Evening star., 1945-10-18
Allies Indict "a Nazi Leaders
On Four Counts for War Crimes;
Hearings Expected Next Month
Document Filed
In Berlin Charges
Many Atrocities
BY ELTON C. FAY,
a.I v. c.R xxr-:.

Associated Press Stan Write.
The indictment filed in Berlin
today against Hitler's henchmen
charges a quarter of a century of
conspiracy eliminating in the
worlds worst war and the mass
murder of ten million people.
Specifically accused before the
war crimes court are "a individuals
CHermann Goering's name led all
the rest) and six organizations. The
indictment said the Nazi party, with
Adolf Hitler assuming leadership in
1921, was the instrument of cohesion
for the conspirators. 1t traced the
evolution of the plot against man
kind back to that time.
The accusers, who will prosecute
their case before the international
military tribunal sitting in the an
cient German city of Nuremberg,
were the prosecutors for the four
major powers-the United States,
Great Britain, Russia and France.
Arraigned on Four Counts.
The, text of the 25,000-word in
dictment was issued simultaneously
in the four capitals. 1t arraigns the
Nazis on four counts and documents
the charges in this manner:
Count one: The common plan
or conspiracy to overthrow the
Treaty of Versailles, rearm Ger
many, acquire "Lebenstraum" for
the Reich at the expense of her
neigbbors-and do this by any
means including force and aggres-
sive war"
Count two: Crimes against peace,
in which "all the defendants with
divers other persons" participated
in planning and then waging wars
against Poland, Britain, France,
Denmark. Norway, Belgium, Hol-
land, Luxembourg. Yugoslavia.
Greece, Russia and the United
States.
Count three: War crimes, en-
braced In the doctrine of total war,
which included violations of the
laws and customs of war, such as
deliberate and systematic geno-
eide" fthe determination of racial
and national groups). The indict-
ment alleged mass murder by cities
and districts in Russia, Poland and
the Balkans which totaled 9,465, 600,
and mentioned numerous other
cases wherein thousands" died by
gunfire and torture. Heavy stress
is laid on hostage murders.
Count four: Crimes against hu-
maility, in which all the defendants
are accused Of participating in Ger
many, in those countries occupied
by the German armed forces after
the beginning of the European war
on September l.. 1899, in Austria and
Czechoslovakia and Italy and on the
high seas. The crimes involved the
murder and persecution of any per-
son even suspected of being hostile
to the Nazi party or its plan of
European expansion;
Thread of Long Plotting.
Through the whole huge document
runs the thread of long plotting to
inflict on man the inhumanities and
on peoples the war miseries that
ultimately were used as means to
Nazi ends.
The indictments story of the de-
velopment of the war itself starts
with the decision of the Nazi leader
ship to overthrow the Versailles
Treaty, with its armament and other
restrictions on Germany, reached by
the conspirators soon after Hitler
attained control in 1888. The pro-
gram was pushed along until in 1897
the Rhineland was reoccupied and
fortified, in violation of the treaty
ard the Locarno Pact, whereupon
the conspirators falsely announced
to the world that Germany had no
territorial demands to make in
Europe.
But, said the indictment. plans
Immediately were made for the Sec
ond phase of conquest-Austria and
-4.e.iosiovakia.
An influential group of the Nazi
conspirators met with Hitler on
November S, 1887, to review the
situation" it adds. 'It was re-
affirmed that Nazi Germany must
have Lebensraum' in Central Eu-
rope. 1t was recognized that such
conquest would probably meet re-
sistance which would have to be
crushed by force and that their
decision might lead to general war,
but this prospect was discounted as
a sisk worth taking"
Czechoslovakia was seized and
Poland invaded two years after this
1887 plotting That started the
general war for which the Nazis
plotted.
The section on crimes against
humanity centers on the plan for
humiliation of the Jews. The ex-
tent to which that plot succeeded is
described thus.
"Of the 9,600,00O Jews who lived
in the parts of Europe under Nazi
domination, it is conservatively esti-
mated that 100000 have disap-
peared, most of them deliberately
put to death by Nazi conspirators. .
apparently some or all of the
lSee INDICTMENT, Page A-3.)
Souvenir unte