INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL (NUREMBERG) …

1 1 INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL ( nuremberg ) Judgment of 1 October 1946 Page numbers in braces refer to IMT, judgment of 1 October 1946, in The Trial of German Major War Criminals. Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL sitting at nuremberg , Germany, Part 22 (22nd August ,1946 to 1st October, 1946) 2 {iii} THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL IN SESSOIN AT nuremberg , GERMANY Before: THE RT. HON. SIR GEOFFREY LAWRENCE (member for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) President THE HON. SIR WILLIAM NORMAN BIRKETT (alternate member for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) MR. FRANCIS BIDDLE (member for the United States of America) JUDGE JOHN J. PARKER (alternate member for the United States of America) M. LE PROFESSEUR DONNEDIEU DE VABRES (member for the French Republic) M. LE CONSEILER FLACO (alternate member for the French Republic) MAJOR-GENERAL I. T. NIKITCHENKO (member for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) A.

2 F. VOLCHKOV (alternate member for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) {iv} THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS Against: Hermann Wilhelm G ring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Robert Ley, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Walter Funk, Hjalmar Schacht, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Karl D nitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Martin Bormann, Franz von Papen, Artur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Constantin von Neurath, and Hans Fritzsche, individually and as members of any of the following groups namely: Die Reichsregierung (Reich Cabinet); Das Korps der Politischen Leiter der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party); Die Schutzstaffeln der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (commonly known as the SS ) and including Der Sicherheitsdienst (commonly known as the SD ); Die Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police, commonly known as the GESTAPO ); Die Sturmabteilungen der (commonly known as the SA ) and the General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces.

3 Robert Ley committed suicide on 25th October, 1945. 3 Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Trial postponed by order of TRIBUNAL . {v} COUNSEL FOR POSECUTION For the United Stated of America: CHIEF OF COUNSEL: Mr. Justice Robert H. Jackson EXECUTIVE TRIAL COUNSEL: Mr. Thomas J. Dodd AASOCIATE TRIAL COUNSEL: General Telford Taylor ASSISTANT TRIAL COUNSEL: Major Hartley Murray Mr. Drexel A. Sprecher Mr. Whitney R. Harris Dr. Robert M. Kemper For the French Republic: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: M. Auguste Champetier de Ribes DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTORS: M. Charles Dubost M. Edgar Faure ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS (Chiefs of Sections): M. Charles Gerthoffer M. Delphin Debenest ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS: M. Constant Quatre 4 M. Serge Fuster M. Jacques Herzog M. Jean-Jacques Lanoire M. Henry Monneray {vi} For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Attorney-General, The Rt. Hon. Sir Hartley Shawcross, , , DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR: The Rt.

4 Hon. Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, , , JUNIOR COUNSEL: Griffith-Jones, , Barrister-at-Law Colonel Phillimore, , Barisster-at-Law Major F. Elwyn Jones, , Barrister-at-Law and Major J. Harcourt Barrington, Barrister-at-Law For the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: General Rudenko DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Colonel Pokrovsky ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS: State Counsellor of Justice of the 2nd Class, Raginsky Chief Counsellor of Justice, Smirnov Colonel Karev 5 Major Denisov {vii} COUNSEL OF THE DEFENDANTS For the defendant G ring Dr. Otto Stahmer Hess Dr. Alfred Seidl von Ribbentrop Dr. Martin Horn Keitel Dr. Otto Nelte Kaltenbrunner Dr. Kurt Kauffmann Rosenberg Dr. Alfred Thoma Frank Dr. Alfred Seidl Frick Dr. Otto Pannenbecker Streicher Dr. Hanns Marx Funk Dr. Fritz Sauter Schacht Dr. Rudolf Dix Prof. Herbert Kraus (associate counsel) D nitz Flottenrichter Otto Kranzbuehler Raeder Dr. Walter Siemens von Schirach Dr.

5 Fritz Sauter Sauckel Dr. Robert Servatius Jodl Prof. Franz Exner Bormann Dr. Friedrich Bergold von Papen Dr. Egon Kubuschok Seyss-Inquart Dr. Gustav Steinbauer Speer Dr. Hans Flaechsner von Neurath Freiherr Otto von L dinghausen Fritzsche Dr. Heinz Fritz For the Groups and Organizations: 6 Reich Cabinet Dr. Egon Kubuschok Leadership Corps of Nazi Party Dr. Robert Servatius SS Ludwig Babel Horst Pelckmann (associate counsel) SD Dr. Hans Gawlik SA Georg Boehm Gestapo Dr. Rudolf Merkel General Staff and High Command Dr. Hans Laternser 7 CONTENTS THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL IN SESSOIN AT nuremberg , GERMANY .. 2 Before:.. 2 Against: .. 2 COUNSEL FOR 3 COUNSEL OF THE DEFENDANTS .. 5 7 12 THE CHARTER PROVISIONS .. 14 THE NAZI REGIME IN GERMANY .. 15 THE ORIGIN AND AIMS OF THE NAZI PARTY .. 15 THE SEIZURE OF 17 THE CONSOLIDATION OF 18 MEASURES OF REARMAMENT .. 21 THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY AND AGGRESSIVE WAR .. 24 PREPARATION FOR 25 THE PLANNING OF AGGRESSION.

6 26 THE INVASION OF AUSTRIA .. 29 THE SEIZURE OF 32 THE AGGRESSION AGAINST 34 THE INVASION OF DENMARK AND NORWAY .. 40 THE INVASION OF BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS AND LUXEMBURG 43 THE AGGRESSION AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA AND 45 THE AGGRESSIVE WAR AGAINST THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST 47 WAR AGAINST THE UNITED 49 VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL 50 HAGUE 50 VERSAILLES 50 8 TREATIES OF MUTUAL GUARANTEE; ARBITRATION AND 51 KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT .. 51 THE LAW OF THE 52 THE LAW AS TO THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY .. 56 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against humanity .. 58 MURDER AND ILL-TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR .. 59 MURDER AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CIVILIAN SLAVE LABOUR POLICY .. 71 PERSECUTION OF THE 75 THE LAW RELATING TO WAR CRIMES AND crimes against humanity .. 79 THE ACCUSED ORGANIZATIONS .. 81 THE LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY .. 83 Conclusion .. 86 GESTAPO AND SD .. 86 Conclusion .. 90 SS .. 92 Conclusion .. 95 THE 96 Conclusion.

7 97 THE REICH CABINET .. 97 GENERAL STAFF AND HIGH COMMAND .. 98 THE 101 G RING .. 101 crimes against PEACE .. 101 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 102 Conclusion .. 103 HESS .. 103 crimes against PEACE .. 104 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 105 Conclusion .. 105 RIBBENTROP .. 105 crimes against PEACE .. 106 9 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 107 Conclusion .. 108 KEITEL .. 108 crimes against PEACE .. 108 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 109 Conclusion .. 110 KALTENBRUNNER .. 111 crimes against PEACE .. 111 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 111 Conclusion .. 113 113 crimes against PEACE .. 113 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 114 Conclusion .. 115 115 crimes against PEACE .. 115 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 115 Conclusion .. 117 FRICK .. 117 crimes against PEACE .. 118 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 119 Conclusion .. 120 STREICHER .. 120 crimes against PEACE .. 120 crimes against humanity .. 120 Conclusion .. 122 FUNK .. 122 crimes against PEACE.

8 122 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 123 Conclusion .. 124 SCHACHT .. 124 crimes against PEACE .. 125 Conclusion .. 127 D NITZ .. 127 10 crimes against PEACE .. 128 WAR CRIMES .. 128 Conclusion .. 131 131 crimes against PEACE .. 132 WAR CRIMES .. 133 Conclusion .. 133 VON SCHIRACH .. 134 crimes against PEACE .. 134 crimes against humanity .. 134 Conclusion .. 136 SAUCKEL .. 136 crimes against PEACE .. 136 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 136 Conclusion .. 137 138 crimes against PEACE .. 138 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 139 Conclusion .. 140 VON 140 crimes against PEACE .. 140 Conclusion .. 142 SEYSS-INQUART .. 142 ACTIVITIES IN AUSTRIA .. 142 CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN POLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS .. 143 Conclusion .. 145 145 crimes against PEACE .. 145 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 145 Conclusion .. 147 VON 147 crimes against PEACE .. 147 CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN 148 11 Conclusion .. 150 150 crimes against PEACE .. 150 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 151 Conclusion.

9 151 BORMANN .. 152 crimes against PEACE .. 152 WAR CRIMES AND crimes against 152 Conclusion .. 154 AFTERNOON 154 DISSENTING OPINION OF THE SOVIET MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL .. 156 I. THE UNFOUNDED ACQUITTAL OF DEFENDANT SCHACHT .. 156 II. THE UNFOUNDED ACQUITTAL OF DEFENDANT VON PAPEN .. 163 III. THE UNFOUNDED ACQUITTAL OF DEFENDANT 165 IV. CONCERNING THE SENTENCE OF THE DEFENDANT RUDOLF HESS .. 168 V. INCORRECT JUDGMENT WITH REGARD TO THE REICH CABINET170 VI. INCORRECT JUDGMENT WITH REGARD TO THE GENERAL STAFF AND THE OKW .. 173 12 {411} THE PRESIDENT: The judgment of the INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL will now be read. I shall not read the title and the formal parts. JUDGMENT On the 8th August, 1945, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics entered into an agreement establishing this TRIBUNAL for the trial of war criminals whose offences have no particular geographical location.

10 In accordance with Article 5, the following Governments of the United Nations have expressed their adherence to the Agreement: Greece, Denmark, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Ethiopia, Australia, Honduras, Norway, Panama, Luxemburg, Haiti, New Zealand, India, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Paraguay. By the Charter annexed to the Agreement, the constitution, jurisdiction, and functions of the TRIBUNAL were defined. The TRIBUNAL was invested with power to try and punish persons who had committed crimes against Peace, War Crimes and crimes against humanity as defined in the Charter. The Charter also provided that at the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the TRIBUNAL may declare (in connection with any act of which the individual may be convicted) that the group or organization of which the individual was a member was a criminal organization. In Berlin, on the 18th October, 1945, in accordance with Article 14 of the Charter, an indictment was lodged against the defendants named in the caption above, who had been designated by the Committee of the Chief Prosecutors of the signatory Powers as major war criminals.