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Volume IV · Page 693
| defendants except Viermetz were members of
the SS, an organization declared to be criminal by the International Military
Tribunal, and that such membership is in violation of paragraph 1 (d) of
Article 11 of Control Council Law No. 10. The declaration of criminality by the
International Military Tribunal applies to all persons who were officially
accepted as members of any branch of the SS, and who remained members after 1
September 1939, with knowledge that the SS was being used for the commission of
criminal acts, or who were personally implicated in the commission of such
crimes, "excluding, however, those who were drafted into membership by the
state in such a way as to give them no choice in the matter, and who had
committed no such crimes."* This Tribunal will be presented with no refined questions concerning voluntary membership in the SS or knowledge of its use for the commission of crimes. The defendants in this dock were full time, professional SS men; the SS was their way of life. Of the thirteen defendants charged in count three, all but three of them joined the SS in 1934 or earlier. That these defendants not only knew of, but personally participated in, the systematic commission of crimes by the SS will be abundantly proved by the evidence. All of the defendants charged in count three were in positions of power and responsibility, holding high rank in the SS; four were lieutenant generals (Obergruppenfuehrer) and none was less than a major (Sturmbannfuehrer). |
| CONCLUSION |
| Civilized usage and conventions to which
Germany was a party had prescribed certain immunities for peoples unfortunate
enough to dwell in lands overrun by hostile armies. Today, we have briefly
outlined before this Tribunal the crimes committed by these fourteen defendants
in which man's dearest and most sacred rights were denied to hundreds of
thousands throughout Europe. These crimes represent but a partial fulfillment
of their genocidal plans. One shudders to think how Europe would appear today
if these defendants and their collaborators still remained in their positions
of power. From these defendants we shall soon hear variously formulated and developed apologies and excuses in justification or mitigation of their crimes. When they are heard, let this Tribunal not forget that these crimes were not of an occasional or casual character but were deliberate and integrated parts of the sinister program of genocide, a program to strengthen Germany at the expense of |
* Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, p. 273, Nuremberg, 1947.
