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.
I admit these statements; their correctness has been proved in the meantime. As long as the Danube area was incorporated in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy its development was prosperous to all, and the German element did not deploy an imperial activity but rather promoted culture and enemy. Since this area is broken up through the integral carrying out of the national principle, it has not settled down in peace. This recollection made no imagine a reshaping of a common Lebensraum, which, as I openly declared, must give such a social order to all, that is, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarian, and Rumanians, which would make life worth while to every individual. In this connecting I also thought of Czechoslovakia, because of the co-ordination of languages in Moravia which I Myself had witnessed. area of destiny, I did so out of ay striving to take precautions against future dangers which had become obvious by outbreak of war, and which have today become a terrible reality to every German. These statements have no other evidential strength to prove the intention for a war of aggression than for instance the factual carrying; out of the decisions of Teheran concerning the German territories of the East. life and death of the German people and now become a fact. I could oppose but an unconditional "no" to the demand for an unconditional capitulation. I believe in the words of Ruthenium: "Gourageous people can be broken but never bent". with reference to my interference with the political administration: Nobody in the Netherlands was forced to a political confession nor limited in his freedom or his property because during the occupation he had held an attitude hostile to the Reich or to National Socialist. to the evacuation of the Jews. Today I realize that there must be a justification for large-scale and permanent evacuations, for such evacuations are today affection more than 10,000,000 Germans, who had been settled in there, homes longer than most of the Jews in Amsterdam, for hundreds of ears.
From the middle of 1944, the activity of German courts in the Netherlands was stopped on the basis of a direct Fuehrer order. Saboteurs and terrorists were to be shot by the police if their activity was proved. I heard only of such shootings at this time, near of shootings of hostages in the true sense. The Dutch parties who lost their lives during the occupation are today rightly considered fallen heroes. Does it not put this heroism on a lower plane to represent thou exclusively as the victims of a crime, thus implying that their conduct would not have been so hazardous if the occupying power had conducted itself in a proper manner? They were all in a voluntary and active relationship to the resistance movement. They share the destiny of front-line soldiers; the bullet hits him who is active in a danger zone. whom were against my people which was strutting for its existence? I only regretted that I had not came to the country as a friend. But I was neither a hangman nor, of my own will, a letter, as the Soviet Prosecution contends. My conscience has been assuaged by the fact that the biological situation of the Dutch people during the period of my full responsibility -- that is, up to the middle of 1944-- was better than in the First World War, without occupation and blockade. This is testified to by the statistics of marriages and births and by the mortality and illness figures, This is certainly duo in part to the effects of a number of measures instituted by me, for example, an extensive health insurance, marriage and baby houses, social, graduation of the income tax, etc Finally, I did not carry out the order which I receive. to destroy the county, an been my own initiative, I put an end to the occupation when resistance in Holland had become senseless. with the Germans in the Reich to become a reality inwardly and outwardly, then no authoritarian obstacles may be opposed to this wish, and no cause given for interference of non-German forces in this decision. Otherwise, the while German people would follow the most radical Aeschylus tendency without consideration of how the rest of the political program of such a movement might be constituted.
International Law during a war: Germany count desire any war in her own true interest. She must even see to it that no weapons are forced into her hands. The other peoples do not want a war, either, but the possibility of no is not absolutely out of the question unless the peoples abhor it. It is therefore wrong to try to minimize a future war enough to reduce the defensive forces in the nations by awakening the impression that a future world war could in some way be kept within the framework of the Hague Conventions on Land warfare, or other International Law agreements. relation to Adolf Hitler. Did he prove himself inadequate to fulfill a task decisive for the German people, for Europe itself, or was he the man who struggled, although in vain, and to unimaginable excesses, against the course. of an inexorable fate? To me he remains the man who made Greater Germany a fact in German history. I served him and resigned loyal to him. And then? I cannot today cry "Crucify him", since yesterday I cried "Hosanna".
the high effort he has made in defending me. to which I will bold unit my last breath! I believe in Germany,
THE PRESIDENT: I call on the defendant Albert Speer.
DEFENDANT SPEER: Mr. President, may it please theTribunal: Hitler and the collapse of his system have brought a time of tremendous suffering upon the German people. The useless continuation of this war and the unnecessary destruction, in addition, make it difficult the work of reconstruction. Privation and misery have come to the German people. After this trial, the German people will condemn Hitler as the proven originator of its misery, and despise him. dictatorship as the form of a state, but to fear it.
Hitler's dictatorship differed in one principle from all its predecessors in history. His was the first dictatorship of an industrial state in this time of modern technical development, a dictatorship which, for the domination of its own nation, availed itself of all technical means in a perfect manner. not be possible without those technical developments. Through the means of those developments like the radiant the loudspeaker, 80,000,000 people were deprived of this power to think independently. Through these means they were subjected of the will of one man. The telephone, the teleprinter and radio made it possible that, for instance, orders from the highest sources could be transmitted directly to the lowest ranking units, where, because of their great authority they were carried out without criticism. Of it was achieved that numerous departments and a agencies came into, direct contact with the top-ranking leaders from whence they received their sinister orders directly. Or it happened that there was a far-reaching, supervision of the citizen of the state and a high decree of secrecy of criminal events.
like the cables of a telephone exchange - apparently without system. But just like this, it could be served and dominated by one single will. collaborators, with the highest qualities even at the lowest level, men who could think and act independently. does not depend on them; even the instruments of communication alone place it is a position where the work of the lower ranking leaders can be mechanized. As a result there arises the new type of the recipient of orders who does not criticize. might domineer entire peoples had merely been realized in Hitler's totalitarian system. overshadows every country in the world. In the modern dictatorship, this to me, seems inevitable.
Thus!. The more technical the world becomes, the more the counterbalancing influence of the advancement of individual freedom and selfpossessedness of man is essential. people -- he had nearly succeeded, by means of his technical lead, in subjugating the whole of Europe. It was merely due to some principal shortcomings of organization, such as are typical for a dictatorship because of the absence of criticism, that before 1942 he did not have twice as many tanks, aircraft, and submarines. science, and technical developments as well as its entire production for a number of years in order to again a lead in the sphere of armament, then it can also, by the use of its manpower and because of the established lead in the technical sphere, 31 Aug 17-1A dok/ Williams Completely overtake and conquer the world, particularly if other nations during that same period employ their technical abilities in the service of cultural progressof humanity.
danger and the more serious will be an established lead in the sphere of the modern means of warfare. carft developing the speed of sound, novel submarines and torpedoes, which could find their own target, of atome bombs, and with a prospect of a horrible type of chemical warfare. inventions of human minds. possibility of firing rockets from continent to continent with uncanny precision. Through the smashing of the atom it will be in a position to destroy, in the center of New York, perhaps 1,000,000 people in a matter of seconds with a rocket serviced, perhaps, by ten men. Invisible, without previous warning, faster than sound, by day and by night. The scientists of various countries are able to spread amongst human beings and animals various diseases and destroy the harvests. Chemistry has at its disposal terrible weapons with which it can inflict unthinkable sufferings upon helpless human beings. for the preparation of a new war, while the remaining world exploits the technical of this war for the benefit of humanity, thus attempting to create minute compensation for its horrors? must be my last duty to state this: and civilization. Nothing will prevent the unleashed technique and science from completing tis work of destruction of humanity, which it had begun in so dreadful a way in this, the last war. prevention of such distorted wars in the future and for the establishment 31 Aug 17-1A dok/Williams of principles for human cohabitation.
What is the significance of my own fate after eveyrthing that has happened, in the light of this high goal? wards the creation of human culture. Often it has made this its contribution in times when it was just as powerless and helpless as it is today. Valuable human beings cannot be driven to despair. They are bound to create new, lasting values and, under the tremendous pressure brought to brear upon everyone today, these new works will be of particular significance. and powerlessness -- but simultaneously also the time of its reconstruction creates new works of culture, then it has, in that way, made its most valuable contribution to the happenings in this world which it could possibly be in a position to make. humanity; they are, in a higher sense, the cultural contributions which one day will become the common property of all humanity. But a nation believing in its future will never perish. May God protect Germany and the culture of the Occident.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon defendant Constantin von Neurath.
DEFENDANT VON NEURATH: Firm in the conviction that truth and justice will prevail before this High Tribunal over all hatred, slander and misrepresentation, I believe that I should add only this one thing to the words of my defense counsel: My life was consecrated to truth and honor, to the maintenance of peace and the attainment of understanding among peoples, to humanity and justice. I stand with a clear conscience not only before myself but before history and the German people. be able to bear even this and shall take it upon myself as a last sacrifice on behalf of any people, whom it was the meaning and substance of my entire being to serve.
THE PRESIDENT: I call upon the defendant Hans Fritzsche.
DEFENDANT FRITSCHE: May it please the Tribunal: The Chief Prosecutors in their final speeches have repeated several of the accusations against me although in my opinion they have been clearly refuted by the taking of evidence. read them. If it is not in contradiction to the rules of this Tribunal and if it would please the Tribunal, then I should make the request that this summary, which amounts to six pages, should be taken judicial notice of be the Tribunal. They are available for Translation. Trial by quoting the details, all of which can be found in the records and documents. I shall have to deal with the entire complex of the crimes since the Prosecution alleged that I had been connected with these crimes through a conspiracy. made propaganda during my radio speeches which the Prosecution now accuses me of, even if I had represented the teaching of the "Master Race", even if I had preached hatred against other peoples, even if I had incited to aggressive wars, acts of force, murder, and inhuman actions, even if I had done all that, then the German nation would have turned away from me and would have turned down the system for which I spoke.
31 Aug A LJG Price 18-1a would have noticed it and adopted a negative attitude. represent all these trends of though according to which Hitler, together with a small circle of his accomplices, was acting secretly, this circle which, according to the testimony of the witnesses Hoess, Reinicke and Morgen, amongst others, is now slowly emerging from the mist** which it had been hidden until new.
I believed in Hitler's assurances of an honest will for peace and through that I strengthened the trust of the German people in them. ports of German atrocities. And with my beliefs I strengthened the trust of the German people in the cleanliness of the leaders of the German state.
That is my guilt. No more, no less. caused by the atrocities which occurred. They did not expect that much good would come from Hitler, and they are shattered by the extent of what really happened. But then, you must try to understand the disgust of those who expected much good to come from Hitler and who now have to see how their trust, their good will, and their idealism had been misused. I am in just that position of the man who has been deceived, together with many, many other Germans, of whom the Prosecution say that they could have recognized all that happened from the smoke rising from the chimneys of the concentration camps, or the mere spectacle of the detainees. have pictured these matters in such a way as if all of Germany had been a tremendous hideout of crime. It is a misfortune that the Prosecution are generalizing the extent of the crimes, which are in themselves horrible enough. But opposed to this I must say that anyone who once during the years of peaceful reconstruction 31 Aug A LJG 18-2a Price had believed in Hitler, he only needed faith, courage, and the will to make sacrifices in order to continue believing in him, until through the discovery of carefully hidden facts he could recognize the devil in him.
only this can the struggle be explained which Germany carried on for 68 months. Such a sacrificed be not grow from crime but from idealism and good faith and from clear and apparently just organization. applied to the crimes, because they are bound to enlarge the mountain of hatred in the shadow of which the world lies today. Yet the time has come to interrupt the circle of that hate which has dominated the world until now. It is high time that a halt should be called to the harvest and the sewing of a new seed of hatred and that the seed must be changed. After all, the murder of five millions is a terrible warning, and the world has at its disposal the technical means for its self-destruction.