trial; then, in my conviction, a first step would be taken for a now mutual, understanding of the peoples, Without prejudice, without hostile sentiments, and without hatred.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the Defendant Hans Frank.
DEFENDANT HANS FRANK: May it please the Tribunals: German people in the world, his final statement. He in the deepest distress of his nation, did not find a comforting word. He became rigid, and he lid not take care of his position as a Fuehrer, but he disappeared into the dark through his suicide. Maybe it was stubbornness; mauve it was despair; or stubbornness against God and men. Perhaps he thought that he himself must perish, then the German people too may fall to the abyss. Who all ever know? We -- and if I now speak in the term of we, thin I mean myself and those National Socialists who will agree with me in this conviction, and not those fellow-defendants on whose behalf I am not entitled to speak -- we must surrender the German nation to its state without a word and in the same way, We merely want to say now, you will have to see to how you can deal with this collapse with which we leave you, Even now, even today, and perhaps like never before, we have tremendous spiritual responsibility.
away from God would have such disastrous deathly consequences and that, as a matter of course, we might one day be involved deeply in this guilt. At that time we could not have known that so much faith and so much will to sacrifice on the part of the German people could have been so badly administered by us. It was not because of technical deficiencies and unfortunate circumstances that we have lost this war, nor was it misfortune and treason, God, most of all, has passed sentence on Hitler and carried it out against him and the system which we served, far away from God as we were, Thus may our people be called back from the Road on which we and Hitler have led them. that they may not proceed in that direction, not with one single step; because Hitler's road was the way without God, the way of refusing to believe in Christ, and, in its final point, the way of political foolishness, the way of disaster, and the way of death. He is walk, more and more, became the walk of a frightful adventurer without conscience, without honesty, as I know it today at the end of this trial. this road which, according to God's justice bad to lead us into disaster and which will lead into disaster everyone who would try to walk on it, or continue on it everywhere in this Whole world. this state trial occurred, lasting for many months, as the central, legal sequence Their spirits and ghosts drifted across this room accusingly. possibility of justification against the accusations raised against me. Did not millions have to perish without over being asked and ever being heard? I Have surrendered the war diary dealing with my statements and activities, and that at an hour when I lost my liberty. If I really once have been hard, then it was at that moment of the unveiling of my actions in the war and everything that I have done.
which I must be responsible. I also recognized that degree of guilt which it must be ,y part to assume as a fighter for Adolf Hitler, his movement, and his Reich I have nothing to add to the words on my defense counsel. to erase the guilt brought upon out people because of the actions of Adolf Hitler Not only the activities of our opponents--carefully kept away from these procee ings--with reference to our people and our soldiers, but also tremendous masses of the most awful crimes, I have only now heard, have been committed, mostly in East Prussia; Silesia, Pomerania and the Sudetenland by Russians, Poles, and Czechs against Germans, and are still being committed. They have, even today. completely balanced any possible guilt on the part of our people.
Who is to judge these crimes committed against the German people, one day? the developments even threatening today perhaps a lasting peace may yet a rise in which even our nation may have its beneficial participation, I come to the end of my final statement.
God's eternal justice will be the force under which our people will flourish and to which alone I submit.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Wilhelm Frick.
DEFENDANT WILHELM FRICK: I have a clesr conscience with reference to the accusations. My entire life was spent in the service of my people and my fatherland. To them I have sacreificed my entire strength in faithful fulfillment of my duty. country would act differently were his country in the same position, because any other action would have been a breach of my oath of allegiance, and high treason serve no more penalty than the tens of thousands of faithful German civil servant and employees of official state agencies who here today, as years and years ago, are detained in camps merely because they fulfilled their duties. To them I owe memory and faith which I, as a former, long-standing Minister of the Reich, con sider it a particular honor to state.
31 Aug M LJG 8-1a Daniels
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Julius Streicher.
DEFENDANT JULIUS STREICHER: Gentlemen of the Tribunal. At the beginning of this trial I was asked by the President whether I pleaded guilty in the sense of the Indictment. I answered that question in the negative. confirmed the correctiness of my statement given at that time.
It has been established:
1. Mass killings exclusively and without influence were carried through by order of the head of the State, Adolf Hitler.
2. The execution of the mass killings was carried through without the knowledge of the German people and under complete secrecy by the Reichsfuehrer SS, Heinrich Himmler. have been possible without Streicher and his Stuermer. The Prosecution neither offered nor submitted proof for this assertion. Boycott Day in the year 1933, which I was given the order to lead, and on the occasion of the demonstration of 1938 ordered by Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels, I, in my capacity as Gauleiter, neither ordered, demanded, nor participated in any violations against Jews. ical, the Stuermer, I represented the Zionist demand for the creation of a Jewish state as the natural solution of the Jewish problem. the Jewish problem in a forcible manner. the Stuermer, mentioned a destruction or extermination of Jewry, then these words were sharp utterances in reply to provoking statements of Jewish authors in which the extermination of the German people was demanded. The mass killings ordered by the leader of the State, Adolf Hitler, according to his last testament, 31 Aug A LJG 9-1 Saslaw were to be a revenge, a reprisal which was only Carried through because of the then recognizable unfavorable course of the war.
can he explained by his attitude upon the Jewish question, Which thoroughly differs from mine. Hitler wanted to punish Jewry because he held then responsible for the unleashing of the war and for the bombs dropped on the German civilian population. be traced back to a personal decision of the leader of the State, Adolf Hitler, have led to a treatment of the German people which also must be considered as being inhumane The executed mass killings I reject in the same way as they are being rejected by every decent German. have I committed a crime, and I therefore look towards your judgment with good conscience.
I have no request to make for myself. I only have a request for the people from whom I originate. Gentlemen of the Tribunal, fate has given you power to pronounce every judgment. Do not pronounce a judgment which would imprint the stamp of dishonesty upon the forehead of an entire nation.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Walter Funk.
DEFENDANT WALTER FUNK: In the days of the greatest need of my people I joined a political movement, the same of which was the struggle for freedom, for the honor of our country, and for a true social community. local channels. I served this State because of my obligation as an official and in the execution of German laws. I felt myself bound to carry out this duty and especially during the periods of danger of war and during the war itself at a time when the existence of my country was threatened in the extreme. an faith of its officials. direction were partly involved.
But these are things which I learned here, before this Tribunal. I. did not know these crimes and I could not have known them. I have examined my conscience and memory with the utmost care and I have told the Court everything that I knew, openly and freely, and I have concealed nothing. As far as the deposits of the SS at the Reichsbank are concerned, I only did my duty as President of the Reichsbank. According to law, the acceptance of gold and foreign currency was one of the business tasks of the Reichsbank. The fact that the confiscation of these asset was taking place through the organs of the SS subordinateto Himmler, could not make me suspicious. The entire Police system, the border protection units, and especially the search for foreign currency in the Reich and in] old occupied areas, was under the jurisdiction of Himmler, and I was deceived and imposed upon by Himmler. that among the assets brought into the Reichsbank there were mammoth piles of pearls, precious stones, jewelry and gold objects of all kinds, and horrible as it may seem to say, gold teeth: That is something I was never told. That is something I never observed. I have never seen these things.
Never did even a single person tell me in a single word of incidents like that. unknown. I did not even know a single one of their names. Never have I entered a concentration camp, either. deposited in the Reichsbank, came from concentration camp, and I stated this fact from the beginning in all of my interrogations openly. But, according to German law, everyone had to turn these assets over to the Reichsbank. the SS were not made known to me. How was I to even suspect that the SS had acquired these assets, through descrating corpses? accepted these assets for storage and exploitation. I would have refused even in the face of the danger that it would have cost me my head. If I had known of these crimes I would not be sitting in the defendant's dock today. Of that, you must be convinced. There the grave would be easier for me than this tormented and shameful life which I have to endure now, this life full of accusations, suspicions, and slander raised against me. by me. I have always tried to help people in need, and as far as it lay within my power, to bring happiness and joy into their lives; and for that, many will be grateful to me and remain grateful. many things and I freely admit, I freely admit I have been deceived too easily and in many ways have been too unconcerned and too gullible and therein I see my guilt. But I consider myself free of any penal guilt which I am alleged to have committed through discharging my official duties. In that respect, today my conscience is as clear as on the day, ten months ago, when I entered this courtroom for the first time.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Hjalmar Schacht.
DEFENDANT HJALMAR SCHACHT: My feeling of justice was deeply wounded because of the fact that the final speeches of the prosecution completely by-passed the evidence resulting from this trial. The only accusation raised against me under the Charter is the allegation that I wanted war. The overwhelming amount of proof in my case has shown, however, that I was a fanatical opponent of war, and actively and passively, through protests, sabotage, cunning and force, have tried to prevent this war.
How, then, can the prosecution assert that I was in favor of war? How, then, can the Russian Prosecutor assert that I turned from Hitler only in 1943, after my first attempt at a coup d'etat had already been undertaken in the fall of 1938? accusation against me which has not been mentioned in the trial at all up to the present moment. I was to have planned a release of Jews from Germany against a ransom in foreign currency. That, too, is untrue, disgusted with the Jewish pogrom of November 1938, I managed to obtain Hitler's approval to a plan which was to facilitate emigration of the Jews. I intended to transfer 1,500 million Reichsmarks from confiscated Jewish property, to the administration of an international committee, and Germany was to undertake the obligation to repay this amount to the committee in twenty yearly instalments, and that in foreign currency; which is the exact Opposite of what Justice Jackson assorted here. of Samuel and Samuel, with Lord Winterton, and with the American representative, Mr. Rublee. They were all sympathetically disposed towards this plan. Having been removed from the Reichsbank shortly thereafter, however, this matter was dropped. Had it been carried through, no single German Jew would have lost his life.
My opposition to Hitler's policiess was known at home and abroad, and that so clearly that even in the year 1940 the Attache of the United States, Mr. Kirk, before leaving his Berlin post, sent me his regards, adding that after the war I would be considered as an unburdened man, a matter which is reported on in detail by witness Huelse in his affidavit, which is 37-B of my document book. me in the world press as a robber, murderer, and betrayer. And it is this accusation that I have to thank for standing alone at the eve of my life without means of subsistence and without a home. But the prosecution is mistaken if they believe, as was mentioned in one of their first speeches, that they can count me amongst the pitiful and broken personalities policy of creation of work by the assistance of credit has wonderfully proven itself, although I have never claimed to be a politician. The figure of unemployment dropped from 7,000,000 to zero. In the year 1938 the income of the State had risen to such an extent that the repayment of the Reichsbank credits was fully safeguarded. The fact that Hitler refused this repayment, so ceremoniously documented by him, was a tremendous betrayal which I could not foresee. My political mistake was not realizing the extent of Hitler's criminal nature at an early enough time. But not with one single illegal or immoral act did I stain my hands. The terror of the Gestapo did not frighten me; for every terror must fail when conscience is at stake. Here lies this great source of power which religion gives us. of opportunism and cowardice. And this, after the end of the war, found me in the Extermination Camp at Flossenberg, where I had been imprisoned for ten months, and where only by merciful fate I escaped Hitler's order of murder. At the exist of this trial I stand with my soul deeply shaken about unspeakable suffering which I tried to prevent with all my personal, effort and with all attainable means, a suffering which I could not prevent. But that is not through my guilt.
the world will recover, not through the force of power, but only through the force of mind and the morality of actions.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Karl Doenitz.
DEFENDANT DOENITZ: I should like to say three things: fare, if your conscience dictates you to do so. I consider this conduct of the war to be justified, and I have acted according to my conscience. I would have to do exactly the same all over again. My subordinates, on the other hand, who have carried out my orders, have acted in the fullest confidence in me and without there being a shadow of doubt regarding the necessity and locality of these orders. In my opinion, no later judgment can deprive them of the trust in the honesty of a fight for which they voluntarily have made sacrifice after sacrifice until the last hour. alleged to have existed among the defendants. In my opinion, that assertion is a political dogma. As such it cannot be proved, but can only be believed or rejected. considerable portions of the German people will never believe, however, that such a conspiracy could have been the cause of their disaster. Let politicians and jurists argue about it; they will only make it harder for the German people to secure for themselves the recognition from this trial of that which is decisive and important for its attitude regarding the past and the reconstruction of the future. That is the recognition that the Fuehrer principle as a political principle is wrong. With regard to the military leadership of all armies in this world, the Fuehrer principle has proved itself in the best possible way. On the strength of this recognition I considered this also right with regard to poltical leadership, particularly in the case of a nation in the hopeless position in which the German people found itself in 1932. The great successes of this new government, an entirely new feeling of happiness on the part of the entire nation, seemed to prove it right. But if, in spite of all ideals, all decency, and all devotion on the part of the masses of the German people, no other final outcome has been achieved through the Fuehrer principle than the misfortune of this people, then that principle as such is wrong, wrong because apparently human nature is not strong enough to utilize the powers in that principle for a better end, without their falling victims to the temptation of that power.
service for the German people. As the last commander-in-chief of the German Navy and as the last head of the State, I consider myself responsible for everything that I have done and left undone.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Erich Raeder.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Erich Raeder.
DEFENDANT RAEDER: This trial, at the end of the taking of evidence, has had a result beneficial for the German nation yet surprising to the Prosecution. Unshakeable testimony of witnesses has cleared the German people and with it all the persons who are in the same situation today as I am of the most serious of all accusations, that it had known of the killing of millions of Jews and other people if it had not even participated in it. The attempt of the Prosecution, who through earlier interrogations had known the truth for a long time, and who nevertheless continued its accusations in the trial brief and during cross examinations, raising the finger of the preacher of morale, this attempt, repeated again and again, to defame the entire German people has suffered collapse. of interest for me, is the fact that it was necessary to confirm as a matter of principle the cleanliness and decent fighting habits of the German Navy on the strength of the evidence taken. The German Navy stands before this Court and before the world with a banner and a flag which is unstained. warfare on the same level with atrocities can be refuted with the clearest conscience, because after the clear results of the evidence they can not be maintained. In particular, the accusation that the German nation, had never had the intention to observe the laws of naval warfare, as Shawcross said, Pages 70, 71, has been completely arrived of its status. The same applies to the fact that it has been proved that the naval command staff and its chief has never shown the attitude of despising international law, but to the contrary, that from the first until the last moment it has made honest endeavors to conduct the modern conduct of a naval war in accordance with the principles of international law and human demands, a basis Which was the same as adopted by our opponents. me and the German Navy, as is proved by the submission of its second altered trial brief, which only differs from its first version in that the number and the severity of the insulting statements have been increased. This fact proves that the Prosecutors themselves felt that the factual accusations were too weak; but it is also my conviction that the British and American Prosecution have rendered a service, a bad service to their own Navies.
They lower, the esteem of that opponent morally and describe him as inferior against whom the Allied naval arms have conducted a serious, honest and yearlong naval battle. I am convinced that the admiralties of the Allied powers understand no and that they know that they have not fought against a criminal. The only way I can explain to myself this attitude adopted by the Prosecution is by assuming that the representatives of the Prosecution, as I had to find them again and again, had at their disposal only very little judgment regarding the principles of true soldierly conduct and true soldierly leadership and that, therefore, they hardly seem suited to judge soldierly honor.
I summarize: I have done my duty as a soldier because it was my conviction that this would be the best way for me to serve the German people and the German nation for which I have lived and for which to die I am prepared at every moment. If I have become guilty in any way, then only in this way, that in spite of my purely military position I may not only have been a soldier but, up to a certain point, a politician, something however which, considering my entire career and the tradition of the German Wehrmacht, would not suit me. This, on the other hand, would have been a moral guilt before the German people and it could never at any time brand me a war criminal. This would not be a guilt before the penal courts of humanity, it would have been a guilt before God.
31 Aug M LJG 11-1a Price
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Baldur von Schirach.
DEFENDANT VON SCHIRACH: On the 24th of May I made a statement here which I answer before God and my conscience and to which I fully stand even today at the end of the trial because it was and is in compliance with my honest innermost conviction. the following sentence: "Schirach spoiled millions of German children so that they because what they really are today, the blind, instruments of that policy of murder and domination which these men have carried out." If this accusation were justified I would say no word in my defense. This accusation, however, is not justified; it is untrue. Whoever in any way takes into consideration the results of the evidence in this trial and honestly appreciates it can never and under no circumstances raise the accusation against me that I, through my educational work, had spoiled the youth and poisoned their souls. The principles and aims which I set for the youth and which were accepted for the community built up by the youth with their own powers under my leadership were the following: Self-sacrificing love for the Fatherland, the overcoming of snobbery and class hatred, the planned taking care of health, training by means of walks, games and sports, cooperation, in professional training, and particularly a comradely under standing of the youth of foreign countries. These principles and aims were mine since my own youth and I consider them to be the ideals of a national German education. These principles and aims were not dictated to me by the Party or the State, and if Hitler were present here today, then it would be completely irrelevant for my defense, because as the leader of youth in the Reich I do not rest upon him but upon myself. speeches, writings and instructions have been proved a thousandfold and to which I have been faithful as the leader of German youth, are, according to my firm conviction, principles of every 31 Aug M LJG 11-2a Price leader of youth in this world if he is conscious of his duty toward the people and youth.
The activities of our youth and its moral attitude has proved me right and has proved that they have never been spoiled and were not spoiled through me either. German youth was and is industrious, spoiled through me either. German youth was and is industrious, decent, honest and full of idealism. In peace it honestly contributed toward the education and in war it did its duty bravely to the limit, its duty towards our nation and our German people. the four victorious powers for the last time, I want to testify on behalf of our German youth, and with a clear conscience, that it Is innocent regarding the atrocities of the Hitler regime unveiled during this trial, that it never wanted this war, and that neither in peace nor in war it participated in any crimes. As the leader of German youth of long standing, I know the development, the inner attitude and the conduct of our young generation. Who could know it better than I? This youth always gave me the greatest pleasure. In their midst I was always happy and at all times I have been proud of them. youth and in spite of the fact that their membership counted millions, youth, as a matter of principle and without exception, has remained removed from any actions of which it might have to be ashamed today. It knew nothing of the numerous cruelties which have been committed by Germans, and just as it knew of no wrongs, it has not desired any wrong. It must not be overlooked that even during the strongest embitterment of its days after a war nobody could expect to accuse the organization of German youth and its leaders of being criminal. Unselfish comradeship in a yough movement which showed the greatest love for the poorest children of the people, faith to the homeland, pleasure in outdoor life and honest understanding of the youths of foreign peoples, that was the aim of our youth and those were the contents of its education from the first to the last day of my time as Reich 31 Aug M LJG 11-3a Price youth leader.
This youth truly does not deserve the serious fate which has come upon it. hope of our nation. And if in this last moment I may make a request, then it is this: be removed which the world may have of the German youth today and which could not stand up under historical investigation. Will you tell the world in your findings that the distorted writings of a Gregor Ziemer used by the Prosecution Contain nothing but the evil slander of a man who transfers his hatred against everything German to the German youth also. Will you, as judges, help also that the youth organizations of your peoples will once again take up the work together with the German youth where, in 1939, Without the guilt of the young generation, it has been interrupted. of Lord Beveridge who farseeingly and with passion, spoke for having German youth declared free of guilt. With great joy it will grasp the hand stretched out toward it across ruins and debris. judgment to create an atmosphere of joint respect for German youth, an atmosphere which is free of hatred and free of revenge. our German youth!
(A recess was taken until 1400 hours) (The hearing reconvened at 1400 hours, August 31, 1946)
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has today received a further application from Dr. Seidl for a further examination of the condition of the defendant Hess. As the Tribunal announced on the 20th of August, the Tribunal had received and considered the report of Captain G. M. Gilber, dated the 17th of August on the defendant Hess; and it then considered it was unnecessary to have any further report. The Tribunal remains of that opinion but will, of course, consider all the matters contained in Dr. Seidl's application including the medical reports and the statement made by the defendant Hess today.
DR. NELTE: Mr. President, I ask chat the high Tribunal consider this time as suitable that the evidence which has not been introduced formally should now be submitted.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. The interrogatories which have come to hand, you mean?
DR. NELTE: Yes, Mr. President, or affidavits which have been granted. In the concession of the 22nd of August the following were approved. I was given permission to submit two affidavits for General Keitel and Reinecke and it was said that I had the right to submit these affidavits as soon as they had been translated. These translations have in the meantime come in; and after discussing this matter and with the agreement of the Prosecution, no objections have been raised. In the session of the 22nd of August, it was expressed as an agreement expressly. I shall submit two documents, K-26 and K-27. I shall permit these documents without reading them; and I ask the High Tribunal to accept those two documents as pieces of evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: They will be considered.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I should like to submit one more document which has been granted me. It deals with the Corps of the Political Leaders and is on affidavit posted by Sauckel, PL-69. Then, further, I have an excerpt from the book entitled "Party Statistics," which is involved in my figure concerning the membership which I submitted to the High Tribunal in a letter of the 17th of August.