. NMT03-T0972
Volume III · Page 972
| harmony. Both indicate by inclusion and exclusion the intent that the term "war crimes" shall be employed to cover acts in violation of the laws and customs of war directed against non-Germans, and shall not include atrocities committed by Germans against their own nationals. It will be observed that article 6 of the IMT Charter enumerates as war crimes acts against prisoners of war, persons on the seas, hostages, wanton destruction of cities and the like, devastation not justified by military necessity, plunder of public or private property (obviously not property of Germany or Germans), and "ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory." [Emphasis added.] C. C. Law 10, supra, employs similar language. It reads — |
" * * * ill treatment or deportation to slave labour or for any other purpose, of civilian population from occupied territory." [Emphasis added.] |
| This legislative intent becomes more manifest when we consider the provisions of the IMT Charter and of C. C. Law 10 which deal with crimes against humanity. Article 6 of the IMT Charter defines crimes against humanity, as follows: " |
* * * murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated." |
| C. C. Law 10 defines as criminal: |
" * * * Atrocities and offences, including but not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated." |
| Obviously, these sections are not surplusage. They supplement the preceding sections on war crimes and include within their prohibition not only war crimes, but also acts not included within the preceding definitions of war crimes. In place of atrocities committed against civilians of or in or from occupied territory, these sections prohibit atrocities "against any civilian population." Again, persecutions on racial, religious, or political grounds are within our jurisdiction "whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated." We have already demonstrated that C. C. Law 10 is specifically directed to the |
