7 Dec.
45
First, if the Tribunal please, the inception of the
plan. As a point of departure for the story of aggression against the
Soviet Union, I should like to take the date 23 August 1939. On that
date just a week before the invasion of Poland, the Nazi conspirators
caused Germany to enter into the Treaty of Non-Aggression with the
U.S.S.R. which is referred to in this section of the Indictment which I
have just quoted. This treaty, Document Number TC-25, will be introduced
in evidence by our British colleagues, but it contains two articles
which I should like to bring to the attention of the Tribunal. Article I
provides as follows:
"The two contracting parties undertake to refrain from any act of
violence, any aggressive action, or any attack against one another,
whether individually or jointly with other powers." Article V
provides that, should disputes or conflicts arise between the
contracting parties regarding questions of any kind whatsoever, the two
parties would clear away these disputes or conflicts solely by friendly
exchanges of view or, if necessary, by arbitration commissions.
It is well to keep these solemn pledges in mind during the course of
the story which is to follow. This treaty was signed for the German
Government by the Defendant Ribbentrop. Its announcement came as
somewhat of a surprise to the world since it appeared to constitute a
reversal of the previous trend of Nazi foreign policy. The explanation
for this about-face has been provided, however, by no less eminent a
witness than the Defendant Ribbentrop himself in a discussion which he
had with the Japanese Ambassador Oshima in Fuschl on 23 February 1941. A
report of that conference was forwarded by Ribbentrop to certain German
diplomats in the field for their strictly confidential and purely
personal information. This report we now have. It is Number 1834-PS. I
offer it in evidence as Exhibit USA-129, the original German document.
On Page 2 of the English translation, Ribbentrop tells Oshima the
reason for the pact with the U.S.S.R. That is Page 2 of the German:
"Then when it came to war the Führer
decided on a compromise with Russia — as a necessity for avoiding
a two-front war."
In view of
the spirit of opportunism which motivated the Nazis in entering into
this solemn pledge of arbitration and non-aggression, it is not very
surprising to find that they regarded it as they did all treaties and
pledges, as binding on them only so long as it was expedient for them to
be bound. That they did so regard it is evidenced by the fact that even
while the campaign in the West was