O F F I C I A L T R A N S C R I P T in the matter of:
THE PRESIDENT: Before the defendants in this case are called upon to make their pleas to the indictment, which has been lodged against them, and in which they are charged with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and of a common plan or conspiracy to commit those crimes, it is the wish of the Tribunal that should make a very brief statement on behalf of the Tribunal. suant to the Agreement of London, dated the 8th of August, 1945, and the Charter of the Tribunal as annexed thereto. The purpose for which the Tribunal has been established is stated in Article 1 of the Charter to be the just and prompt trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis. of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. signatories, have settled the final designation of the war criminals to be tried by the Tribunal, and have approved the indictment on which the present defendants stand charged here today. ment was lodged with the Tribunal and a copy of that indictment in the German indictment has been furnished to each defendant, and has been in his possession for more than thirty days.
All the defendants are represented by counsel. In almost all cases the counsel appearing for the defendants, have been chosen by the defendants themselves, but in cases where counsel could not be obtained, the Tribunal has itself selected suitable counsel agreeable to the defendant. have been taken by the Chief Prosecutors to make available to defending counsel the numerous documents upon which the prosecution rely, with the aim of giving to the defendant every possibility for a just defense. of the jurisprudence of the world and it is of supreme importance to millions of people all over the globe. For these reasons, there is laid upon everybody who takes any part in this trial a solemn responsibility to discharge their duties without fear or favor in accordance with the sacred principles of law and justice. the duty of all concerned to see than the trial in no way departs from those principles and traditions, which alone give justice its authority and the place it ought to occupy in the affairs of all civilized states. and I must, therefore, remind the public that the Tribunal will insist upon the complete maintenance of order and decorum, and will take the strictest measures to enforce it. It only remains for me to direct, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, that the indictment shall now be read.
MR. SIDNEY ALDERMAN: May it please the Tribunal:
I. The United States of America, the French Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by the undersigned, Robert H. Jackson, Francois de Menthon, Hartley Shawcross and R. A. Rudenko, duly appointed to represent their respective Governments in the investigation of the charges against and the prosecution of the major war criminals, pursuant to the Agreement of London dated 8th August, 1945, and the Charter of this Tribunal annexed thereto, hereby accuse as guilty, in the respects hereinafter set forth, of Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity, and of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit those Crimes, all as defined in the Charter of the Tribunal, and accordingly name as defendants in this cause and as indicted on the counts hereinafter set out:
HERMANN WILHELM GORING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM von RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTENBRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP von BOHLEN und HALBACH, KARL DOeNITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR von SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ von PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART, ALBERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN von NEURATH and HANS FRITZSCHE, individuals and as members of any of the Groups or Organizations next hereinafter named.
II. The following are named as Groups or Organizations (since dissolved) which should be declared criminal by reason of their aims and the means used for the accomplishment thereof and in connection with the conviction of such of the named defendants as were members thereof: DIE REICHSREGIERUNG (REICH CABINET); DAS KORPS DER POLITISCHEN LEITER DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY); DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (commonly known as the "SS") and including DIE SICHERHEITSDIENST (commonly known as the "SD"); DIE GEHEIME STAATSPOLIZEI (SECRET STATE POLICE, commonly known as the "GESTAPO"); DIE STURMABTEILUNGEN DER N.S.D.A.P. (commonly known as the "SA"); and the GENERAL STAFF and HIGH COMMAND of the GERMAN ARMED FORCES. The identity and membership of the Groups or Organizations referred to in the foregoing titles are hereinafter in Appendix B more particularly defined.
(Charter, Article 6, especially 6 (a)) III.
STATEMENT OF THE OFFENSE 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, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity, as defined in the Charter of this Tribunal, and, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, are individually responsible for their own acts and for all acts committed by any persons in the execution of such plan or conspiracy. 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. In the development and course of the common plan or conspiracy it came to embrace the commission of War Crimes, in that it contemplated, and the defendants determined upon and carried out, ruthless wars against countries and populations, in violation of the rules and customs of war, including as typical and systematic means by which the wars were prosecuted, murder, illtreatment, deportation for slave labor and for other purposes of civilian populations of occupied territories, murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war and of persons on the high seas, the taking and killing of hostages, the plunder of public and private property, the wanton destruction of cities, towns, and villages, and devastation not justified by military necessity. The common plan or conspiracy contemplated and came to embrace as typical and systematic means, and the defendants determined upon and committed, Crimes against Humanity, both within Germany and within occupied territories, including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before and during the war, and persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds, in execution of the plan for preparing and prosecuting aggressive or illegal wars, many of such acts and persecutions being violations of the domestic laws of the countries where perpetrated.
IV. PARTICULARS OF THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMON PLAN OR (A) NAZI PARTY AS THE CENTRAL CORE OF THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party), also known as the Nazi Party, which had been founded in Germany in 1920.
He continued as such throughout the period covered by this Indictment. The Nazi Party, together with certain of its defendants and their co-conspirators and an instrument for the carrying out of the aims and purposes of their conspiracy. Each defendant became a member of the Nazi Party and of the conspiracy, with knowledge of their aims and purposes, or, with such knowledge, became an accessory to their aims and purposes at some stage of the development of the conspiracy.
(B) COMMON OBJECTIVES AND METHODS OF CONSPIRACY divers other persons from time to time associated as leaders, members, supporters or adherents of the Nazi Party (hereinafter called collectively the "Nazi conspirators") were, or came to be, to accomplish the following by any means deemed opportune, including unlawful means, and contemplating ultimate resort to threat of force, force and aggressive war: (i) to abrogate and overthrow the Treaty of Versailles and its restrictions upon the military armament and activity of Germany; (ii ) to acquire the territories lost by Germany as the result of the World War of 19141913 and other territories in Europe asserted by the Nazi conspirators to be occupied principally by so-called "racial Germans"; (iii) to acquire still further territories in continental Europe and elsewhere claimed by the Nazi conspirators to be required by the "racial Germans" as "Lebensraum," or living space, all at the expense of neighboring and other countries. The aims and purposes of the Nazi conspirators were not fixed or static but evolved and expanded as they acquired progressively greater power and became able to make more effective application of threats of force and threats of aggressive war. When their expanding aims and purposes became finally so great as to provoke such strength of resistance as could be overthrown only by armed force and aggressive war, and not simply by the opportunistic methods theretofore used, such as fraud, deceit, threats, intimidation, fifth column activities and propaganda, the Nazi conspirators deliberately planned, determined upon and launched their aggressive wars ances by the phases and steps hereinafter more particularly described.
(C) DOCTRINAL TECHNIQUES OF THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY means of securing for the Nazi conspirators the highest degree of control over the German community, they put forth,' disseminated, and exploited certain doctrines, among others, as follows:
1. That persons of so-called "Gorman blood" (as specified by the Nazi conspirators) were a "master race" and were accordingly entitled to subjugate, dominate or exterminate other "races" and peoples;2. That the German people should be ruled under the Fuhrerprinzip (leadership principle) according to which power was to reside own sphere of jurisdiction; and the power of the leadership was life;3. That war was a noble and necessary activity of Germans;4. That the leadership of the Nazi Party, as the sole bearer of the (D) THE ACQUIRING OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL OF GERMANY:
POLITICAL 1. First steps in acquisition of control of State machinery prepared to seize totalitarian control over Germany to assure that no effective resistance against them could arise within Germany itself.
After the failure of the Munich Putsch of 1923 aimed at the overthrow of the Weimar Republic by direct action, the Nazi conspirators set out through the Nazi Party to undermine and capture the German Government by "legal" forms supported by terrorism. They created and utilized, as a Party formation, Die Sturmabteilungen (SA), a semi-military, voluntary organization of young men trained for and committed to the use of violence, whose mission was to make the Party the master of the streets. 2. Control acquired After the Reichstag fire of 28th February, 1933, clauses of the Weimar constitution guaranteeing personal liberty, freedom of speech, of the press, of association and assembly were suspended. The Nazi conspirators secured the passage by the Reichstag of a "Law for the Protection of the People and the Reich" giving Hitler and the members of his then cabinet plenary powers of legislation. The Nazi conspirators retained such powers after having changed the members of the cabinet. The conspirators caused all political parties except the Nazi Party to be prohibited. They caused the Nazi Party to be established as a paragovernmental organization with extensive and extraordinary privileges. 3. Consolidation of control conspirators set about the consolidation of their position of power within Germany, the extermination of potential internal resistance and the placing of the German nation on a military footing.
(a) The Nazi conspirators reduced the Reichstag to a body of their throughout the country.
They transformed the several administrative organs of the central government.
They the person of Hitler; instituted a widespread purge of civil servants; and severely restricted the independence of the judiciary and rendered it subservient to Nazi ends.
The conspirators greatly enlarged existing State and Party organizations; es tablished a network of new State and Party organizations; and "co-ordinated" State agencies with the Nazi Party and its (b) In order to make their rule secure from attack and to instil fear posed or suspected opponents of the regime.
They imprisoned such persons without judicial process, holding them in "protective custody" and concentration camps, and subjected them to perse ity hereinafter alleged.
Among the principal agencies utilized (c) The nazi conspirators conceived that, in addition to the suppres Accordingly:
(1) The Nazi conspirators destroyed the free trade unions in supplanting them by an affiliated Party organization.
The ers becoming his followers.
Thus any potential resistance (2) The Nazi conspirators, by promoting beliefs and practices incompatible with Christian teaching, sought to subvert the lar over the youth of Germany.
They avowed their aim to (3) The persecution by the Nazi conspirators of pacifist (d) Implementing their "master race" policy, the conspirators joined exterminate them.
Annihilation of the Jews became an official ments to mob and individual violence.
The conspirators openly avowed their purpose.
For example, the defendant ROSENBERG stated:
"Anti-Semitism is the unifying element of the recon struction of Germany."
On another occasion he also stated:
"Germany will regard the Jewish question as solved only after last Jew has left the Continent."
The defendant LEY declared:
"We swear we are not going to abandon the struggle until the Jew has got to be exterminated."
On another occasion he also declared:
"The second German secret weapon is anti-Semitism consider."
The defendant STREICHER declared: "The sun will dead."
These avowals and incitements were typical of the declar conspiracy.
The program of action against the Jews included mination.
The extent to which the conspirators succeeded in substantially complete in many localities of Europe.
Of the conspirators.
Only remnants of the Jewish population of Europe (e) In order to make the German people amenable to their will, and and training of the German youth.
The leadership principle (f) The Nazi conspirators placed a considerable number of their (E) THE ACQUIRING OF TOTALITARIAN CONTROL IN GERMANY:
ECONOMIC; AND Having gained political power the conspirators organized Germany's economy to give effect to their political aims.
1. In order to eliminate the possibility of resistance in the econ-
omic sphere, they deprived labour of its rights of free industrial and political association as particularized in paragraph (D) 3 (c) (1) herein.
2. They used organizations of German business as instruments of economic mobilization for war.
3. They directed Germany's economy towards preparation and equipment of the military machine. To this end they directed finance, capital investment, and foreign trade.
4. The Nazi conspirators, and in particular the industrialists among them, embarked upon a hugh re-armament programme and sot out to produce and develop huge quantities of materials of war and to create a powerful military potential.
5. With the object of carrying through the preparation for war the Nazi conspirators set up a series of administrative agencies and authorities. For example, in 1936 they established for this purpose the office of the Four Year Plan with the defendant GOeRING as Plenipotentiary, vesting it with overriding control over Germany's economy. Furthermore, on 28th August, 1939, immediately before launching their aggression against Poland, they appointed the defendant FUNK Plenipotentiary for Economics; and on 30th August, 1939, they set up the Ministerial Council for the Defence of the Reich to act as a War Cabinet.
(F) UTILIZATION OF NAZI CONTROL FOR FOREIGN AGGRESSION 1. Status of the conspiracy by the middle of 1933 and projected plans.
acquired governmental control over Germany, were in a position to enter upon further and more detailed planning with particular relationship to foreign policy. Their plan was 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.
2. The Nazi conspirators decided that for their purpose the Treaty of Versailles must definitely be abrogated and specific plans were made by them and put into operation by 7th March, 1936, all of which opened the way for the major aggressive steps to follow, as hereinafter set forth. In the execution of this phase of the conspiracy the Nazi conspirators did the following acts:
(a) They led Germany to enter upon a course of secret re (b) On 14th October, 1933, they led Germany to leave the (c) On 10th March, 1935, the defendant GOeRING announced that (d) On 16th March, 1935, the Nazi conspirators promulgated a (e) On 21st May, 1935, they falsely announced to the world, of the Versailles Treaty and comply with the Locarno Pacts.
(f) On 7th March, 1936, they reoccupied and fortified the Rhine announced to the world that "we have no territorial de mands to make in Europe".3. Aggressive action against Austria and Czechoslovakia.
(a) The 1936-1938 phase of the plan: planning for the assault for the acquisition of Austria and Czechoslovakia, realizing it would be necessary, for military reasons, first to seize Austria before assaulting Czechoslovakia. On 21st May, 1935, in a speech to the Reichstag, Hitler stated that: "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria or to conclude an Anschluss". On 1st May, 1936, within two months after the re-occupation of the Rhineland, Hitler stated: "The lie goes forth again that Germany tomorrow or the day after wall fall upon Austria or Czechoslovakia". Thereafter, the Nazi conspirators caused a treaty to be entered into between Austria and Germany on 11th July, 1936, Article I of which stated that "The German Government recognizes the full sovereignty of the Federated State of Austria in the spirit of the pronouncements of the German Fuehrer and Chancellor of 21st May, 1935". Meanwhile, plans for aggression in violation of that treaty were being made. By the autumn of 1937, all noteworthy opposition within the Reich had been crushed. Military preparation for the Austrian action was virtually concluded. An influential group of the Nazi conspirators met with Hitler on 5th November, 1937, to review the situation. It was reaffirmed that Nazi Germany must have "Lebensraum" in central Europe. It was recognized that such conquest would probably meet resistance which would have to be crushed by force and that their decision might lead to a general war, but this prospect was discounted as a risk worth taking. There emerged from this meeting three possible plans for the conquest of Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Which of the three was to be used was to depend upon the developments in the political and military situation in Europe. It was contemplated that the conquest of Austria and Czechoslovakia would, through compulsory emigration of 2,000,000 persons from Czechoslovakia and 1,000,000 persons from Austria, provide additional food to the Reich for 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 people, strengthen it militarily by providing shorter and better frontiers, and make possible the constituting of new armies up to about twelve divisions. Thus, the aim of the plan against Austria and Czechoslovakia was conceived of not as an end in itself but as a preparatory measure toward the next aggressive steps in the Nazi conspiracy.
(b) The execution of the plan to invade Austria: November, a conference at Berchtesgaden. At the meeting of 12th February, 1938, under threat of invasion, Schuschnigg yielded a promise of amnesty to imprisoned Nazis and appointment of Nazis to ministerial posts. He agreed to remain silent until Hitler's 20th February speech in which Austria's independence was to be re-affirmed, but Hitler in his speech, instead of affirming Austrian independence, declared himself protector of all Germans. Meanwhile, subversive activities of Nazis in Austria increased. Schuschnigg on 9th March, 1938, announced a plebiscite for the following Sunday on the question of Austrian independence. On 11th March Hitler sent an ultimatum, demanding that the plebiscite be called off or that Germany would invade Austria. Later the same day a second ultimatum threatened invasion unless Schuschnigg should resign in three hours. Schuschnigg resigned. The defendant SEYSS-INQUART, who was appointed Chancellor immediately invited Hitler to send German troops into Austria to "preserve order". The invasion began on 12th March, 1938. On 13th March, Hitler by proclamation assumed office as Chief of State of Austria and took command of its armed forces. By a law of the same date Austria was annexed to Germany.
(c) The execution of the plan to invade Czechoslovakia:
1. Simultaneously with their annexation of Austria the Nazi conspirators gave false assurances to the Czechoslovak Government that they would not attack that country. But within a month they met to plan specific ways and means of attacking Czechoslovakia, and to revise, in the light of the acquisition of Austria, the previous plans for aggression against Czechoslovakia.
2. On 21st April, 1938, the Nazi conspirators met and prepared to launch an attack on Czechoslovakia not later than 1st October, 1938. They planned specifically to create an "incident" to "justify" the attack. They decided to launch a military attack only after a period of diplomatic squabbling which, growing more serious, would lead to the excuse for war, or, in the alternative, to unleash a lightning attack as a result of an "incident" of their own creation. Consideration was given to assassinating the German Ambassador at Prague to create the requisite incident. From and after 21st April, 1938, the Nazi conspirators caused to be prepared detailed and precise military plans designed to carry out such an attack at any opportune moment and calculated to overcome all Czechoslovak resistance within four days, thus presenting the world with a fait accompli, and so forestalling outside resistance. Throughout the months of May, June, July, August and September, these plans were made more specific and detailed, and by 3rd September, 1938, it was decided that all troops were to be ready for action on 28th September, 1938.
3. Throughout this same period, the Nazi conspirators were agitating the minorities question in Czechoslovakia, and particularly in the Sudetenland, leading to a diplomatic crisis in August and September 1938. After the Nazi conspirators threatened war, the United Kingdom and France concluded a pact with Germany and Italy at Munich on 29th September, 1938, involving the cession of the Sudetenland by Czechoslovakia to Germany. Czechoslovakia was required to acquiesce. On 1st October, 1938, German troops occupied the Sudetenland.
4. On 15th March, 1939, contrary to the provisions of the Munich Pact itself, the Nazi conspirators caused the completion of their plan by seizing and occupying the major part of Czechoslovakia not ceded to Germany by the Munich Pact.
4. Formulation of the plan to attack Poland: preparation and initiation of aggressive war:
March, 1939, to (a) With these aggressions successfully consummated, the conspirators had obtained much desired resources and bases and were ready to undertake further aggressions by means of war.
Following assurances to the world of peaceful intentions, an influential group of the conspirators met on 23rd May, 1939, to consider the further implementation of their plan. The situation was reviewed and it was observed that "the past six years have been put to good use and all measures have been taken in correct sequence and in accordance with our aims"; that the national-political unity of the Germans had been substantially achieved; and that further successes could not be achieved without war and bloodshed. It was decided nevertheless next to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity. It was admitted that the questions concerning Danzig which they had agitated with Poland were not true questions, but rather that the question was one of aggressive expansion for food and "Lebensraum." It was recognized that Poland would fight if attacked and that a repetition of the Nazi success against Czechoslovakia without war could not be expected. Accordingly, it was determined that the problem was to isolate Poland and, if possible, prevent a simultaneous conflict with the Western Powers. Nevertheless, it was agreed that England was an enemy to their aspirations, and that war with England and her ally Prance must eventually result, and therefore that in that war every attempt must be made to overwhelm England with a "Blitzkrieg." It was thereupon determined immediately to prepare detailed plans for an attack on Poland at the first suitable opportunity and thereafter for an attack on England and France, together with plans for the simultaneous occupation by armed force of air bases in the Netherlands and Belgium.
(b) Accordingly, after having denounced the GermanPolish Pact of 1934 on false grounds, the Nazi conspirators proceeded to stir up the Danzig issue, to prepare frontier "incidents" to "justify" the attack, and to make demands for the cession of Polish territory. Upon refusal by Poland to yield, they caused German armed forces to invade Poland on 1st September, 1939, thus precipitating war also with the United Kingdom and France. 5. Expansion of the war into a general war of aggression:
Greece: 1939 to April, 1941 conspirators through their attacks on Austria and Czechoslovakia was actively launched by their attack on Poland, in violation of the terms of the Briand-Kellogg Pact, 1928. After the total defeat of Poland, in order to facilitate the carrying out of their military operations against France and the United Kingdom, the Nazi conspirators made active preparations for an extension of the war in Europe. In accordance with those plans, they caused the German armed forces to invade Denmark and Norway on 9th April, 1940; Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on 10th May, 1940; Yugoslavia and Greece on 6th April, 1941. All these invasions had been specifically planned in advance. 6. German invasion on June 22nd, 1941, of the U.S.S.R. denounced the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R. and without any declaration of war invaded Soviet territory thereby beginning a War of Aggression against the U.S.S.R. territory the Nazi conspirators, in accordance with their detailed plans, began to carry out the destruction of cities, towns and villages, the demolition of factories, collective farms, electric stations and railroads, the robbery and barbaric devastation of the natural cultural institutions of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., the devastation of museums, churches, historic monuments.
The mass deportation of the Soviet citizens for slave labour to Germany, as well as the annihilation of old people, women and children, especially Belo-Russians and Ukranians. The extermination of Jews committed throughout the territory of the Soviet Union. by the German troops in accordance with the orders of the Nazi Government and the General Staff and High Command of the German armed forces. 7. Collaboration with Italy and Japan and aggressive war against the United States:
November, 1936, to the Nazi conspirators brought about a German-Italian-Japanese ten-year military-economic alliance signed at Berlin on 27th September, 1940. This agreement, representing a strengthening of the bonds among those three nations established by the earlier but more limited pact of 25th November, 1936, stated: "The Governments of Germany, Italy and Japan, considering it as a condition precedent of any lasting peace that all nations of the world be given each its own proper place, have decided to stand by and co-operate with one another in regard of their efforts in Greater East Asia and regions of Europe respectively wherein it is their prime purpose to establish and maintain a new order of things calculated to promote the mutual prosperity and welfare of the peoples concerned."