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XIV. CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGE HEBERT
ON
THE CHARGES OF CRIMES AGAINST PEACE |
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CONCURRING OPINION ON COUNTS ONE
AND FIVE
OF THE INDICTMENT* |
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Filed |
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28 December 1948
Secretary
General
for Military Tribunals
Nuernberg,
Germany |
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At the rendition of final judgment in this case on 29 and 30 July
1948, I expressed concurrence in the result reached by the Tribunal in
acquitting all defendants under count one and five of the indictment (the
aggressive war counts) but reserved the right to file a separate opinion
because the judgment on these counts contains conclusions of fact and
statements with which I do not agree and, in numerous respects, is at variance
with my own approach in reaching the result of acquittal. This opinion is filed
pursuant to such reservation.
In this proceeding involving the trial of
twenty-three individuals indicted as major war criminals, it is important not
only to pass judgment upon the guilt or innocence of the accused, but also to
set forth an accurate record of the more essential facts established by the
proof. The size of the record makes the latter difficult of achievement. As
applied to the aggressive war counts, while concurring in the acquittals, I
cannot express agreement with factual conclusions of the Tribunal which, in my
opinion, misread the record in the direction of a too complete exoneration and
an exculpation even of moral guilt to a degree which I consider unwarranted.
The record of I. G. Farbenindustrie, A. G., during the period under examination
in this lengthy trial, has been shown to have been an ugly record which went,
in its sympathy and identity with the Nazi regime, far beyond the activities of
the normal business the defendants assert such action to have been. Action of
the character in which most of the defendants, the responsible leadership of
Farben, were engaged during the period of preparation for and during the
subsequent waging of the aggressive wars of Nazi Germany cannot be condoned nor
should its relationship to the crimes against peace committed by the Nazi
regime be mini- [...mized] |
__________
* Pursuant to reservations
made by Judge Hebert at the time of the Tribunal’s decision and judgment
(section XIII above), this concurring opinion was filed in writing with the
secretary General of the Tribunals on 28 December 1948, nearly 5 months after
the judgment of the Tribunal.
1211 |
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