 |
The
following excerpt from the report of
Einsatzgruppe "A" is extremely
characteristic as evidence
".
. . among our functions as the
establishment of personal liaison with
the commanding officer both at the front
and in the rear. It must be pointed out
that the relations with the army were of
the best, in some cases very close,
almost hearty, as, for instance, the
commander of the tank group, Colonel
General Hoppner" (L-180). 4.
The representatives of the High Command acted in
all the echelons of the army as members of a
criminal group.
The
directives of the OKW and the General Staff, in
spite of the manifest violations of
international law and customs of warfare, not
only did not provoke any protest on the part of
the higher staff officers of the command of the
various groups of the armies but were inflexibly
applied and supplemented by still more cruel
orders in the development of such directives.
In this connection it is
characteristic to note the directive of
Fieldmarshal Von Reichenau, army group
commander, addressed to his soldiers: "The
soldier in the eastern territories is not only a
warrior skilled in the art of warfare but a
bearer of a merciless national ideology."
And elsewhere, calling for the extermination of
the Jews. Von Reichenau wrote: "Thus the
soldier must be in full cognizance of the
necessity for harsh and just revenge on those
sub-humans, the Jews" (USA-556).
As
another example the order of Fieldmarshal Von
Mannstein addressed to his soldiers can be
referred to. On the basis of the "political
aims of the war" the Fieldmarshal cynically
appealed to his soldiers to wage the war in
violation of the "recognized laws of
warfare in Europe" (USA-927).
Thus,
in the course of the hearing of evidence it has
been proven beyond all doubt that the General
Staff and the High Command of the Hitlerite Army
comprised a highly dangerous criminal
organization.
*
* * *
I
consider it my duty as a Judge to draw up my
dissenting opinion concerning those important
questions on which I disagree with the decision
adopted by the members of the Tribunal.
Soviet
Member, International Military
Tribunal,
Major
General Jurisprudence
/
s / I. T. Nikitchenko
1 October 1946
364 |
 |
