JUDGMENT DAY AT NUREMBERG

Chronicle (Levin), 1 October 1946, Page 5

JUDGMENT DAY AT NUREMBERG

Press Assn,

NAZI LEADERS AWA1T VERD1CT OF TRIBUNAL

By Telegraph

,-Copyright

Received Tuesday, 12.25 p.m. NUREMBERG, Sept. 30. A cold grey mist cloaked Nuremberg prison when Goering and the other twenty defendants were awakened at 6 a.m. for Judgment Day. A small army of heavily reinforced American military policemen guarded the entrances and armoured cars covered the approaches in elaborate precautions to prevent last-mmute attempts to rescue the prisoners. Sunshine soon dispelled the mist, ( but only the most optimistic prisoners could read into it a good omen. . T Xearly 600 orowded into the eoui't when Lord Justiee Lawrence began his review. Goering throughout the morning seemed serious and attentive. Iless, conipletely indiffercnt, was luisy amending some dociiment, whei-eat he alternately simled anc frowned. Ribbentvop was alert and Keitel stern. Sehacht eontinued to eonvev the impression that everythmg was most mteresting but of eoui'se no coneern of his. Von Papen s and von Neiivath s faees were masked in expressionless cairn. Fritschc looked frankly bm-cd witli the whole business.

Large erowds of Gormans queued up in the streets ot Xuveniberg as the accnsed Xazi leadei'S assembled in Ihe doek to hear their fate. Reuter's correspondent asked oue dennan whcther he was waiting to witness the iinal activity of the trial. The man replied : "There are niore iniportant things than that. NVe are queuing for tish. A s])eeial rntion of one lverring per head has arrived in Xuremberg. That is really big news. " During a short recess in the niorning, Goering said to his eounsel : "I did n ot expect they would go through all t his to kill lis." The blazing are lamps niade the courtroom so hot that the guard operated the artificial cooling j systein, whieh sprays water along { the roof and down the courtVhouse's outside walls. Tlie flowered liats and light veils of the women, the purple robes of the German defence lawyers and the llags ot Britain, Franee, Russia and Anieriea provitled splnshes of oolour in the somlire s'-ene. Short ly after the Russian Judge, M. Xitichenko, took over the reading of Ihe judgment from Mr. Justiee Biddle irnited States), lfess's faee paled and he. swayed baekward and forward, his eyes elosed and lips tigiitlv pursed. (toeriiig sjmke to Ihe guard and Ile.ss left Ihe doek. Ile returned later in Ihe afternooii, earrying a hook and blankel, and smiling broadly.

\\ ti i*ii M v. .Jusii e linuiie reau the words "erimes against internatioiial law are -ommitted by meii, not by abstraet individuals." Keilul and Jodl liung their lieads. while liaedor and Doenitz stared slonily aliead. As Mr. Justiee 1'arker fTnited States) reeoimted Ihe atroeities and wauton murders, von kapeu eovered bis l'aee witli his hands. Sauekel droj)])ed his usually amnsed look and appeared worried. Friek leaned forward as ihough afraid to miss a word Many ot ihe prisoners showed signs- of feeling the strain v.dien the eoui't adjourned after the longest day of the trial. Goeiing avus (idgetv and nervous. Von Sliiraeh during the last minutes of the session twisted round several times and looked at the eloek. After a soup breakfast, the aceuxed lunehed 011 soup, corned beef, ])otat oes and Dominy beet salad, and had supper of tish, bread and rof'fee. The Allied Control Gouneil has d"eided that tAvo uewspapormen from eaeli oeeupying power sliouhl be admitted to Avitness the exeeutions of the defendants senteneed to death. After ten nionths of good bchaA'iour, radio eommunieation failed just as the Trilmnal began its judgment. llundrcds of tliousaiuls of Avoi'ds of press messages piled up in the transmitting oftiees as sunspots blotted out reeeption. The Britisli military teletvpes from Frankfurt to London also failed. Lord Justiee Lawrence began the judgment by dealing Avitli the . qnestion of aggressive war and la aa* relative thereto. Ile recalled thVt Ihe law of the Charter whieh was dnawn up by the I>ig Four Avas binding on the Tribunal so it was not necessary to eonsider whethej* and to what extent aggressive war Avas a crimc before the execution of the Big Four agreement. The making of the Charter Avas a legitimate exercise of sovereign legislative powers by eounti'ies whereto the German Reieh surrendered unconditionally. Lord Justiee Lawrence then reviewed the history of the trial, going into details regarding dates and statistics. Lord Justiee Lawrence announced that the Tribunal declin-

ed to mahe declarations of ci'iminality against the German High Command and General Staif but the evidence of criminality against many of its members, as individuals, was "clear and convincing". The Tribunal also declined to mahe declarations of criminality against the iS.A. (Brown Shirts) and the Reich Cabinet. The Court decided that the H.A., after the purge of 193d, became relatively unimportant and also the Reich Cabinet, after 1937, was impotent and never really acted as a group or organisation. The Tribunal ruled that the 21 Xazi leaders were engaged in "many separate plans" to wage aggressive war and tlius Avere part of the giant German conspiracy. The Tribunal found certain groups of Xazi leadership corps. the S.S., ti.A. and Gestapo, to bo criminal groups Avithin the meaning of the Charter. The Tribunal held that aggressive war was a crime, that conspiracies existed to commit aggressive war, and that Avar crime? and crimes against humanity Avei'e committed. It described tlu evidence relating to the four maii charges in the indictment a? ' ' Guitc overAvhel min g ' '.

Regarding the General Staff ano High Command the Tribunal stated that the evidence oi criminality against many members as individuals, was c.lear and eonvincing. They wero responsible in large measure for the miseries and sufferings Avliich had falle.n on millions. They were a disgraee .o the honourable profession of arms. Wilhont military guidance the aggressive ambilions of Ilitler and his fellow Xazis would liave been acndemie and sterile. Although the militarists were not a group falling Avithin the words of the Charter, they were eerlainly a ruthless military caste. -Conlemporary German militarism had lloui'ished witli its recent ally Xational Socialism, as well as or better than past generations. | As for the constitution of the Court, said Lord Justiee lunvrence, all the accused were entitled to ask was to receive a fair trial on the facts and law in aecordance witli the principles of justiee. Lord Justiee Lawrence dealt witli the origin and aims of the Xbizi party and detailed the main points in the party programme. Then for the purpose oi' showing the baekground for the aggressive Avar and war crimes eharge in the indictment, he traced the groAvth of the Xazi party under Ilitler 's leadership to the position oi snpreme power Avherefrom he controlled the destiny of the whole German people and paved the Avay for the crimes eliarged against the defendants. The judgment, dealing witli measures for re-armameiit, deelared that the Xazi Governnient found the German armament iu dustry quite willing to eooperate and play its part in the rearmament programme. Dealing witli defence eontention that 110 laAv existed making aggressive war a crime, the Tribunal cited international agreements such as the Kellogg Pact and said the defence ignored the true uature of international laAv wliich Avas continually developing and adapting itself to the needs of a clianging world, as the wisdom and experienee of succeeding generations dictatcd. The Kellogg Pact, whieh outlawed Avar as an instrument of national policy, necessarily involved the proposition that such a war was illegal in international laiv and those Avho planned and waged such a wai with its inevitable and terrible consequenccs, were committing a crime. The Tribunal delined the criminal group as those members wlio became or remained members of the organisation with a know-

ieflge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the Charter or aa'Iio were personally implicated as mc-mbers of an organisation in the commission of such crimes. The declaration did not include persons aaJio ceased to be members prior to the beginning of the war on September 1, 1939. The judgment revieAved the acts of aggression and several times iiuoted the minutes of Hitlcr's secret conferences for planning war, to show that the Nazis' intentions were clear fi'om the start The Tribunal, answering criticisms of the use of .documents, stated that such documents coulcl never be dismissed as inventions, not even as inaccurate or distorted. Hitler in "Mein Kampf" tnade his views quite plain. The seizures of Austraia and Czechoslovakia were "aots of naked aggression". It was contencled by the defence that the annexation of Austria was justified by a strong clesire expressed in many quarters for a union between Austria and Germany but even if true, the methods employed were those of an aggressor as for an invasion of Czechoslovakia. It was clear Hitler never intended to adhere to the Munich agreement. . - The Tribunal held that the campaigns against Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Lnxembourg, Yugoslavia, Greece and Russia were aggressive wars.