. NMT05-T1229
Volume VI · Page 1229
| governing body of Germany. This plan of operation was expressly
limited to the period of occupation "while Germany is carrying out the basic
requirements of unconditional surrender." (That period has continued since, and
still prevails.) Arrangements for the subsequent period were to be "the subject
of a separate agreement." (Declaration of Berlin, June 5, 1945, 12 U. S. Dept.
of State Bull. 1054.) In support of the foregoing arrangement for the temporary government of Germany, the President of the United States, acting through his Joint Chiefs of Staff, directed the Commander in Chief of the American Forces in Germany, in his capacity as Military Governor of the American Zone of Occupation, to carry out and support, in that Zone, the policies agreed upon in the Control Council, whose authority "to formulate policy and procedures and administrative relationships with respect to matters affecting Germany as a whole will be paramount throughout Germany." This document confirms and reinforces the supreme authority with which the American Military Governor, in his capacity as Zone Commander, was clothed by the Council. (13 U. S. Dept. of State Bull. 596, October 17, 1945.) In order to give effect to the terms of the Moscow Declaration of October 30, 1943, (9 U. S. Dept. of State Bull. 310) and the London Agreement of August 8, 1945, and the Charter issued pursuant thereto, (13 U. S. Dept. of State Bull. 222) and "in order to establish a uniform legal basis in Germany for the prosecution. of war criminals and other similar offenders, other than those dealt with by the International Military Tribunal * * * *"* the Control Council enacted "Law No. 10," December 20, 1945 (15 U. S. Dept. of State Bull. 862 (1946) ). This act recognizes many crimes, which are classified and defined in broad terms. It prescribes punishment for those found guilty, and provides that "The Tribunal by which persons charged with offenses hereunder shall be tried and the rules and procedure thereof shall be determined or designated by each Zone Commander for his respective Zone." * (Sec. 2, Art. III, C. C. Law No. 10, supra.) The Moscow Declaration and the London Agreement, referred to above, proclaimed the intention of the United Nations to bring war criminals to justice. To that end the London Agreement provided for establishment "after consultation with the Control Council for Germany" * of an International Military Tribunal for the trial of war criminals whose offenses had no particular geographical location. It was this court which tried Goering and other high Nazi leaders. The Agreement expressly provided that it should not prejudice the jurisdiction or the powers of any |
* Italics supplied.
