7 Dec.
45
And then, on the following page:
"The Belgian
Government have taken note with great satisfaction of the declaration
communicated to them this day by the German Government. They thank the
German Government warmly for this communication."
My
Lord, may I pause there to emphasize that document. There in October of
1937 is Germany giving a solemn guarantee to this small nation of its
peaceful aspiration towards her and its assertion that the integrity of
the Belgian frontier was a common interest between her and Belgium and
the other Western Powers.
You have before you to try the
leaders of the German Government and the leaders of the German Armed
Forces. One doesn't have to prove, does one, that every one of those
accused must have known perfectly well of that solemn undertaking given
by his government? Every one of these accused in their various spheres
of activity-some more actively than the others-were party to the
shameless breaking of that treaty two and a half years afterwards, and I
submit that on the ordinary laws of inference and justice all those men
must be fixed as active participators in that disgraceful breach of
faith which brought misery and death to so many millions.
Presumably
it will be contended on the part, for instance, of Keitel and Jodl that
they were merely honorable soldiers carrying out their duty. This
Tribunal, no doubt, will inquire what code of honor they observe which
permits them to violate the pledged word of their country.
That
this declaration of October 1937 meant very little to the leaders and to
the High Command of Germany can be seen by the next document, which is
Document PS-375 in the bundle. It is already an exhibit, USA-84, and has
been referred to many times already. May I just refer — or remind
the Tribunal — to one sentence or two. The document comes into
existence on the 25th of August 1938 at the time when the
Czechoslovakian drama was unfolding, and it was uncertain at that time
whether there would be war with the Western Powers. It is top secret,
prepared by the 5th section of the General Staff of the German Air
Force. The subject: "Extended Case Green-Estimate of the Situation."
Probably the more correct words would be: "Appreciation of the
Situation with Special Consideration of the Enemy." Apparently some
staff officer had been asked to prepare this appreciation. In view of
the fact that it has been read before, I think I need only read the last
paragraph which is Paragraph H and it comes at the bottom of Page 6, the
last page but one of the document. Now 11, "Requests to Armed
Forces Supreme Command, Army and Navy". This, you see, was an
appreciation addressed by an Air Force staff officer. So these are
requests