achieve this . . . . All the Baltic
regions must become part of the Reich. The Crimea and adjoining
regions (north of the Crimea must likewise be incorporated into the
Reich. The region of the Volga as well as the Baku district must
likewise be incorporated into the Reich. The Finns want Eastern
Karelia. However, in view of the large deposits of nickel, the Kola
peninsula must be ceded to Germany."
It was contended for the defendants that the attack
upon the U.S.S.R. was justified because the Soviet Union was
contemplating an attack upon Germany, and making preparations to that
end. It is impossible to believe that this view was ever honestly
entertained.
The plans for the economic exploitation of the U.S.S.R., for the
removal of masses of the population, for the murder of Commissars and
political leaders, were all part of the carefully prepared scheme
launched on 22 June without warning of any kind, and without the
shadow of legal excuse. It was plain aggression.
War against the United States
Four days after the attack launched by the
Japanese on the United States fleet in Pearl Harbor on 7 December
1941, Germany declared war on the United States.
The Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan, had been
signed on 27 September 1940, and from that date until the attack upon
the U.S.S.R. the Defendant Von Ribbentrop, with other defendants, was
endeavoring to induce Japan to attack British possessions in the Far
East. This, it was thought, would hasten England's defeat, and keep
the United States out of the war.
The possibility of a direct attack on the United States was
considered and discussed as a matter for the future. Major Von
Falkenstcin, the Luftwaffe liaison officer with the Operations Staff
of the OKW, summarizing military problems which needed discussion in
Berlin in October of 1940, spoke of the possibility "of the
prosecution of the war against America at a later date." It is
clear, too, that the German policy of keeping America out of the war,
if possible, did not prevent Germany promising support to Japan even
against the United States. On 4 April 1941 Hitler told Matsuoka, the
Japanese Foreign Minister, in the presence of the Defendant Von
Ribbentrop, that Germany would "strike without delay" if a
Japanese attack on Singapore should lead to war between Japan and the
United States. The next day Von Ribbentrop himself urged Matsuoka to
bring Japan into the war.
On 28 November 1941, 10 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor,
Von Ribbentrop encouraged Japan, through her Ambassador in Berlin, to
attack Great Britain and the United States, and stated that should
Japan become engaged in a war with the United States, Ger-