr. Schacht today as one of the men who have done imperishable things for it and its development in accordance with the directions from the Führer and Reich Chancellor. The Defense Force owes it to Schacht’s skill and great ability that, in defiance of all currency difficulties, it, according to plan, has been able to grow up to its present strength from an army of 100,000 men.”

After the reoccupation of the Rhineland, the Nazi conspirators re-doubled their efforts to prepare Germany for a major war. The Four Year Plan, as we have indicated earlier, was proclaimed by Hitler in his address at the Nuremberg Party convention on the 9th day of September in 1936, and it was given a statutory foundation by the decree concerning the execution of the Four Year Plan dated the 18th day of October, 1936, which is found in the Reichsgesetzblatt of 1936, in the first part, on Page 887. By this decree the Defendant Göring was put in charge of the plan. He was authorized to enact any legal and administrative measures deemed necessary by him for the accomplishment of his task, and to issue orders and instructions to all Government agencies, including the highest Reich authorities.

The purpose of the plan was to enable Nazi Germany to attain complete self-sufficiency in essential raw materials, notably motor fuel, rubber, textile fiber, and non-ferrous metals, and to intensify preparations for war. The development of synthetic products was greatly accelerated despite their high costs.

Apart from the self-sufficiency program, however, the Nazi conspirators required foreign exchange to finance propaganda and espionage activities abroad; Thus, in a speech on November 1 of 1937, before the Wehrmachtakademie, General Thomas stated:

“If you consider that one will need during the war considerable means in order to organize the necessary propaganda in order to pay for the espionage service and for similar purposes, then one should be clear that our internal mark would be of no use therefore, and that foreign exchange will be needed.”

This particular need for foreign exchange was reduced in part by the virtue of the espionage and propaganda services rendered free of charge to the Nazi State by some leading German industrial concerns.

I hold in my hand a document bearing the number D-206. It is dated at Essen the 12th day of October 1935. It was found in the files of the Krupp Company by representatives of the United States and the British armies. I shall not read all of it unless Your Honors require it, but I’ll start at the beginning by way of establishing its purpose and the information contained therein. It is entitled “Memorandum.” There is a subheading: “Concerns: Distribution of official propaganda literature abroad with the help of our foreign connections.” It goes on to say that:

“On the morning of October 11 the district representative of Ribbentrop’s private foreign office (Dienststelle Ribbentrop) made an appointment for a conference by telephone.”—and that—“A Mr. Lackmann arrived at the appointed time. . . . “In answer to my question with whom I was dealing, and which official bureau he represented, he informed me that he was not himself the district representative of Ribbentrop’s private foreign office, that a Mr. Landrat Bollmann was such, and that he himself had come at Mr. Bollmann’s order.”

The next paragraph states:

“. . . that there exists a great mixup in the field of foreign propaganda, and that Ribbentrop’s private foreign office wants to create a tighter organization for foreign propaganda. For this purpose the support of our firm and above all an index of addresses . . . were needed.”

In the next sentence, of the third paragraph, I would like to read:

“I informed Mr. L that our firm had put itself years ago at the disposal of official bureaus for purposes of foreign propaganda, and that we had supported all requests addressed to us to the utmost.”

I now hold in my hand the document bearing the number D-167, which is also a copy of a document found in the files of the Krupp Company by representatives of the American and the British Armies. It is dated the 14th day of October 1937, and states that it is a memorandum of Herr Sonnenberg on the meeting at Essen on the 12th day of October 1937 and it indicates that one Menzel representing the intelligence of the Combined Services Ministry, his department coming under the Defense Office, asked for intelligence on foreign armaments, but not including matters published in newspapers, intelligence received by Krupp from their agents abroad and through other channels to be passed on to the Combined Services Intelligence.

Finally, the third paragraph states that: “On our part we undertook to supply information to the Combined Services Ministry . . . as required.”

I have concluded reading from that document, and I pass now to discuss the conspirators’ program, which proceeded, as I have said so many times here today, with amazing—really amazing speed. The production of steel, for example, as shown in official German publications, rose as follows:

In the year of 1933, 74,000 tons were produced; in 1934, 105,000 tons; 1935, 145,000 tons; 1936, 186,000 tons; 1937, 217,000 tons; and in 1938, 477,000 tons. The production of gasoline increased at even a greater tempo: from 370,000 tons in 1934 to 1,494,000 tons in 1938.

The Nazi conspirators pressed the completion of the armament program with a sense of urgency which clearly indicated their awareness of the imminence of war. At a 4th of September meeting in 1936 Göring pointed out that “all measures have to be taken just as if we were actually in the state of imminent danger of war.” He pointed out that “if war should break out tomorrow we would be forced to take measures from which we might . . . shy away at the present moment. They are therefore to be taken.” The extreme urgency was manifested by Göring’s remark that “Existing reserves will have to be touched for the purpose of carrying us over this difficulty until the goal ordered by the Führer has been reached . . . in case of war,” he added, “they are not a reliable backing in any case.”

By a letter marked “Top Secret”, on the 21 of August of 1936, the Defendant Schacht was advised that Hitler had ordered that all formations of the Air Force be ready by April 1 of 1937. This served to accentuate the urgent sense of immediacy that had pervaded the Nazi war economy from the outset. Flushed with their successes in the Rhineland, the Nazi conspirators were laying the groundwork for further aggressive action.

THE PRESIDENT: Insofar as I understand you, you have not referred us to any document since Document 167.

MR. DODD: No, Your Honor, the figures on the production of steel and of oil are from the statistical year book for the German Reich of 1939 and 1940 and the statistical year book for the German Reich of 1941 and ’42—that is, with respect to the steel figures. And the figures which I quoted with respect to the production of gasoline are from the statistical year book for the German Reich in 1941 and 1942. The statements of the Defendant Göring are based upon the document marked EC-416, in the document book.

THE PRESIDENT: That is the document you have already referred to, isn’t it?

MR. DODD: Yes, it has been referred to heretofore, I believe. Some of these documents contain references to more than one part of the presentation, and I have to refer to them at different times in the presentation. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: All right. Go on, if you want to refer to it.

MR. DODD: The sixth paragraph on the first page:

“Existing reserves will have to be touched for the purpose of carrying us over this difficulty until the goal ordered by the Führer has been reached, and then in case of war, they are not a reliable backing in any case.”

And on the second page, the eighth paragraph down:

“If war should break out tomorrow, we would be forced to take measures from which we might possibly still shy away at the present moment. They are therefore to be taken.”

With reference to the assertion that the Defendant Schacht was advised that Hitler had ordered that all formations of the Air Force be ready by April 1, 1937, I respectfully refer to Document 1301-PS, dated 31 August 1936. I am advised that that document should bear an additional number. It should read 1301-PS-7. On the first page, if Your Honor pleases, the third paragraph, or the paragraph marked “3” and after the words “air force” . . . states that according to an order of the Führer, the setting up of all Air Force units had to be completed on April 1, 1937; and if Your Honors will turn the page to Page 20, about midway in the page, you will observe that a copy of this document was sent to the president of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht.

After their successes in Austria and in the Sudetenland, the Nazi conspirators redoubled their efforts to equip themselves for a war of aggression, and in a conference on October 14, 1938, shortly before the Nazi conspirators made their first demands on Poland, the Defendant Göring stated that the Führer had instructed him to carry out a gigantic program, by comparison with which the performances thus far were insignificant. This faced difficulties which he would overcome with the greatest energy and ruthlessness. And that statement may be found in the Document 1301-PS, on Page 25 of that document, and particularly the second sentence of the opening paragraph:

“Everybody knows from the press what the world situation looks like, and therefore the Führer has issued an order to him to carry out a gigantic program compared to which previous achievements are insignificant. There are difficulties in the way which he will overcome with the utmost energy and ruthlessness.”

The supply of foreign currency had shrunk because of preparations for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and it was considered necessary to replenish it. “These”—and I am now referring to the third paragraph of that same Page 25 of Document 1301-PS:

“These gains made through the export are to be used for an increased armament. The armament should not be curtailed by the export activities. He received the order from the Führer to increase the armament to an abnormal extent, the Air Force having first priority. Within the shortest time, the Air Force is to be increased fivefold; also the Navy should get on more rapidly, and the Army should procure large amounts of offensive weapons at a faster rate, particularly heavy artillery pieces and heavy tanks. Along with this manufactured armaments must go, especially fuel, powder and explosives are to be moved into the foreground. It should be coupled with the accelerated construction of highways, canals, and particularly of the railroads.”

In the course of these preparations for war, a clash of wills ensued between two men, the Defendant Göring and the Defendant Schacht, as a result of which the Defendant Schacht resigned his position as head of the Ministry of Economics and plenipotentiary for the war economy in November of 1937 and was removed from the presidency of the Reichsbank in January of 1939. I do not propose, at this moment, to go into the details of this controversy. There will be more said on that subject at a later stage in these proceedings, but for the present, I should like to have it noted that it is our contention that Schacht’s departure in no way implied any disagreement with the major war aims of the Nazis. The Defendant Schacht took particular pride in his vast attainments in the financial and economic fields in aid of the Nazi war machine. And in the document bearing the number EC-257, which is a copy of a letter from the Defendant Schacht to General Thomas, in the first paragraph of the letter:

“I think back with much satisfaction to the work in the Ministry of Economics which afforded me the opportunity to assist in the rearmament of the German people in the most critical period, not only in the financial but also in the economic sphere. I have always considered a rearmament of the German people as conditio sine qua non of the establishment of a new German nation.”

The second paragraph is of a more personal nature and has no real bearing on the issues before us at this time.

In the document labeled EC-252, a letter written to General Von Blomberg, dated the 8th day of July 1937, the Defendant Schacht wrote:

“The direction of the war economy by the plenipotentiary would in that event never take place entirely independent from the rest of the war mechanism, but would be aimed at accomplishment of the political war purpose with the assistance of all economic forces. I am entirely willing, therefore, to participate in this way in the preparation of the forthcoming order giving effect to the Defense Act.”

In the spring of 1937, the Defendant Schacht participated with representatives of the three branches of the Armed Forces in war games in war economy which was something new by way of military exercises. The war games in war economy were held at Godesberg, Germany. And I refer to the document bearing the label EC-174. It has as a heading, or subheading, under the summary: “War economy trip to Godesberg undertaken by General Staff between the 25th of May and the 2d of June,” and it goes on to outline in some slight detail that there was a welcome to the General Staff war economy trip. It tells something in a rather vague and not altogether clear way of just how a war game in war economy was conducted but it leaves no doubt in the mind that such a war game in war economy had been conducted at Godesberg at that time. And on the second page of this document, the last paragraph is the translation of Part 1 of the speech welcoming Dr. Schacht. It says:

“Before I start with the discussion of the war game in war economy, I have to express how grateful we all are that you, President Dr. Schacht, have gone to the trouble to personally participate in our final discussion today despite all your other activities. This proves to us your deep interest in war economy tasks shown at all times and your presence here is renewed proof that you are willing to facilitate for us soldiers the difficult war-economic preparations and to strengthen a harmonious cooperation with your offices.”

I should also like to call the Court’s attention to the next to the last paragraph on the first page. It is a one-sentence paragraph, and it simply says, “I want to point out, however, that all material and all information received has to be kept in strict secrecy,” and it refers to the preceding paragraph concerning the war games in war economy.

It appears that the annexation of Austria was a goal which the Defendant Schacht had long sought, for in a speech to the employees of the former Austrian National Bank, as set out in the document bearing the label EC-297, and particularly the second paragraph of the first page of that document, nearly at the end, four or five lines from the end of that paragraph, we find these words immediately after “large applause”:

“Austria has certainly a great mission, namely, to be the bearer of German culture, to insure respect and regard for the German name, especially in the direction of the southeast. Such a mission can only be performed within the Great German Reich and based on the power of a nation of 75 millions, which, regardless of the wish of the opponents, forms the heart and the soul of Europe.”

Dr. Schacht goes on to say:

“We have read a lot in the foreign press during the last few days that this aim, the union of both countries, is to a certain degree justified, but that the method of effecting this union was terrible. . . . This method, which certainly did not suit one or another foreigner, is nothing but the consequence of countless perfidies and brutal acts of violence which foreign countries have practiced against us.”

And I refer now to Page 3 of this same document and to the fourth paragraph, about the center of the page, and reading from it:

“I am known for sometimes expressing thoughts which give offense and there I would not like to depart from this custom. I know that there are even here, in this country a few people—I believe they are not too numerous—who find fault with the events of the last few days; but nobody, I believe, doubts the goal, and it should be said to all grumblers that you can’t satisfy everybody. One person says he would have done it maybe in one way, but the remarkable thing is that they did not do it, and that it was only done by our Adolf Hitler; and if there is still something left to be improved, then those grumblers should try to bring about these improvements from the German Reich, and within the German community, but not to disturb it from without.”

In the memorandum of the 7th of January 1939, written by the Defendant Schacht and other directors of the Reichsbank to Hitler, urging a balancing of the budget in view of the threatening danger of inflation, it was stated—and I now refer to the document bearing the label EC-369 and particularly to the paragraph at the bottom of the first page of that document:

“From the beginning the Reichsbank has been aware of the fact that a successful foreign policy can be attained only by the reconstruction of the German Armed Forces. It (the Reichsbank) therefore assumed to a very great extent the responsibility to finance the rearmament in spite of the inherent dangers to the currency. The justification thereof was the necessity, which pushed all other considerations into the background, to carry through the armament at once, out of nothing, and furthermore under camouflage, which made a respect-commanding foreign policy possible.”

The Reichsbank directors, as experts on money, believed that a point had been reached where greater production of armaments was no longer possible. We say that was merely a judgment on the situation and not a moral principle, for there was no opposition to Hitler’s policy of aggression. Doubts were ascertained only as to whether he could finance that policy. Hitler’s letter to Schacht on the occasion of Schacht’s departure from the Reichsbank, as contained in Document EC-397, pays high tribute to Schacht’s great efforts in furthering the program of the Nazi conspirators. The Armed Forces by now had enabled Hitler to take Austria and the Sudetenland. We say Schacht’s task up to that point had been well done. And to quote from Document EC-397 in the words of Hitler, in a letter which he wrote to the Defendant Schacht, “Your name, above all, will always be connected with the first epoch of the national rearmament.”

Even though dismissed from the presidency of the Reichsbank, Schacht was retained as a Minister without portfolio and special confidential adviser to Hitler. The Defendant Funk stepped into Schacht’s position as President of the Reichsbank. And I ask at this point that the Court might take judicial notice of the Völkischer Beobachter of January 21, 1939. The Defendant Funk was completely uninhibited by fears of inflation, for like Göring, under whom he had served in the Four Year Plan, he recognized no obstacles to the plan to attack Poland.

In Document 699-PS, in a letter from the Defendant Funk to Hitler, written on August 25 of 1939, only a few days before the attack on Poland, the Defendant Funk reported to Hitler that the Reichsbank was prepared to withstand any disturbances of the international currency and credit system occasioned by a large-scale war. He said that he had secretly transferred all available funds of the Reichsbank abroad into gold, and that Germany stood ready to meet the financial and economic tasks which lay ahead.

And so it seems plain and clear from the writings, from the acts, from the speeches of the Nazi conspirators themselves, that they did in fact direct the whole of the German economy toward preparation for aggressive war. To paraphrase the words that the Defendant Göring once used, these conspirators gave the German people “guns instead of butter,” and we say they also gave history its most striking example of a nation gearing itself in time of peace to the single purpose of aggressive war. Their economic preparations, formulated and applied with the ruthless energy of the Defendant Göring, with the cynical financial wizardry of the Defendant Schacht, and the willing complicity of Funk, among others, were the indispensable first act in the heart-breaking tragedy which their aggression inflicted upon the world.

I should like to offer, if I may at this time, Your Honor, those documents which I have referred to in the course of this discussion. We have here the original documents in the folders, and they compare with the translations which have been submitted to the Court.

THE PRESIDENT: Have the defendants had the opportunity of inspecting these documents?

MR. DODD: I doubt that they have had full opportunity to inspect them, Your Honor. The photostats are there, but I don’t think they have had time to inspect them because they haven’t been there long enough for that.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that they should have full opportunity of inspecting them and comparing with the copies which have been submitted to us before the originals are put in.

MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor. We may offer them at a later date, as I understand, Your Honor?

THE PRESIDENT: Certainly. The Tribunal will adjourn for 10 minutes.

[A recess was taken.]

COLONEL STOREY: May it please the Tribunal: The U. S. Prosecution now passes into the aggressive war phase of the case and it will be presented by Mr. Alderman.

MR. ALDERMAN: May it please the Tribunal: I rise to present on behalf of the United States Chief of Counsel, evidence to support the allegation of Count One of the Indictment relating to the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of illegal and aggressive war, and relating to the conspiracy to commit that crime.

The aggressive war phase of the case, the aggressive war phase of the conspiracy case under Count One, and the aggressive war phase of the entire case is really, we think, the heart of the case. If we did not reach it in our presentation we would not reach the heart of the case. If we did not present it to the Tribunal in the necessary detail, we would fail to present what is necessary to the heart of the case.

After all, everything else in this case, however dramatic, however sordid, however shocking and revolting to the common instincts of civilized peoples, is incidental to, or subordinate to, the aggressive war aspect of the case.

All the dramatic story of what went on in Germany in the early phases of the conspiracy—the ideologies used, the techniques of terror used, the suppressions of human freedom employed in the seizure of power, and even the concentration camps and the Crimes against Humanity, the persecutions, tortures, and murders committed—all these things would have little juridical international significance except for the fact that they were the preparation for the commission of aggressions against peaceful neighboring peoples.

Even the aspects of the case involving War Crimes in the strict sense are aspects which are merely the inevitable, proximate result of the wars of aggression launched and waged by these conspirators, and of the kind of warfare they waged—that is—total war, the natural result of the totalitarian party-dominated state that waged it, and atrocious war, the natural result of the atrocious doctrines, designs, and purposes of these war-makers.

For these reasons, I repeat that in our view the phases of the case dealing with territorial gains acquired by threats of force and with actual aggressions and aggressive wars constitute the real heart of the case. Accordingly, we ask the indulgence of the Tribunal if for these reasons we make the presentation of this part of the case as detailed as seems to us necessary in view of the outstanding importance of the subject matter.

The general scope of the case to be presented by the American Prosecution has been stated in the opening address by Mr. Justice Jackson. That address indicated to the Tribunal the general nature and character of the evidence to be offered by the American Prosecution in support of the allegations with which I shall deal. However, before approaching the actual presentation of that evidence, it seems to us that it would be helpful to an orderly presentation of the case, to address the Tribunal in an introductory way concerning this specific segment of the Prosecution’s case. In doing so, I shall not attempt to retrace the ground so ably covered by Mr. Justice Jackson. On the contrary, I shall confine my introductory remarks to matters specifically and peculiarly applicable to that part of the American case relating to the crime of illegal warfare, and the Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit that crime.

The substantive rule of law which must guide the considerations of the Tribunal on this aspect of the case, and the rule of law which must be controlling in the final judgment of the Tribunal on this part of the case, is stated in Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal. Article 6, so far as pertinent here, reads as follows:

“Article 6. The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries, whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes.

“The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

“(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a Common Plan or Conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing. . . .”

Subparagraphs (b) and (c) of Article 6 are not pertinent to this aspect of the case. However, the unnumbered final paragraph of Article 6 is of controlling importance on this aspect of the case. That paragraph reads:

“Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.”

In receiving evidence on this aspect of the case I would request the Tribunal to have in mind five principles derived from the portions of the Charter I have just read:

(1) The Charter imposes “individual responsibility” for acts constituting “Crimes against Peace”;

(2) The term “Crimes against Peace” embraces planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of illegal war;

(3) The term “Crimes against Peace” also embraces participation in a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit illegal war;

(4) An illegal war consists of either a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances. These two kinds of illegal war might not necessarily be the same. It will be sufficient for the Prosecution to show that the war was aggressive irrespective of breach of international treaties, agreements, or assurances. On the other hand it would be sufficient for the Prosecution to show that the war was in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances irrespective of whether or not it was a war of aggression. We think the evidence in this case will establish conclusively that the wars planned, prepared, initiated, and waged by these defendants, and the wars which were the object of their common plan and conspiracy, were illegal for both reasons.

The fifth principle which I ask you to bear in mind, is that individual criminal responsibility of a defendant is imposed by the Charter not merely by reason of direct, immediate participation in the crime. It is sufficient for the Prosecution to show that a defendant was a leader, an organizer, instigator, or accomplice who participated either in the formulation or in the execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit Crimes against Peace. In the case of many of the defendants the evidence will show direct and immediate personal participation in the substantive crime itself. In the case of some of the defendants the evidence goes to their participation in the formulation and execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy. In the case of each defendant, we think, the evidence will establish full individual responsibility for Crimes against Peace, as defined in the Charter of this Tribunal. In this connection I wish to emphasize that the Charter declares that the responsibility of conspirators extends not only to their own acts, but also to all acts performed by any persons in execution of the conspiracy.

It is familiar law in my country that if two or more persons set out to rob a bank, in accordance with a criminal scheme to that end, and in the course of carrying out their scheme one of the conspirators commits the crime of murder, all of the participants in the planning and execution of the bank robbery are guilty of murder, whether or not they had any other personal participation in the killing. This is a simple rule of law declared in the Charter. All the parties to a Common Plan or Conspiracy are the agents of each other and each is responsible as principal for the acts of all the others as his agents.

So much for the terms of the Charter having a bearing on this aspect of the case.

I invite the attention of the Tribunal to the portions of the Indictment lodged against the defendants on trial which relate to the crimes of illegal war or war of aggression. Particularly I ask the Tribunal to advert to the statements of offense under Count One and Count Two of the Indictment in this case.

The statement of offense under Count One of the Indictment is contained in Paragraph III. The offense there stated, so far as pertinent to the present discussion, is:

“All the defendants, with divers other persons, during a period of years preceding 8th May 1945, participated as leaders, organizers, instigators, or accomplices in the formulation or execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit, or which involved the commission of, Crimes against Peace, as defined in the Charter of this Tribunal. . . . The Common Plan or Conspiracy embraced the commission of Crimes against Peace, in that the defendants planned, prepared, initiated, and waged wars of aggression, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances.”

The statement of offense under Count Two of the Indictment is also relevant at this point. It must be obvious that essentially Counts One and Two interlock in this Indictment. The substance of the offense stated under Count Two, Paragraph V of the Indictment is this:

“All the defendants with divers other persons, during a period of years preceding 8 May 1945, participated in the planning, preparation, incitation, and waging of wars of aggression which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements, and assurances.”

The emphasis in the statement of offense under Count One of the Indictment is on the Common Plan or Conspiracy. The emphasis under Count Two of the Indictment is on the substantive crimes to which the conspiracy related and which were committed in the course of and pursuant to that conspiracy.

I should hasten to add at this point that in the division of the case as between the Chief Prosecutors of the four Prosecuting Governments, primary responsibility for the presentation of evidence supporting Count One has been placed on the American prosecutor, and primary responsibility for the presentation of the evidence supporting Count Two of the Indictment has been placed on the British prosecutor.

But as we shall show somewhat later, there will to some extent be a cooperative effort as between the two prosecutors to present certain phases of both counts together. In addition to the statement of offense relating to illegal war in Paragraph III under Count One of the Indictment, Count One also contains what amounts to a bill of particulars of that offense. In so far as those particulars relate to illegal war, they are contained in Paragraph IV (F) of the Indictment which is set out in the English text on Page 7 through the top of Page 10 under the general heading “Utilization of Nazi Control for Foreign Aggression.” The allegations of this bill of particulars have been read in open court, in the presence of the defendants, and the Tribunal, as well as the defendants, are certainly familiar with the contents of those allegations. I call attention to them now, however, in order to focus attention on the parts of the Indictment which are relevant in consideration of the evidence which I intend to bring before the Tribunal.

My introduction to the presentation of evidence in this matter would be faulty if I did not invite the Tribunal to consider with me the relationship between history and the evidence in this case. Neither counsel nor Tribunal can orient themselves to the problem at hand—neither counsel nor Tribunal can present or consider the evidence in this case in its proper context, neither can argue or evaluate the staggering implications of the evidence to be presented—without reading that history, reading that evidence against the background of recorded history. And by recorded history, I mean the history merely of the last 12 years.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, of the U. S. Supreme Court, found in his judicial experience that “a page of history is worth a volume of logic.” My recollection is that he stated it perhaps better, earlier in the preface to his book on the common law where he said, I think, “The life of the law has been not logic but experience.” I submit that in the present case a page of history is worth a hundred tons of evidence. As lawyers and judges we cannot blind ourselves to what we know as men. The history of the past 12 years is a burning, living thing in our immediate memory. The facts of history crowd themselves upon us and demand our attention.

It is common ground among all systems of jurisprudence that matters of common knowledge need not be proved, but may receive the judicial notice of courts without other evidence. The Charter of this Tribunal, drawing on this uniformly recognized principle, declares in Article 21:

“The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof.”

The facts of recorded history are the prime example of facts of common knowledge which require no proof. No court would require evidence to prove that the Battle of Hastings occurred in the year 1066, or that the Bastille fell on the 14th of July 1789, or that Czar Alexander I freed the serfs in 1863, or that George Washington was the first President of the United States or that George III was the reigning King of England at that time.

If I may be allowed to interpolate, an old law professor of mine used to present the curiosity of the law: that a judge is held to responsibility for no knowledge of the law whatsoever, that a lawyer is held to a reasonable knowledge of the law, and a layman is held to an absolute knowledge of all the laws. It works inversely as to facts, or facts of common knowledge. There, the judge is imputed to know all of those facts, however many of them he may have forgotten as an individual man. So one of the purposes of this presentation will be to implement the judicial knowledge which by hypothesis exists, and which probably actually exists.

It is not our purpose however, to convert the record of these proceedings into a history book. The evidence which we offer in this case is evidence which for the moment has been concealed from historians. It will fill in recorded history, but it must be read against the background which common knowledge provides. The evidence in this case consists primarily of captured documents. These documents fill in the inside story underlying the historical record which we all already knew. This evidence which we will offer constitutes an illustrative spot check on history—on the history of the recent times as the world knows it. The evidence to be offered is not a substitute for history. We hope the Tribunal will find it to be an authentication of history. The evidence which we have drawn from captured documents establishes the validity of the recent history of the past 12 years—a history of many aggressions by the Nazi conspirators accused in this case.

As I offer to the Tribunal document after document, I ask the Court to see in those documents definite additions to history, the addition of new elements long suspected and now proved. The elements which the captured documents on this particular aspect of the case will add to recorded history are the following:

(1) The conspiratorial nature of the planning and preparation which underlay the Nazi aggressions already known to history;

(2) The deliberate premeditation which preceded those acts of aggression;

(3) The evil motives which led to the crimes;

(4) The individual participation of named persons in the Nazi conspiracy for aggression;

(5) The deliberate falsification of the pretexts claimed by the Nazi aggressors as the reasons for their criminal activities.

These elements the captured documents will demonstrate beyond possible doubt, and these elements, in the context of historical facts, we think are all that need to be shown.

The critical period between the Nazi seizure of power and the initiation of the first war of aggression was a very short period. This critical period of a lawless preparation and illegal scheming which ultimately set the whole world aflame was unbelievably short. It covered only 6 years, 1933 to 1939. The speed with which all this was accomplished evidences at once the fanatical intensity of the conspirators and their diabolical efficiency. Crowded into these 6 short years is the making of the greatest tragedy that has ever befallen mankind.

A full understanding of these 6 years, and of the vibrant 6 years of war that followed, demands that we see this period of time divided into rather definite phases, phases that reflect the development and execution of the Nazi master plan. I suggest that the Tribunal as it receives evidence, fit it into five phases. The first was primarily preparatory, although it did involve overt acts. That phase covers roughly the period from 1933 to 1936. In that period the Nazi conspirators, having acquired governmental control of Germany by the middle of 1933, turned their attention toward utilization of that control for foreign aggression. Their plan at this stage was to acquire military strength and political bargaining power to be used against other nations. In this they succeeded. The second phase of their aggression was shorter. It is rather interesting to see that as the conspiracy gained strength it gained speed. During each phase the conspirators succeeded in accomplishing more and more in less and less time until, toward the end of the period, the rate of acceleration of their conspiratorial movement was enormous. The second phase of their utilization of control for foreign aggression involved the actual seizure and absorption of Austria and Czechoslovakia in that order. By March, the third month of 1939, they had succeeded in that phase. The third phase may be measured in months rather than years: from March 1939 to September 1939. The previous aggression being successful, having been consummated without the necessity of resorting to actual war, the conspirators had obtained much desired resources and bases and were ready to undertake further aggressions, by means of war if necessary. By September 1939 war was upon the world. The fourth phase of the aggression consisted of expanding the war into a general European war of aggression. By April 1941 the war which had theretofore involved Poland, the United Kingdom, and France, had been expanded by invasions into Scandinavia and into the Low Countries and into the Balkans. In the next phase the Nazi conspirators carried the war eastward by invasion of the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and finally, through their Pacific ally, Japan, precipitated the attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor.

The final result of these aggressions is fresh in the minds of all of us.

I turn now to certain outstanding evidence at hand. While on this phase of the case we shall not rest exclusively on them alone; the essential elements of the crime which I have already pointed out can be made out by a mere handful of captured documents. My order of presentation of these will be first to present one by one this handful of documents, documents which prove the essential elements of the case on aggressive war up to the hilt. These documents will leave no reasonable doubt concerning the aggressive character of the Nazi war or concerning the conspiratorial premeditation of that war. Some of this group of documents are the specific basis for particular allegations in the Indictment. As I reach those documents, I shall invite the attention of the Tribunal to the allegations of the Indictment which are specifically supported by them. Having proved the corpus of the crime in this way, I will follow the presentation of this evidence with a more or less chronological presentation of the details of the case on aggressive war producing more detailed evidence of the relevant activities of the conspirators from 1933 to 1941.

The documents which we have selected for single presentation at this point, before developing the case in detail, are 10 in number. The documents have been selected to establish the basic facts concerning each phase of the development of the Nazi conspiracy for aggression. Each document is conspiratorial in nature. Each document is one, I believe, heretofore unknown to history and each document is self-contained and tells its own story. Those are the three standards of selection which we have sought to apply.

I turn to the period of 1933 to 1936, a period characterized by an orderly, planned sequence of preparations for war. This is the period covered by Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Section IV (F) of the Indictment, to be found at Page 7 of the printed English text. The essential character of this period was the formulation and execution of the plan to re-arm and to re-occupy and fortify the Rhineland, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and other treaties, in order to acquire military strength and political bargaining power to be used against other nations.

If the Tribunal please, we have what have been referred to as document books. They are English translations of German documents, in some cases German versions. I shall ask that they be handed up and we will hand one copy at the moment to counsel for the defendants. It has been physically impossible to prepare 21 sets of them. If possible we shall try to furnish further copies to the defendants, the original German documents. . . .

DR. DIX: I would be very much obliged. In order that there should be no misunderstanding we have arranged that tomorrow we will discuss with the Prosecution in what way the whole of the evidence may be made available to all the Defense Counsel. It is, of course, necessary that no one should have the advantage over the other. For this reason, while I appreciate the good will of the Prosecution to overcome the difficulties, I must refuse their kind offer of a copy of the book, because I feel that in so doing I would have an unfair advantage over the others. I am not in a position during the proceedings to hand the evidentiary document to my colleagues. I ask you therefore to appreciate the reasons why I have refused this document. I am convinced that tomorrow we shall be able to agree about the way in which we can receive evidence, and I suggest that today we try to continue as we have done up to now.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Alderman, can you inform the Tribunal how many copies of these documents you will be able to furnish to the Tribunal by Monday?

MR. ALDERMAN: I cannot at the moment. If Your Honor pleases: may I make this suggestion in connection with it, which I think may be of help to all concerned? I think many of us have underestimated the contribution of this interpreting system to this Trial. We all see how it has speeded the proceeding, but in so far as my presentation of German documents is concerned, I shall let the documents speak. I expect to read the pertinent parts of the documents into the system so that they will go into the transcript of record. Counsel for the German defendants will get their transcripts in German; our French and Russian Allies will get their transcripts in their language, and it seems to me that that is the most helpful way to overcome this language barrier. I can recognize that for Dr. Dix to receive a volume of documents which are English translations of German documents might not seem very helpful to him. Further, as an aid, we will have original German documents in court—one copy; and if the Court will allow, I would ask that the original German document, from which I shall read, would be passed to the German interpreter under Colonel Dostert, so that instead of undertaking to translate an English translation back into perhaps a bad German, he will have the original German document before him and in that way, the exact German text will be delivered in the daily transcript to all of the counsel for the defendants. I hope that may be a helpful suggestion.

THE PRESIDENT: That to some extent depends, does it not, upon how much of the document you omit?

MR. ALDERMAN: That is quite true, Sir. As to these 10 documents with which I propose to deal immediately, I expect to read into the transcript practically the whole of the documents, because the whole of them is significant, much more significant than anything I could say. Also all of these 10 documents were listed in the list of documents which we furnished counsel for the defendants, I believe, the 1st of November.

THE PRESIDENT: You say that they were. . . .

MR. ALDERMAN: In the list. But of course I recognize that a list of documents is very different from the documents themselves.

THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents very long?

MR. ALDERMAN: Some of them are very long and some of them are very short; you can’t generalize. Whenever it is a speech of Adolf Hitler you can count it is fairly long.

THE PRESIDENT: Can you not by Monday have in the hands of every member of the Defense Counsel copies of these 10 documents? It is suggested to me that photostating could be done quite easily.

MR. ALDERMAN: I understand that both our photostatic facilities and our mimeographing facilities are right up to the hilt with work. It is a very difficult mechanical problem.

COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please: In further explanation, the documents which Mr. Alderman intends to offer were on the defendants’ list filed in the Document Center on the 1st day of November 1945. Lieutenant Barrett had 23 copies of each one photostated as far as he could on that list. Six copies went into the defendants’ Information Center. Now, we can’t say at this time whether six copies—that, is photostatic copies of each one—have been furnished to the defendants, but whenever they wanted copies of any particular one, either the original was exhibited to them or photostatic copies were made.

Again, Sir, I call attention to the physical problems that are almost insurmountable: to make 23 photostatic copies which are required of every document. Now then, Sir. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: If I may interrupt you, I imagine that the list which was deposited on the 1st of November didn’t contain only these 10 documents but contained a great number of other documents.

COL. STOREY: That is correct, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: So that the defendants’ counsel wouldn’t know which out of that list of documents were going to be relied upon.

COL. STOREY: Except, Sir, they were notified that the Prosecution would use all or some of those documents if necessary, and if the copies were not furnished upon request, they have been made and delivered to them.

May I say, Sir, that working 24 hours a day, we are trying to furnish 10 sets of all of these to defendants’ counsel, and they will be. . . . One complete set was delivered to defendants’ counsel here now as a convenience to follow. The other sets, I feel certain, will be in their hands sometime Sunday, but one complete list we now turn over to them—not a list, complete copies.

DR. WALTER SIEMERS (Counsel for Defendant Raeder): I should like to point out one fact. The Prosecution declared this morning that the documents that will be put before us today are contained in the list which was submitted on the 1st of November, that is—in the list which was submitted this morning. This morning a list was made available to us in room 54. I have it in my hand. This morning nine documents were named. Of these nine documents, only one, contrary to what the Prosecution said, was found in the old list; the other eight documents were neither in the old list nor in the new list. The eight other documents are, as I ascertained at lunch time today, not in the document room. Neither are they available in photostatic copies, so they could not be made available to me. I think, gentlemen, that it will not be possible for us to work on this basis. I therefore request that we should be allowed to wait until we know the result of the discussion which we are told will take place tomorrow with the Prosecution, so that we may then. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal proposes to adjourn now and to give Defense Counsel the opportunity of meeting Counsel for the Prosecution tomorrow morning. Both Counsel for the Prosecution and Defense Counsel appear to be perfectly ready to make every possible effort to deal with the case in the most reasonable way, and at that meeting you will be able to discuss these documents which you say have been omitted and the Counsel for the Prosecution will try to satisfy you with reference to the other documents.

DR. SIEMERS: Yes, I have one more request. The Prosecution has just said that it will hardly be possible to make 23 photostatic copies. I believe, gentlemen, that if these documents are as important as the Prosecution said today, it is a conditio sine qua non that every defense counsel and every defendant should have a photostatic copy of these documents.

As we all know it is easy to produce a photostat in a few hours. With the excellent apparatus here available to the Prosecution it should, in my opinion, be easy to produce 20 or 40 photostats of these 10 documents in 48 hours.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you will meet the Counsel for the Prosecution tomorrow and attempt to come to some satisfactory arrangement with them then; and now the Tribunal will adjourn.

[The Tribunal adjourned until 26 November 1945 at 1000 hours.]