The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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

reserves will have to be touched for the purpose of carrying

through over this difficulty until the goal ordered by the

Fuehrer has been reached, and then in the case of war, they

are not a reliable backing in any case." And on the second

page, the eighth paragraph down: "If war should break out to-

morrow, we would be forced to take measures from which we

might possibly still find a way at the present moment. They

are therefore to be taken." With reference to the assertion

that the defendant Schacht was advised that Hitler ordered

that all formations of the Air Force be ready by 1st April,

1937, I respectfully refer to document 1301-PS, dated 31st

August, 1936. 1 am advised that the document should bear an

additional number. It should read 1301-PS-7. On the first

page, if your Honour pleases, the third paragraph, or the

paragraph marked 3 and after the words "air force"--



THE PRESIDENT: The third page?



MR. DODD: No, on the first page, 1301-PS-7. In your folio,

it is page 19 of the group of documents bearing the serial

number 1301-PS.



THE PRESIDENT: Our documents are not paged.



MR. DODD: I think you will find the number on the upper left-

hand corner, very near to the top and at the extreme left.



THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I've got this document now.



MR. DODD: Paragraph No. 3 after the words "air force."



THE PRESIDENT: Yes.



MR. DODD: It states that according to an order of the

Fuehrer, the setting up if all air force units had to be

completed on 1st April, 1937; and if your Honour will turn

the page, page 20, about midway in the page, you will

observe that a copy of this document was sent to the

president of the Reichsbank, Dr. Schacht.



THE PRESIDENT: Yes, what are you passing to now?



MR. DODD: I am passing to another document immediately, your

Honour. After their successes in Austria and in the

Sudetenland, the Nazi conspirators redoubled their efforts

to equip themselves for the war of aggression, and in a

conference on 14th October, 1938, shortly before the Nazi

conspirators made their first demands on Poland, the

defendant Goering stated that, "The Fuehrer had instructed

him to carry out a gigantic programme, by comparison with

which



                                                  [Page 140]



the performances thus far were insignificant. These

difficulties must be overcome with the greatest energy and

ruthlessness." And that statement may be found in the

document 1301-PS, on page 25 of that document, and

particularly the second sentence of the opening paragraph:

"Everybody knows from the Press what the world situation

looks like, and therefore the Fuehrer has issued an order to

him-"



THE PRESIDENT: That's not on page 25, is it? Is that on page

25 Of 1301 ?



MR. DODD: Yes, your Honour.



THE PRESIDENT: Yes.



MR. DODD:



   "Everybody knows from the Press what the world situation

   looks like, and therefore the Fuehrer has issued an

   order to him to carry out a gigantic programme compared

   to which previous achievements are insignificant. There

   are difficulties in the way which he will overcome with

   the utmost energy and ruthlessness."



The supply of foreign currency had shrunk because of

preparations for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and it was

considered necessary to replenish it. These - and I am now

referring to the third paragraph of that same page 25 of

document 1301-PS - "these gains made through export are to

be used for an increased armament. The armament should not

be curtailed by the export activities."  He received the

order from the Fuehrer to increase the armament to an

abnormal extent, the Air Force having first priority. "

Within the shortest time, the Air Force should be increased

five-fold; also the Navy should create war weapons more

rapidly, and the Army should procure large amounts of war

weapons at a faster rate, particularly heavy artillery and

heavy tanks. Along with this manufacture of armaments a

larger production of armament, especially fuel, rubber,

powders and explosives must be moved to the foreground. This

should be coupled with an accelerated expansion of highways,

canals, and particularly of the railroads."



In the course of these preparations for war, a clash of

wills ensued between two men, the defendant Goering and the

defendant Schacht, as a result of which the defendant

Schacht resigned his position as head of the Ministry of

Economics and Plenipotentiary for the War Economy in

November of 1937 and was removed from the presidency of the

Reichsbank in January of 1939, I do not propose, at this

moment, to go into the details of this controversy. There

will be more said on that subject at a later stage in these

proceedings, but for the present, I should like to have it

noted that it is our contention that Schacht's departure in

no way implied any disagreement with the major war aims of

the Nazis. The defendant Schacht took particular pride in

his vast attainments in the financial and economic fields in

aid of the Nazi war machine. And in the document EC-257,

which is a copy of a letter from the defendant Schacht to

General Thomas, in the first paragraph of the letter, he

wrote, "I think back with much satisfaction to the work in

the rearmament of the German people as 'conditio sine qua

non' of the establishment of a new German nation." The

second paragraph is of a more personal nature. It has no

real bearing on the issues before us at this time.



In the document EC-252, a letter written to General von

Blomberg, dated 8th July, 1937, the defendant Schacht wrote,

"The direction of the war economy by the plenipotentiary

would in that event never take place entirely independent of

the rest of the war mechanism, but would be aimed at an

accomplishment of the political war purpose with the

assistance of all economic forces. I am entirely willing,

therefore, to participate in this way in the preparation of

the forthcoming order giving effect to the Defence Act."



In the spring of 1937, the defendant Schacht participated

with representatives of the three branches of the Armed

Forces in war games in war economy which is probably

something new by way - or was something new by way of

military exercises. The war games in war economy were held

at Godesberg, Germany.



                                                  [Page 141]



And I refer to the document EC-174. It has as a heading, or

subheading, under the summary, "War economy tasks in

Godesberg undertaken by General Staff between 25th May and

2nd June," and it goes on to outline, in some slight detail,

that there was a welcome to the General Staff war economy

trip. It tells something in a rather vague and not

altogether clear way of just how a war game in war economy

was conducted, but it leaves no doubt in the mind that such

a war game in war economy had been conducted at Godesberg at

that time. And on the second page of this document, the last

paragraph, is the translation of Part 1 of the speech

welcoming Dr. Schacht. It says: "Before I start with the

discussion of the war game in war economy, I have to express

how grateful we all are that you, President Dr. Schacht,

have gone to the trouble to personally participate in our

final discussion to-day despite all your other activities.

This proves to us your deep interest in war economy tasks

shown at all times, and your presence is renewed proof that

you are willing to facilitate for us the difficult war

economic preparations and to strengthen the harmonious co-

operation with your offices."



I should also like to call the Court's attention to the

next, to the last paragraph, on the first page. It is a one-

sentence paragraph, and it simply says, "I want to point

out, however, that all material and all information received

has to be kept in strict secrecy," and it refers to the

preceding paragraph concerning the war games in war economy.



It appears that the annexation of Austria was a goal which

the defendant Schacht had long sought, for in a speech to

the employees of the former Austrian National Bank, as set

out in the document bearing the label EC-297, and

particularly the second paragraph of the first page of that

document, nearly at the end, four or five lines from the end

of that paragraph, we find these words, immediately after

"large applause": " Austria has certainly a great mission,

namely, to be the bearer of German culture, to ensure

respect and regard for the German name, especially in the

direction of the South-east. Such a mission can only be

performed within the Great German Reich and based on the

power of a nation of 75,000,000, which, regardless of the

wish of the opponents, forms the heart and the soul of

Europe." Dr. Schacht goes on to say, "We have read a lot in

the foreign Press during the last few days that this aim,

the union of both countries, was to a certain degree

justified, but that the method of effecting this union was

terrible. This method, which certainly did not suit one or

the other power, was nothing but the consequence of

countless perfidies and brutal acts and violence which

foreign countries have practised against us." And I refer

now to page 3 of this same document and to the fourth

paragraph, about the centre of the page, and reading from

it: "I am known for sometimes expressing thoughts which give

offence and there I would not like to depart from this

consideration. I know that there are even here, in this

country, a few people - I believe they arc not too numerous-

who find fault with the events of the last few days; but

nobody, I believe, doubts the goal, and it should be said to

all grumblers that you can't satisfy everybody. One person

says he would have done it maybe one way, but the remarkable

thing is that they did not do it, and that it was only done

by our Adolf Hitler; and if there is still something left to

be improved, then those grumblers should try to bring about

these improvements from the German Reich, and within the

German community, but not to disturb us from without."



In the memorandum Of 7th January, 1939, written by the

defendant Schacht and other directors of the Reichsbank to

Hitler, urging a balancing of the budget in view of the

threatening danger of inflation, it was stated, and I now

refer to the document bearing the label EC-369 and

particularly to the paragraph at the bottom of the first

page of that document: "From the beginning the Reichsbank

has been aware of the fact that a successful foreign policy

can be attained only



                                                  [Page 142]



by the reconstruction of the German Armed Forces. It (the

Reichsbank) therefore assumed to a very great extent the

responsibility of financing the rearmament in spite of the

inherent dangers to the currency. The justification

therefore was the necessity, which pushed all other

considerations into the background, to carry through the

armament at once, out of nothing, and furthermore under

camouflage, which made a respect-commanding foreign policy

possible."



The Reichsbank directors, as experts on money, believed that

a point had been reached where greater production of

armaments was no longer possible. That was merely a

judgement on the situation and not a moral principle, for

there was no opposition to Hitler's policy of aggression.

Doubts were entertained as to whether he could finance that

policy. Hitler's letter to Schacht on the occasion of

Schacht's departure from the Reichsbank,  as contained in

document EC-397, paid high tribute to Schacht's great

efforts in furthering the programme of the Nazi

conspirators. The armed forces by now had enabled Hitler to

take Austria and the Sudetenland. We say Schacht's task up

to that point had been well done. And to quote from document

EC-397, in the words of Hitler, in a letter which he wrote

to the defendant Schacht, "Your name, above all, will always

be connected with the first epoch of the national

rearmament."



Even though dismissed from the presidency of the Reichsbank,

Schacht was retained as a minister without portfolio and

special confidential adviser to Hitler. The defendant Funk

stepped into Schacht's position as president of the

Reichsbank. And I ask at this point that the Court might

take judicial notice of the Volkischer Beobachter Of 21St

January, 1939. The defendant Funk was completely uninhibited

by fears of inflation, for like Goering, under whom he had

served in the Four-Year Plan, he recognised no obstacles to

the plan to attack Poland.



In document 699-PS, a letter from the defendant Funk to

Hitler, written on 25th August, 1939, only a few days before

the attack on Poland, the defendant Funk reported to Hitler

that the Reichsbank was prepared to withstand any

disturbances of the international currency and credit system

occasioned by a large-scale war. He said that he had

secretly transferred all available funds of the Reichsbank

abroad into gold, and that Germany stood ready to meet the

financial and economic tasks which lay ahead.



And it seems plain and clear from the writings, from the

acts, from the speeches of the Nazi conspirators themselves,

that they did in fact direct the whole of the German economy

toward preparation for aggressive war. To paraphrase the

words the defendant Goering once used, the conspirators gave

the German people "guns instead of butter " and they also

gave - we say, they also gave history its most striking

example of a nation gearing itself in time of peace to the

single purpose of aggressive war. Their economic

preparations, formulated and applied with the ruthless

energy of Goering, the cynical financial wizardry of the

defendant Schacht, and the willing complicity of Funk, among

others, were the indispensable first act in the heart-

breaking tragedy which their aggression inflicted upon the

world.



I should like to offer, if I may at this time, your Honour,

those documents which I have referred to in the course of

this discussion. We have here the original documents in the

folders, and they compare with the translations which have

been submitted to the court.



THE PRESIDENT: Have the defendants had the opportunity of

inspecting these documents?



MR. DODD: I doubt that they have had full opportunity to

inspect them, your Honour. The documents are there, but I

don't think they have had the opportunity to inspect them

because they haven't been there long enough for that.



THE PRESIDENT: Well, the Tribunal - I think that they should

be given full opportunity of inspecting them and comparing

them with the copies which have been submitted to us before

the originals are put in.



                                                  [Page 143]





MR. DODD: Very well, your Honour. We may offer these later,

as I understand?



THE PRESIDENT: Certainly. The Tribunal will adjourn for ten

minutes.



(Whereupon the Court, at l5.25 o'clock, recessed for ten

minutes.)



COLONEL STOREY: May it please the Tribunal:



The United States Prosecution now passes into the aggressive

war phase of the case and it will be presented by Mr.

Alderman.



MR. SIDNEY S. ALDERMAN: May it please the Tribunal:



I rise to present on behalf of the United States Chief of

Counsel, evidence to support the allegation of Count 1 of

the Indictment relating to the planning, preparation,

initiation, and waging of illegal and aggressive war, and

relating to the conspiracy to commit that crime.



The aggressive war phase of the case, the aggressive war

phase of the conspiracy case under Count 1, and the

aggressive war phase of the entire case is really, we think,

the heart of the case. If we did not reach it in our

presentation we would not reach the heart of the case. If we

did not present it to the Tribunal in the necessary detail,

we would fail to present what is necessary to the heart of

the case.



After all, everything else in this case, however dramatic,

however sordid, however shocking and revolting to the common

instinct of civilised peoples, is incidental to, or

subordinate to, the aggressive war aspect of the case.



All the dramatic story of what went on in Germany in the

early phases of the conspiracy, the ideologies used, the

technics of terror used, the suppressions of human freedom

employed in the seizure of power, and even the concentration

camps and the Crimes against Humanity, the persecutions,

tortures and murders committed, all of these things would

have had little juridical international significance except

for the fact that they were the preparation for the

commission of aggressions against peaceful neighbouring

peoples.



Even the aspects of the case involving War Crimes in the

strict sense are aspects which are merely the inevitable,

proximate result of the wars of aggression launched and

waged by these conspirators, and of the kind of warfare they

waged, that is total war, the natural result of the

totalitarian party-dominated State that waged it, and

atrocious war, the natural result of the atrocious

doctrines, designs and purposes of these war-makers.



For these reasons, I repeat, that in our view the phases of

the case dealing with territorial gains acquired by threats

of force and with actual aggressions and aggressive wars,

constitute the real heart of the case. Accordingly, we ask

the indulgence of the Tribunal if for these reasons we may

make the presentation of this part of the case as detailed

as seems to us necessary in view of the outstanding

importance of the subject matter.



The general scope of the case to be presented by the

American prosecution has been stated in the opening address

of Mr. Justice Jackson. That address indicated to the

Tribunal the general nature and character of the evidence to

be offered by the American prosecution in support of the

allegations with which I shall deal. However, before

approaching the actual presentation of that evidence, it

seems to us it would be helpful to an orderly presentation

of the case, to address the Tribunal in an introductory way

concerning this specific segment of the prosecution's case.

In doing so, I shall not attempt to retrace the ground so

ably covered by Mr. Justice Jackson. On the contrary, I

shall confine my introductory remarks to matters

specifically and peculiarly applicable to that part of the

American case relating to the crime of illegal warfare, and

the Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit that crime.



The substantive rule of law which must guide the

considerations of the Tribunal on this aspect of the case,

and the rule of law which must be controlling in the final

judgement of the Tribunal on this part of the case, is

stated in Article 6 of the



                                                  [Page 144]



Charter of the International Military Tribunal. Article 6,

so far as is pertinent here, reads as follows:-



    "Article 6. The Tribunal established by the Agreement

    referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trial and

    punishment of the Major War Criminals of the European

    Axis countries shall have the power to try and punish

    persons who, acting in the interests of the European

    Axis countries, either as individuals or as members of

    organisations, committed any of the following crimes.

    

    The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming

    within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there

    shall be individual responsibility.

    

    (a) Crimes Against Peace: namely, planning,

    preparation, initiation or waging of a war of

    aggression, or a war in violation of international

    treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in

    a Common Plan or Conspiracy for the accomplishment of

    any of the foregoing; "



Sub-paragraph's (b) and (c) of Article 6 are not pertinent

to this aspect of the case. However, the unnumbered final

paragraph of Article 6 is of controlling importance on this

aspect of the case. That paragraph reads:-



    "Leaders, organisers, instigators and accomplices

    participating in the formulation or execution of a

    Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit any of the

    foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed

    by any persons in execution of such plan."



In receiving evidence on this aspect of the case I would

request the Tribunal to have in mind five principles derived

from the portions of the Charter I have just read: (1) The

Charter imposes "individual responsibility" for acts

constituting "Crimes against Peace;" (2) The term "Crimes

against Peace" embraces planning, preparation, initiation,

or waging of illegal war; (3) The term "Crimes against

Peace" also embraces participation in a Common Plan or

Conspiracy to commit illegal war; (4) an illegal war

consists of either a war of aggression, or a war in

violation of international treaties, agreements or

assurances. These two kinds of illegal war might not

necessarily be the same. It will be sufficient for the

prosecution to show that the war was aggressive,

irrespective of breach of international treaties, agreements

or assurances. On the other hand it would be sufficient for

the prosecution to show that the war was in violation of

international treaties, agreements or assurances

irrespective of whether or not it was a war of aggression.

We think the evidence in this case will establish

conclusively that the wars planned, prepared, initiated, and

waged by these defendants, and the wars which were the

object of their Common Plan and Conspiracy, were illegal for

both reasons. The fifth principle which I ask you to bear in

mind, is that individual criminal responsibility of a

defendant is imposed by the Charter not merely by reasons of

direct, immediate participation in the crime. It is

sufficient for the prosecution to show that a defendant was

a leader, an organiser, instigator, or accomplice who

participated either in the formulation or in the execution

of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit Crimes against

Peace. In the case of many of the defendants the evidence

will show direct and immediate personal participation in the

substantive crime itself. In the case of some of the

defendants the evidence goes to their participation in the

formulation and execution of a Common Plan or Conspiracy. In

the case of each defendant we think the evidence will

establish full individual responsibility for Crimes against

Peace, as defined in the Charter of this Tribunal. In this

connection I wish to emphasise that the Charter declares

that the responsibility of conspirators extends not only to

their own acts, but also to all acts performed by any

persons in execution of the Conspiracy.


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