Evening star., 1945-12-16
Americans Fight for Speedup
In Prosecution at Nuremberg
b the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NUREMBERG, Dec. Is. ~ The
American prosecution is fighting to
present the Nazi war crimes case
to the International Military Tribu-
nal entirely in affidavits and docu-
ments in order to prevent the trial
from begging down in a long
drawn-out legal wrangle that might
last into next summer.
Even If there are no long legal
arguments, which have become more
frequent of late, the best guess here
was that the prosecution could not
finish its case before the end of
January. With 81 defendants and
six organizations each calling wit
neSseS, 1t was difficult to see how
the-defense could finish in less than
two and one-half months.
Qn Moscow, the Communist
newspaper Pravda criticized what
1t called the torrent of witnesses
which threatened to slow the
trial unnecessarily. An article
written by Prof. Alexander Train
in said documents were the main
evidence, and that the defense
should be limited in the type of
witnesses called.
(The defense witnesses should
present only pertinent testimony,
he wrote, and not, for instance,
testimony that Nazi Philosopher
Alfred Rosenberg carried on good
agricultural organization in the
East.)
Ego Of Defendants Jolted.
The documentary evidence itself
seems endless. After the grim evi-
dence of the past week, tstimony
about mass death has become so
commonplace that the mind refuses
to assimilate it.
One of the most amazing things
about the trial has been the testi-
mony of captured Nazi records DEM
onstrating that even the widest
tales which leaked from wartime
Germany under Hitler were in actu-
ality understatements of the mass
slaughter that was being carried on
there.
The constant flow of damnine
documents has jolted the jaunt ego
OF the defendants. The usually
jovial Hermann Goering has become
depressed. Hans Frank, quondam
governor of Polish territory, com.
planned Of Nightmares after a week
OF hearing himself singled out al
the instigator of mass murder o1
thousands of Jews and Poles.
Even some of the defendants ap.
peared shocked by the testimony ir
the record % mobile gas van.
which rolled up. killed hundreds o1
Jews and rolled on to new points
OF mass shootings and mass torture;
OF mass determination Of whole
communities.
Weeks Of WranglinE Seen.
Chief American Prosecutor Rob.
ert H. Jackson is trying to paint q
broad. historical picture Of the
growth of Naziism. But so compli.
Gated has the testimony in the Nazis
own records become and so vast the
crimes charged against them tha,
there is every prospect Of weeks o1
legal wrangling.
1T was feared here that II the
trial went on for months, with
drawn-out pickering over testimony
OF witnesses. the effect on the Ger
man people is bound to be one OF
confusion, If not outright boredom
The defense has objected to Mr.
Jackson's plan to limit testimony
to documents and aff1davits, and in
some cases has been upheld by the
court. The defense wants live wit
neSSes for cross-examination. and
claims affidavits tell only part of the
story. -,.
Mr.. Jackson has agreed that affi-
davlts are not as effective as wit
nesses themselves, but said the affi-
davits were necessary if the case is
to end within the memory of any
one now living"
~AAS why PAOoCCuIlOIl WITNESS CO
appear thus far has taken up two
days on the stand with direct and
cross examination, but affidavits
often take only two minutes to
present.
1t had been Mr.. Jackson's original
intention to outline the contents OF
documents and let the court con-
slider them in full, but the court has
ruled that only the parts Of docu-
ments which are actually read in
court would be considered evidence
in the record. This, too, has slowed
the procedure.
The American presentation has
been highly detailed in many cases
The American prosecution is anxious
for speed, but at the same time
wants to present full picture. On
the other hand the British prosecu-
ton covered q tremendous amount
Of ground in four days by wedding
out detail.
It is true, however, that prepara-
ton Of the bulk of the case has
fallen on the United States. Be-
cause Of the swift advance of Amer.