Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-31.01
Last-Modified: 1999/09/25

                                                  [Page 135]
THIRTY -FIRST DAY

THURSDAY, 10TH JANUARY, 1946

MR. BRUDNO: May it please the Tribunal, when the Tribunal
rose yesterday I had finished the submission of proof as to
Rosenberg's responsibility and authority in the Occupied
Eastern Territories, and was about to conclude my
presentation with four brief examples as to the manner in
which his authority was exercised. I was in the middle of
the third example, which your Honours will recall dealt with
Rosenberg's participation in the forced labour programme. I
wish to conclude that illustration with reference to
Document 199-PS, which we offer as Exhibit USA 606. This
document is a letter from Alfred Meyer, Rosenberg's deputy,
and is addressed to Sauckel, and dated 11th July, 1944. This
time, your Honour will note, it is Rosenberg's Ministry that
is urging action. I wish to quote item number I of this
letter, which reads as follows:

   "The war employment command formerly stationed in Minsk
   must continue, under all circumstances, the calling up
   of young White Ruthenians and Russians for military
   employment in the Reich. In addition, the Command has
   the mission to bring boys of 10-14 years of age to the
   Reich."

My third illustration deals with Rosenberg's exercise of his
legislative powers, and I ask the Court to take judicial
notice of the decree signed by Lohse, who was Reich
Commissar for the Ausland. This decree is published in the
Verordnungs Blatt of the Reich Commissar for the Ausland,
1942, No. 38, Pages 158 and 159. It provides for the seizure
of the entire property of the Jewish population in the
Ausland, including the claims of Jews against third parties.
The seizure is made retroactive to the day of occupation of
the territory by German troops. This sweeping decree was
issued and published by Rosenberg's immediate subordinate,
and it must be assumed that Rosenberg knew of it and
acquiesced in it.

I now come to my final illustration. This illustration is
derived from Document 327-PS, which is already in evidence
as Exhibit USA 338.

It is a copy of a secret letter from Rosenberg to Bormann
dated 17th October, 1944. It furnishes a graphic account of
Rosenberg's activities in the economic exploitation of the
Occupied East. I wish to quote from the first paragraph on
Page 1, which has not been read into the record. It reads:

   "In order not to delay the liquidation of companies
   under my supervision, I beg to point out that the
   companies concerned are not private firms but business
   enterprises of the Reich, so that actions with regard to
   them, just as with regard to Government Offices, are
   reserved to the highest authorities of the Reich. I
   supervise the following companies."

There follows a list of nine companies - a trading company,
an agricultural development company, a supply company, a
pharmaceutical company and five banking concerns. On Page 3
of the translation at item I (a), the mission of the trading
company is stated to be, and I quote:

   "Collection of all agricultural products as well as
   commercial marketing, and transportation thereof.
   (Delivery to Armed Forces and the Reich)."

                                                  [Page 136]

I now call your attention to item 5 of the same page. It
describes the activities of the companies as follows:

   "During this period, the Z.O., that is, the Central
   Trading Corporation, together with its subsidiaries has
   collected:
   
   Grain                        9,200,000 tons
   Meat and meat products         622,000
   Linseed                        950,000
   Butter                         208,000
   Sugar                          400,000
   Fodder                       2,500,000
   Potatoes                     3,200,000
   Seeds                          141,000
   Other agricultural products  1,200,000
                      and   1,073,000,000 eggs
   
   The following was required for transportation:
   
   1,418,000 freight cars and 472,000 tons shipping space."

In conclusion we submit that the evidence has shown that the
defendant Rosenberg played a leading role in the Nazi
Party's rise to power by moulding German thought so as to
promote the conspirators' ambitions; that he played a
leading role in spreading propaganda and intrigue, and in
instigating treason in foreign countries, so as to pave the
way for the waging of wars of aggression; and that he bears
full responsibility for the War Crimes and Crimes against
Humanity which were perpetrated in the Occupied Eastern
Territories, and which will be further developed by the
prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.

This completes the presentation of the case against the
defendant Rosenberg. The next presentation will be that of
the case against the defendant Frank, which will be
presented by Lieutenant-Colonel Baldwin.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: May it please the Tribunal, we
wish now to deal with the individual responsibility of the
defendant Frank. In accordance with the expressed desire of
the Tribunal, this presentation has been strictly limited,
and, of course, I should welcome any direction from the
Tribunal, as to length or method, as I proceed.

First, I must acknowledge my indebtedness to Miss Harriet
Zetterberg, of our Legal Staff, and to Doctor Pietrowski, of
the Polish Delegation, for their invaluable work, Doctor
Pietrowski and the Polish Delegation naturally having a
special interest in the defendant Frank.

Aspects of the criminal complicity of the defendant Hans
Frank, under Count 1 of the Indictment, have been placed
before this Tribunal on several occasions. There remain,
however, certain matters for discussion - either novel in
presentation or in development - concerning this defendant
as an individual, before the United States portions of the
prosecution's case against him is completed. Our Soviet
colleagues will carry further the heavy complaint against
the defendant Frank in their treatment of War Crimes and
Crimes against Humanity in the East. We wish here merely to
touch upon that evidence which, we believe, irrefutably
discloses Frank to have been a tremendously important cog in
the machine which conceived, promoted and executed the Nazi
Common Plan or Conspiracy. Documents relating to this point
have been assembled in a document book bearing the letters
"FF." I am informed that these books, as well as explanatory
briefs, have been distributed for the use of the members of
the Tribunal.

Reference will be made in the course of this argument to the
so-called "Frank Diary," portions of which have already been
brought to the attention of the Tribunal. It seems
appropriate that brief mention should here be made of the
contents and source of this diary. It is a set of some 42
volumes detailing the activities of the defendant Frank from
1939 to the end of the war in his

                                                  [Page 137]

capacity as Governor-General of Occupied Poland. It is a
record, in short, of each day's business, hour by hour,
appointment by appointment, conference by conference, speech
by speech, and, in truth we believe, crime by crime. Each
volume, excepting the last few, is now handsomely bound, and
in those volumes, which deal with the conferences of Frank
and his underlings in the Government General, the name of
each person attending the meeting is inscribed in his own
handwriting on a page preceeding the minutes of the
conference itself. It is incredibly shocking to the normal
conscience that such a neat history of murder, starvation
and extermination should have been maintained by the
individual responsible for such deeds, but by now the
Tribunal is well aware that the Nazi leaders were
sentimentally fond of elaborately documenting their
exploits, as witness the Rosenberg volumes displaying the
looted art treasures, and the album reporting on the
extermination of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. The complete set
of the "Frank Diary" was found in Bavaria, at Heuhaus, on
18th May, 1945, by the 7th American Army. It was taken to
the 7th Army Document Centre at Heidelberg and on or about
20th September, 1945, the collection was sent to the Office
of the U.S. Chief of Counsel here at Nuremberg. It is here
in Court in its entirety, and now its tones, we submit, are
those of accusation, rather than boastful narration.

That the defendant Frank held a position of leadership in
the Nazi Party and in the German Government is undeniable,
even though, presumably, it would be unfair to him to
underestimate his importance in the Nazi Hierarchy and the
Third Reich. Like the other defendants in this case, be was
a man of far-reaching influence and position, and his office-
holding record is already before this Court. It is an
affidavit signed by the defendant Frank and identified as
Exhibit USA. 7. This document contains a listing of eleven
important positions held by Frank in the Party and in the
Government, and supports the assertion of influence and
position which I have just made, especially since this
Tribunal has been fully apprised of the criminal activities
of the Nazi organisations and formations.

The machinations of Frank divide themselves logically into
two periods. In the one - from 1920 to 1939 - he was, by his
own admission, the leading Nazi Jurist, although
parenthetically the word "jurist" loses its reputable
content when modified by the word "Nazi." In the other
period -extending from 10th October, 1939, until the end of
the war - he was Governor General of Occupied Poland. While
he is most notorious for his persecutions and carrying out
of the conspiracy in the latter capacity, it is the opinion
of the U.S. prosecution that the defendant Frank's
contributions to the Nazi rise to power as the leading "Nazi
Jurist" should not pass without mention. It is with this
aspect that I shall first deal - the defendant Frank's
furtherance of the realisation of the conspirators'
programme in the field of law, his knowledge of the criminal
purpose of the programme and his active participation
therein.

The defendant Frank himself described his role in the Nazi
struggle for power in the following words, in the course of
his closing remarks at a conference held on 28th August,
1942, at Kressendorf. The remarks appear in the diary and
are translated in our document 2233-PS, which, if the Court
please, is at Page 54 in the document book.

The numbers of the pages of the document book will be found
in the upper right-hand corner in coloured. pencil, either
red or blue. The original of this document I now offer in
evidence as Exhibit USA 607. In the German text these
extracts appear in Part 3 in the 1942 diary volume on Pages
968, 969 and 983. Frank says:

   "I have since 1920 continually dedicated my work to the
   N.S.D.A.P. As a National Socialist I was a participant
   in the events of November, 1923, for which I received
   the Blutorden. After the resurrection of the movement in
   the year 1925, my greater activity in the movement
   really began,
   
                                                  [Page 138]
   
   which made me, first gradually, later almost
   exclusively, the legal adviser of the Fuehrer and of the
   Reich leadership of the N.S.D.A.P. I was thus the
   representative of legal interests of the growing Third
   Reich in a legal-ideological as well as in a practical
   way."

He goes on to say:

   "The culmination of this work I see in the Leipzig Army
   Trial, in which I succeeded in having the Fuehrer
   admitted to the famous oath of legality a fact which
   gave the Movement the legal grounds to expand
   generously. The Fuehrer indeed recognised this
   achievement, and in 1926 made me Leader of the National
   Socialist Lawyers' League; in 1929, Reich Leader of the
   Reich Legal Office of the N.S.D.A.P.; in 1933, Bavarian
   Minister of Justice; in 1934, President of the Academy
   of German Law founded by me; and in December, 1934,
   Reich Minister without Portfolio. Lastly in 1939, I was
   appointed to be Governor-General for the Occupied Polish
   Territories.
   
   So I was, am, and will remain the representative jurist
   of the struggle period of National Socialism.
   
   I profess myself now, and always, as a National
   Socialist and a faithful follower of the Fuehrer, Adolf
   Hitler, whom I have now served since 1919."

It is indeed significant and worth mentioning to the Court -

THE PRESIDENT: Is this an extract from his diary?

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: Yes, Sir, it is.

THE PRESIDENT: And are the words "Present: Doctor Hans Frank
and others" written by him in his diary?

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: Yes, Sir, they are. Before each
of these excerpts, if your Honour pleases, if it was in
conference it was indicated which members of the Government
generally were present or who made the address.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: It is indeed significant and
worth mentioning to the Court that the defendant Frank
assumes responsibility for the so-called oath of legality at
the Leipzig Army Trial. At that trial, in 1930, three army
officers are accused of, curiously enough, conspiracy to
high treason. The charge was that the defendants in that
trial, in their capacity as members of the German Army,
tried to form National Socialist cells in the German Army
and to influence the German Army to such an extent that in
the case of a putsch by the National Socialists the army
would not fire at the National Socialists, but would stand
at ease instead. All three of the officers were found guilty
and sentenced to eighteen months' confinement. At that
trial, however, Hitler was a witness, and during the course
of the trial testified under oath that the term
"revolution," used by him, only meant spiritual revolution
in Germany, and that the expression "heads would roll in the
sand" meant only that they would do so as a result of legal
procedure through State Tribunals, if the National
Socialists came to power. This, if the Court please, was the
so-called oath of legality, the lie with which the defendant
Frank provided his Fuehrer as a facade for the conspiracy
and which he, at least in 1942, considered the culmination
of his efforts.

As the "Representative Jurist of the struggle period of
National Socialism" and in various juridical capacities
listed in his affidavit of positions held, defendant Frank
was, between 1933 and 1939, the most prominent policy maker
in the field of German legal theory. For example, defendant
Frank founded the Academy of German Law in 1934 and he was
President of this once-potent body until 1942. The statute
defining the functions of this Academy conferred upon it
wide power to initiate and co-ordinate juridical policies.

This statute appears in the translation at Page 5 in the
document book, as our document 1391-PS, and appears in the
1934 Reichsgesetzblatt at Page 605.

                                                  [Page 139]

We ask the Court to take judicial notice of it. I now quote
briefly from the decree:

   "It is the task of the Academy for German Law to further
   the rejuvenation of the Law in Germany. Closely
   connected with the agencies competent for legislation,
   it shall further the realisation of the National
   Socialist programme in the realm of the Law. This task
   shall be carried out through well-determined scientific
   methods. The Academy's task shall cover primarily:
   
     1. The composition, initiation, judging and preparing
     of drafts of law.
     2. The collaboration in rejuvenating and unifying the
     training in jurisprudence and political science.
     3. The editing and supporting of scientific
     publications.
     4. The financial assistance for work and research in
     specific fields of Law and Political Economy.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Do you have to read all this? We
will take judicial notice of it.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: Among the early tasks which
defendant Frank set for himself, as policy maker in the
field of law, were the unification of the German State, the
promotion of racial legislation and the elimination of
political organisations other than the Nazi Party. In a
radio address given on 20th March, 1934, he announced
success in these matters. Our partial English translation of
this speech appears as Document 2536-PS, at Page 64 in the
document book. The official text of this speech appears in
"Dokumente der Deutschen Politik," Volume 11, Pages 294-298.
In the German text the extracts which I shall quote appear
at Pages 296 and 298, and I win ask the Court to take
judicial notice of these passages:

   "The first task was that of establishing a unified
   German State. It was an outstanding historical and
   juristic-political accomplishment on the part of our
   Fi1hrer that he reached boldly into the historical
   development and thereby eliminated the sovereignty of
   the various German States. At last we have now again,
   after 1,000 years, a unified German State in every
   respect. It is no longer possible for the world to make
   calculations to the detriment of the German Government,
   based on the spirit of resistance inherent in small
   States, which are set up on an egotistical scale and
   solely with a view to their individual interest. That is
   a thing of the past for all times to come."

I pass on now to the second excerpt:

   "The second fundamental law of the Hitler Reich is
   racial legislation. The National Socialists were the
   first ones in the entire history of human law to elevate
   the concept of race to the status of a legal term. The
   German Nation, unified racially and nationally, will in
   the future be legally protected against any further
   disintegration of the German race stock."

I pass now to the mention of the sixth:

   "The sixth fundamental law was the legal elimination of
   those political organisations which, within the State,
   during the period of the reconstruction of the People
   and the Reich, were once able to place their selfish
   aims ahead of the common good of the Nation. This
   elimination has taken place entirely legally. It is not
   the coming to the fore of despotic tendencies, but the
   necessary legal consequence of a clear political result
   of the 14 years' struggle of the N.S.D.A.
   
   In accordance with these unified legal aims," Frank
   continues, "in all spheres, particular efforts have for
   months now been made as regards the work of the great
   reform of the entire field of German Law.
   
   As a leader of the German Jurists, I am convinced that,
   together with all strata of the German people, we shall
   be able to construct the legal State
   
                                                  [Page 140]
   
   of Adolf Hitler in every respect and to such an extent
   that no one in the world will at any time be able to
   dare to attack this legal State as regards its laws."

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