The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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                                                   [Page 87]

THIRD DAY
THURSDAY, 22ND NOVEMBER, 1945



THE PRESIDENT: Before the Chief Prosecutor for the United

States proceeds to present the evidence on Count 1, the

Tribunal wishes me to announce the decision on the

application made on behalf of the defendant Julius Streicher

by his counsel that his condition be examined. It has been

examined by three medical experts on behalf of the Tribunal

and their report has been submitted to and considered by the

Tribunal; and it is as follows:



   "1. The defendant Julius Streicher is sane.

   2. The defendant Julius Streicher is fit to appear

   before the Tribunal, and to present his defence.

   3. It being the unanimous conclusion of the examiners

   that Julius Streicher is sane, he is for that reason

   capable of understanding the nature and policy of his

   acts during the period of time covered by the

   indictment."



The Tribunal accepts the report of the medical experts and

the trial against Julius Streicher will, therefore, proceed.



The other matter to which I have to refer is a motion on

behalf of counsel for Bormann, whom the Tribunal have

decided to try in his absence in pursuance of Article 12 of

the Charter. Counsel for Bormann has made a motion that the

trial against him should be postponed, but, in view of the

fact that the provisions of the Charter and the Tribunal's

rules of procedure have been strictly carried out in the

notices which have been given, and the fact that counsel for

Bormann will have ample time before he is called upon to

present defence on his behalf, the motion is denied.



I will now call upon counsel for the United States to

present the evidence on Count 1.



COLONEL STOREY: May it please the Tribunal: As the first

order of business concerning the evidence, it shall be my

purpose to outline the method of assembling, processing and

authenticating documents to be presented in evidence by the

United States. I shall also describe and illustrate the plan

of presenting documents and briefs relating to the United

States Case in Chief.



As the United States Army advanced into German territory,

there were attached to each Army and subordinate

Organisation specialised military personnel, whose duties

were to capture and preserve enemy information in the form

of documents, records, reports and other files. The Germans

kept accurate and voluminous records. They were found in

Army headquarters, government buildings and elsewhere.

During the later stages of the war, particularly, such

documents were found in salt mines, buried in the ground,

behind false walls and many other places believed secure by

the Germans. For example, the personal correspondence and

diaries of defendant Rosenberg, including his Nazi Party

correspondence, were found behind a false wall in an old

castle in Eastern Bavaria. The records of the OKL, or

Luftwaffe, of which the defendant Goering was Commander-in-

Chief - equivalent to the records of the Headquarters of the

Air Staff of our Army Air Forces of the United States, were

found in various places in the Bavarian Alps. Most of such

Luftwaffe records were assembled and processed by the Army

at Berchtesgaden.



When the Army first captured documents and records, they

immediately placed the materials under guard and later

assembled them in temporary document centres. Many times the

records were so voluminous that they were hauled by fleets

of Army trucks to document centres. Finally, as the

territory seized was



                                                   [Page 88]



made secure, Army zones were established and each Army

established a fixed document centre to which were

transported the assembled documents and records. Later this

material was indexed and catalogued, which was a slow

process.



Beginning last June, Mr. Justice Jackson requested me to

direct the assembling of documentary evidence on the

continent for the U.S. Case. Field teams from our office

were organised under the direction of Major William H.

Coogan, who established U.S. liaison officers at the main

Army document centres. Such officers were directed to screen

and analyse the mass of captured documents, and select those

having evidentiary value for our case. Literally hundreds of

tons of enemy documents and records were screened and

examined, and those selected were forwarded to Nuremberg for

processing. I now offer in evidence an affidavit by Major

Coogan, dated 19th November, 1945, attached hereto,

describing the method of procedure, capture, screening and

delivery of such documents to Nuremberg.



At this time, if your Honour pleases, and in order to

present this matter to the Tribunal, I believe it wise to

read at least substantial portions of this affidavit. It is

dated 19th November, 1945.



    I, MAJOR WILLIAM H. COOGAN, 0-4558I4, Q.M.C., a

    commissioned officer of the Army of the United States

    of America, do hereby certify as follows

    

    (1) The United States Chief of Counsel in July, 1945,

    charged the Field Branch of the Documentation Division

    with the responsibility of collecting, evaluating and

    assembling documentary evidence in the European Theatre

    for use in the prosecution of the major Axis War

    Criminals before the International Military Tribunal. I

    was appointed Chief of the Field Branch on 20th July,

    1945. I am now the Chief of the Documentation Division,

    Office of United States Chief of Counsel.

    

    (2) I have served in the United States Army for more

    than four years and am a practising attorney by

    profession. Based upon my experience as an attorney and

    as a United States Army officer, I am familiar with the

    operation of the United States Army in connection with

    seizing and processing captured enemy documents. In my

    capacity as Chief of the Documentation Division, Office

    of the United States Chief of Counsel, I am familiar

    with and have supervised the processing, filing,

    translating and photostating of all documentary

    evidence for the United States Chief of Counsel."



I skip to paragraph 4.



    "(4) The Field Branch of the Documentation Division was

    staffed by personnel thoroughly conversant with the

    German language. Their task was to search for and

    select captured enemy documents in the European theatre

    which disclosed information relating to the prosecution

    of the major Axis War Criminals. Officers under my

    command were placed on duty at various document centres

    and also dispatched on individual missions to obtain

    original documents. When the documents were located, my

    representatives made a record of the circumstances

    under which they were found, and all information

    available concerning their authenticity was recorded.

    Such documents were further identified by Field Branch

    pre-trial serial numbers, assigned by my

    representatives who would then periodically dispatch

    the original documents by courier to the Office of the

    United States Chief of Counsel.

    

    (5) Upon receipt of these documents they were duly

    recorded and indexed. After this operation, they were

    delivered to the Screening and Analysis Branch of the

    Documentation Division of the Office of United States

    Chief of Counsel, which Branch re-examined the

    documents in order to finally determine whether or not

    they should be retained as evidence for the

    prosecutors. This final screening was done by German-

    speaking analysts on the staff of the United States

    Chief of Counsel. When the document passed the

    screeners, it was then transmitted to the document room

    of the Office of United States Chief of Counsel, with a

    covering sheet prepared by the screeners showing the

    title or nature of the document, the personalities

    involved, and its importance. In the document room, a

    trial

    

                                                   [Page 89]

                                                            

    identification number was given to each document or to

    each group of documents in cases where it was desirable

    for the sake of clarity to file several documents

    together.

    

    (6) United States documents were given trial

    identification numbers in one of five series designated

    by the letters: "PS", "L", "R", "C", and "EC,"

    indicating the means of acquisition of the documents.

    Within each series documents were listed numerically.

    

    (7) After a document was so numbered, it was then sent

    to a German-speaking analyst, who prepared a summary of

    it with appropriate references to personalities

    involved, index headings, information as to the source

    of the document as indicated by the Field Branch, and

    the importance of the document to a particular phase of

    the case. Next, the original document was returned to

    the document room and then checked out to the

    photostating department, where photostatic copies were

    made. Upon return from photostating, it was placed in

    an envelope in one of the several fireproof safes in

    the rear of the document room. One of the photostatic

    copies of the document was sent to the translators,

    thereafter  leaving the original itself in the safe. A

    commissioned officer has been, and is, responsible for

    the documents in the safe. At all times when he is not

    present the safe is locked and a military guard is on

    duty outside the only door. If the officers preparing

    the certified translation, or one of the officers

    working on the briefs, found it necessary to examine

    the original document, this was done within the

    document room in the section set aside for that

    purpose. The only exception to this strict rule has

    been where it has been occasionally necessary to

    present the original document to the defence counsel

    for examination. In this case, the document as

    entrusted to a responsible officer of the prosecution

    staff.


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