13 Dec.
45
debacle. Unification of the German people was essential
to successful planning and waging of war, and the Nazi political premise
must be established — "One race, one state, one Führer."
Free trade unions must be abolished, political parties (other than the
National Socialist Party) must be outlawed, civil liberties must be
suspended, and opposition of every kind must be swept away. Loyalty to
God, church, and scientific truth was declared to be incompatible with
the Nazi regime. The anti-Jewish policy was part of this plan for
unification because it was the conviction of the Nazis that the Jews
would not contribute to Germany's military program, but on the contrary
would hamper it. The Jew must therefore be eliminated.
This view is clearly borne out by a statement contained in Document
1919-PS, Exhibit USA-170. This document is a transcript of a Himmler
speech at a meeting of the SS major generals on 4 October 1943, and from
Page 4, Paragraph 3, of the 'translation before the Court, I read a very
short passage:
"We know how difficult we should have
made it for ourselves if with the bombing raids, the burdens and
deprivations of war, we still had Jews today in every town as secret
saboteurs, agitators, and trouble mongers; we would now probably have
reached the 1916-17 stage when the Jews were still in the German
national body."
The
treatment of the Jews within Germany was therefore as much of a plan for
aggressive war as was the building of armaments and the conscription of
manpower. It falls within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal as an
integral part of the planning and preparation to wage a war of
aggression.
It is obvious that the persecution and murder of Jews throughout the
conquered territories of Europe following 1939 are War Crimes as defined
by Article 6(b) of the Charter. It further violates Article 46 of the
Regulations of the Hague Convention of 1907, to which Germany was a
signatory. I quote Article 46 and ask the Court to take judicial notice
thereof:
"Family honor and rights, the lives
of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and
practices, must be respected."
I
know of no crime in the history of mankind more horrible in its details
than the treatment of the Jews. It is intended to establish that the
Nazi Party precepts, later incorporated within the policies of the
German State, often expressed by the defendants at bar, were to
annihilate the Jewish people. I shall seek to avoid the temptation to
editorialize or to draw inferences from the documents, however great the
provocation; rather I shall let the documentary evidence speak for
itself — its stark realism will be unvarnished.