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.
I discussed this matter with the British Prosecution; and I ask permission to have this page from this book as well submitted at this time.
DR. KUBUSCHOK: In the case of Von Papen, I have my answer to the interrogatories sent to the Dutch Ambassador Visser. If the people attempted any negotiations which were profitable in 1931, then I should like to submit the answer as Exhibit No. 107.
DR. STEINBAUER (Counsel for the defendant Seyss-Inquart): Mr. President, Under the number 115 I should like to submit the questions which were submitted, and the answers under oath of Dr. Alfred Bolle. I am submitting this in theGerman and English versions which have been attested to in connection with the accused. Seyss-Inquart, and his connection with the hunger blockade in September, 1944. I should like to quote but one sentence on page 3 of the record.
"In fact, at the beginning of the strike, the entire inland shipping wan taken over by the military and was therefore taken out of the administration of the Reich Transportation System, and out of private hands." me yesterday, a deposition by Seyss-Inquart, submitted under No. 116, and I should like to ask that the entire contents be accepted as evidence.
I should like to correct but one thing. The documents 3640-PS and 3646-PS which could not be submitted to Seyss-Inquart according to the affidavit, were immediately placed at my disposal upon my return by the French Prosecution and the French delegation, for which I am very grateful, and I am ready to submit both of these documents in the original.
DR. FLAECHSNER (Counsel for the defendant Speer): Mr. President, in the spring of this year I was granted an interrogatory, I received three more answers which will be numbered 47, 48 and 49. I should like to submit them now. We now concerned with the affidavits of the witnesses Poser, Marter, and Baumbacher.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Fritz Sauckel.
DEFENDANT FRITZ SAUCKEL: Gentlemen of the Tribunal; my deepest soul. In our humility and reverence, I bow before the victims and those who died - members of all nations, and before the misery and the sorrow of my own people, according to which I myself will make a statement. nature thin than of my co-defendants. In my attitude and in my nature I remained a sailor and a worker. through my own experience of the sorrows and needs of my people struggling, for their existence. Inner conflict forced me into politics, but I could not agree to the Communist manifesto. I was never anti-religious or even Godless. Quite the contrary is true. I fought a hard struggle with myself before I turned to politics. and to those whose only wealth was their labor and, at the same time, to the fate of my nation. Herein I saw the only possible connection between a Socialist attitude and a true love of country. This, my belief, determined, my life and my actions. In leadership and in the faith of the followers I saw no arbitrary dictatorship or tyranny. The excesses of my feelings and my confidence, as well as my great veneration of Hitler might have been my mistake. I knew him only as a man representing the rights of life of the German people and saw his kindness towards workers, women, and children, and I knew him as a man who was insterested in the life of Germany. a further mistake of mine might have been my loneliness and my submersion into my world of imagination.
Reich; the little spare time I had belonged tomy family. I was and am proud and happy that my wife is the daughter of a worker, a man who was an remained a Social Democrat. events and the beginning of all war activities completely surprise *---* Under no circumstances would I have cooperated as a German worker -- and for German workers -- to help plan the madness of an aggressive *---*. and civil war, and because I firmly believed in the peaceful way and in the understanding work of Adolf Hitler in rebuilding our country. I was a worker, to prevent excesses, brutality, and wilful activities of any kind, I was sufficiently naive to carry through my manifest for the commitment of labor, and many other directives, which dictated to all offices a correct and humane treatment of foreign workers, I never would have been able to bear the knowledge of these terrible secrets and crimes without protest, nor, with such a knowledge, would I have been able to face my people or my ten innocent children. nor did I tolerate murders or mistreatment. During the war I had to do my duty. The task of Plenipotentiary General forLabor Commitment was received by me in a period of grave crisis, and this was a matter of complete surprise to me. I was bound to the then-existing labor laws and to the orders of the Fuehrer, as well as to the directives of the Ministerial Council for Reich Defense. I do not know why it was just I who received this order. In my own Gau I had gained the confidence of the workers particularly, of the peasants and artisans, and already prior to 1933, that is, before Hitler took over the power, with a large majority and in free parliamentary elections I had been elected as the Chief of the County Government. organization and practical work, as well as with an ability for enthusiasm. That, perhaps, was the reason why I received my task. It was a heavy burden for me. The soil of Berlin was completely alien to me. Just because I am a worker, I never thought of making foreign human beings into slaves.
My demand to deal economically with human beings does not in any event mean their inhuman exploitation, but rather their economical and decent use in work and for work. against the laws of war, or against the laws of humanity. Not for a single moment did I doubt the legality and admissibility of my task, for I thought it completely out of the question that the German Government would break international law. labor laws could not be applied in the occupied territories, then may I reply that people in high positions, Frenchmen, Belgians, Poles, and even Russians, have told me that they were supporting Germany by labor in order to protect Europe against a threatening Communist system, and in order to prevent unemployment and mass suffering during the course of the war. but, at the same time, I tried with all my might to remove, with all means, the crisis in the organization for the care of foreign laborers, which occurred because of the winter catastrophe during the winter of 1941 and 1942. I tried to eliminate all shortcomings and abuses immediately when I assumed office. workers over to our German cause when giving them correct treatment as I demanded it. Perhaps in the eyes of Himmler and Goebbels I was a believer in a Utopia and quite beyond redemption. They were my opponents, but I fought for equal rights and conditions for foreign workers; I fought for this honestly, so that the same conditions would apply as they applied for the Germans. This is proven by the numerous documents of my defense counsel, and this is confirmed by all the testimony of the witnesses before this Tribunal. Unfortunately, that was only partly in my power, as was proven by my counsel.
occupied territories where the organization of the civilian offices of labor commitment could exercise no influence whatsoever. However, the German offices complained to me: it was claimed that I was delivering too few workers; it was claimed that it was my fault if dangerous crises threatened in the war economy and the food situation. This heavyresponsibility and this care dominated me in such a way that I had no time for other events, end I regret that fact. accept the responsibility. I have never seen the records of the Central Planning Board before this trial; otherwise, I certainly would have corrected false or unclear passages, as, for instance, the passage with reference to the impossible figure of only two hundred thousand volunteer workers. This also applies to a number of other statements of mine which were taken down by a third party, quite wrongly and without my ever having made these statements. I am grateful to the foreign workers who worked in Germany, for they worked well. This, perhaps, may be a proof of the fact that on the whole they were treated correctly and humanely. I myself visited them many times, for I was a working man; and because of the fact that I was a working man I spent the Christians holidays of 1945 and 1944 amongst foreign workers in order to show my attitude towards them. and they worked under the same working conditions. Could I, or German workers and the German people, consider that as slavery? This was a war necessity. The German people and the German workers would never have tolerated conditions comparable to slavery next to themselves. in complete truth, I thank him from my full heart for that. He was strict, and quite correct, in his presentation of my case. It was my wish and my conscience.
the war, the horrible conditions of the war, touch my heart. and I am ready to meet that fate, as my son who died during the war did. only one task, to mete out correct treatment and care to the Germans and to the foreign workers. work of German workers, for whom I have lived and struggled, and I may be give peace to the world.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Alfred Jodl.
DEFENDANT ALFRED JODL: Mr. President, may it please the Tribunal, it is my unalterable belief that when History is being recorded in the days to come it will arrive at an objective and just verdict for the higher military leaders and their assistants. For they and together with them, the entire German Wehrmacht were confronted with an insoluble task; namely, to conduct a war which they bad not wanted under a Commander-in-Chief whose confidence they did not possess and whom they themselves only trusted within limits; to conduct a war which they had not wanted with methods which frequently were in contradiction with their operational principles and their considered. opinions which had been disregarded; to fight with troops and police forces which did not come under their full command and, with an intelligence service which, in part, worked for the enemy. And all of this, together with the complete and clear realization that this war would decide the fate and the existence of our beloved country. They did not Serve the powers of Hell and they did notserve a criminal but ratter, their own people and their own country. to reach the highest goals possible for him. That, and nothing else, has always been the guiding principle for all my actions, and for that reason, gentleman of the Height Tribunal, no matter what verdict you may arrive at in my case, I shall leave this courtroom with my head hold as high as when I entered it for the first time many months ago. or whoever asserts that I remained at my post for personal and egotistical reasons, him I shall call a traitor to the truth. In a war such as this, in which hundreds of thousands of women and children were annihilated by a carpet of bombs or through low-flying aviation, and a war in which partisans used every means which they considered expedient, in a war like that, even though they may appear questionable according to international law, harsh measures are no crime in morality or in conscience. country stands above every other. To carry out this duty to me was honor and the highest law. This is something of which I am proud. one, through the duty toward mankind.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Franz von Papen.
DEFENDANT FRANZ VON PAPEN: Your Lordship, may it please the Tribunal. when I returned hem in 1919, I found a people torn by the political rights of the parties, attempting once more in those unfortunate days of my country, I believed as a responsible German that I should not be permitted to remain inactive. road of peace and intellectual discussion, a discussion which did not center only around political forms but, however, around the solution of the most burning social problems, which, were the prerequisite of an inner state of peace. and this was my inner-most conviction -- that Christianity had to be maintained as the starting point of the rebuilding. From, the premise of this inner-discussion, the maintenance of European peace would have to depend, too. who knows the facts knows that I did not push myself to the high office and when like uncounted other Germans, in the emergency of 1933, I decided to cooperate in a prominent position then because I considered it to be my duty and because I believed in the possibility to steer national socialism into responsible channels, because I hoped that the maintenance of Christian principles would be the best counter-weight against ideological and political radicalism and would guarantee a peaceful domestic and foreign development. stronger than the power of good and drove Germany into catastrophe without any hope of redemption but should that be reason enough to damn these who kept flying high the banner of faith, opposing the flag of disbelief? And does that entitle Justice Jackson to claim that I was nothing but the hypocritical agent of a disbelieving administration? Or who gives Sir Hartley Showers the right to say, with scorn, ridicule and contempt, "He preferred 'to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven'?" Gentlemen of the pro section, that is not your verdict -- that is the verdict of another, but I should like to ask:
Doesn't the question the defense of spiritual values remain in the canter today for the rebuilding of a world? Love for country and people is the only factor decisive for all my actions. I have spoken without fear of man whenever I had to speak. I served the Fatherland but not the Nazi regime, Then I attempted in spite of most bitter disappointments of my domestic hopes to save peace at least from diplomatic posts. prosecution has looked for it or claimed it, but show me a man without guilt and without faults, Which seen from the historical Point of view, this guild may be found on that tragic 2nd of December 1932, when I did not attempt to persuade the Reich President to maintain the decision he had made the night before -- in spite of the break of the Constitution and in spite of the threat by General von Schleicher that civil war was imminent. most honest intentions were ready to cooperate? Does it claim that the German people in 1933, elected Hitler because it wanted war? Does the prosecution really wish to claim that the Germany people in its overwhelming majority made the gigantic spiritual and material sacrifices, including even sacrificing its youth on the battlefields of this war -- merely for Hitler's Utopian and criminal aims? having gained sufficient distance in time from the catastrophic, to recognize the causes and results of Historical development in their true context. it, then the historical mission of this Tribunal will be fulfilled -- only this, the German people, in spite of the destruction of its Reich, will find the realization of its errors but also the strength for its future task.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Artur Seyss-Inquart,
DEFENDANT ARTUR SEYSS-INQUART: Mr. President, with my final words, I should like to make my own contribution to the clearing up of the evidence submitted here by explaining the personal motives and considerations responsible for my actions. I have little to say concerning the Austrian question The Anschluss; separated from the bulk *---* later events, I regard as a purely domestic German affair. For ever Austrian the Anschluss was a goal in itself and never, even remotely, a **paratory step to a war of aggression. For that the idea of the Anschluss was too important a goal for the German people, it was its noblest aim. To the German people I make a report of the German people, it was its noblest aim. To the German people I make the report of the greatest success of my life. I believe in these words of the Fuehrer when he spoke on the 15th of March 1938, in the Hefburg in Vienna. They were true. The question of the Anschluss became of a peace-endangering nature, far beyond its domestic significance for Germany; and when I have followed the way prescribed by Berlin in March, the reason was the following: The unjustified opposition against the carrying out of orderly elections opened the doors to a radical procedure, practically as well as psychologically. I asked myself whether I had the right to be opposed to these methods, after my way had apparently not been practicable, precisely because of the stubbornness of the opposition within and without Austria.
If this procedure, however, s*---*ed justified, I felt it my duty to give my cooperation in the measure, and I could give it in the face of these circumstances. I am convinced that it is due mainly to my *---* *---*, that. this fundamental change, in particular during the night of the 12th of March, took place quietly and without bloodshed, despite the fact that strong hatred was stored within the hearts of the Austrian National Socialist. whether Germany was a monarchy, a democracy, a socialistic republic, or a national socialist Fuehrer State. I believe that the prosecution in the various documents regarding the Anschluss, interpret them in such a manner as to read from them my aggressive intentions towards the annexation. These are documents regarding the Danube sphere of influence, and Czechoslovakia, all dated after the 1st of October 1938, and after the Munich agreement, and regarding the Vistula district after the 1st of September 1939.