4 Jan. 46
of 1941 whereas the Supreme Command of the
Army (General Staff) was very skeptical."
That, to be sure, indicates division of opinion as to the military
chances of a rapid success, but the part last quoted indicates that
other members of the group favored Barbarossa and Raeder's memorandum
actually says and substantiates what Blomberg's affidavit says: That
some of the generals lost confidence in the power of Hitler's judgment,
but that the generals failed as a group to take any definite stand
against him, although a, few tried and suffered thereby. Certainly the
High Command took no stand against Hitler on Barbarossa and the events
of 1941 and 1942 do not suggest that the High Command embarked on the
Soviet war tentatively or with reservations, but rather with ruthless
determination backed by careful planning. The plans themselves have all
been read and cited to the Court previously.
That concludes the evidence on the criminal activities of the group
under Counts One and Two. The documents written by the military leaders
are not the writings of men who were reluctant to plan and execute these
manifold wars.
I want to make clear again the nature of the accusations against this
group under Counts One and Two. They are not accused on the ground that
they are soldiers. They are not accused merely for doing the usual
things a soldier is expected to do, such as making military plans and
commanding troops. It is, I suppose, among the normal duties of a
diplomat to engage in negotiations and conferences, to write notes and
aide-memoire to entertain at dinner parties, and cultivate good
will toward the government he represents. The Defendant Ribbentrop is
not indicted for doing these things. It is the usual function of a
politician to draft regulations and decrees, to make speeches. The
Defendants Hess and Frick are not indicted for doing those things.
It is an innocent and respectable business to be a locksmith; but it is
none the less a crime, if the locksmith turns his talents to picking the
locks of neighbors and looting their homes. And that is the nature of
the charge under Counts One and Two against the defendants and the
General Staff and High Command group. The charge is that, in performing
the functions of diplomats, politicians, soldiers, sailors, or whatever
they happened to be, they conspired, and did plan, prepare, initiate,
and wage illegal wars and thereby committed crimes under Article 6 (a)
of the Charter.
It is no defense for those who committed such crimes to plead that they
practice a particular profession. It is perfectly legal for military men
to prepare military plans to meet national contingencies, and such plans
may legally be drawn whether they are offensive or defensive in a
military sense. It is perfectly legal for military