. NMT02-T0877
Volume II · Page 877
and other inhumane acts were committed in a large scale measure upon citizens of occupied countries, prisoners of war, Jews, and other nationals. I agree further that the defendant was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, and took a consenting part therein. I also agree that for such acts and conduct on the part of the defendant, he is guilty of charges contained in count number one of the indictment.
The evidence produced during the trial upon the charges contained in this count showed conclusively that countless millions of persons were unlawfully deported, enslaved, and murdered. Especially were the Jews mistreated, tortured and murdered merely because they were Jews and their extermination desired. History discloses the fact that as early as the year 1349 in the city of Nuernberg, and within sight of where this opinion is being written, the citizens of Nuernberg drove the Jews from their city, confiscated their property, and erected a market place on the site of the Ghetto and the Liebfrauenkirche in place of the Synagogue. The hatred of the Aryan German for the Jew seems to have been constant during the many intervening years. History will record such conduct as a blot upon the name of the present German generation for many years to come.
(2) The Tribunal found the defendant not guilty of the charges contained in count number two, and I concur in such finding. Under the American concept of liberty, as brought to us by our Anglo-Saxon heritage and the English Common Law, every person accused of crime is presumed to be innocent until proof of his guilt is established by the evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt. This presumption follows him throughout the trial and until he is found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In applying this God-given principle of liberty, one eminent American jurist uttered the following words:
"After considering and weighing all of the evidence you then find that your minds are disturbed, your convictions tempest-tossed, and your judgment, like the dove of the deluge, finds no place to rest; the law says you must acquit."The defendant was given the full benefit of these great and lasting rules of law and has received at the hands of the Tribunal a fair and impartial trial in full accord with the American concepts of justice under the law.
(3) Count three of the indictment charges the defendant with crimes against "German nationals and nationals of other countries." I am of the opinion that sufficient evidence was not produced by the prosecution to justify an adjudication by the Tribunal of guilt as to German nationals alone. However, as to such crimes
