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to
arouse in the German People those passions which
led them to the commission of atrocities under
Counts Three and Four. His position and official
duties were not sufficiently important, however,
to inter that he took part in originating or
formulating propaganda campaigns.
Excerpts
in evidence from his speeches show definite
anti-Semitism on his part. He broadcast, for
example, that the war had been caused by Jews
and said their fate had turned out "as
unpleasant as the Führer predicted."
But those speeches did not urge persecution or
extermination of Jews. There is no evidence that
he was aware of their extermination in the East.
The evidence moreover shows that he twice
attempted to have publication of the
anti-Semitic Der Stürmer
suppressed, though unsuccessfully.
In
these broadcasts Fritzsche sometimes spread
false news, but it was not proved he knew it to
be false. For example, he reported that no
German U-boat was in the vicinity of the Athenia
when it was sums. This information was untrue;
but Fritzsche, having received it from the
German Navy. had no reason to believe it was
untrue.
It appears that Fritzsche
sometimes made strong statements of a
propagandistic nature in his broadcasts. But the
Tribunal is not prepared to hold that they were
intended to incite the German People to commit
atrocities on conquered peoples, and he cannot
be held to have been a participant in the crimes
charged. His aim was rather to arouse popular
sentiment in support of Hitler and the German
war effort.
Conclusion
The Tribunal finds that
Fritzsche is not guilty under this Indictment,
and directs that he shall be discharged by the
Marshal when the Tribunal presently adjourns.
BORMANN
Bormann is indicted on
Counts One, Three, and Four. He joined the
National Socialist Party in 1925, was a member
of the Staff of the Supreme Command of the SA
from 1928 to 1930, was in charge of the Aid Fund
of the Party, and was Reichsleiter from 1933 to
1945. From 1933 to 1941 he was Chief of Staff
in the Office of the Führer's Deputy and,
after the flight of Hess to England, became Head
of the Party Chancellery on 12 May 1941. On 12
April 1943 he became Secretary to the Führer.
He was political and organizational head of the
Volkssturm and a general in the SS.
Crimes
against Peace
Bormann
in the beginning a minor Nazi, steadily rose to
a position of power and, particularly in the
closing days, of great
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