The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1946-01-16
BY RAUKHAGE

NUREMBERG. GERMANY. -
CHANGING back across the hours and
days spent in this broken city AZ
the tremendous effort which has
gone INTO the presentation OF the
American case at the war criminal
trials. one can see with aching elar'
fly the pi,itl Shortcomings OF hu,
man achievement in the spiritual
field as compared to our material
progress
The very court house is remind
er OF this strange Inconsistency OF
civilization. The beautiful renasei'
mento building stands In the midst
OF ruins which testify 20 the almost
unbelievable power OF the ma
chimes OF destruction. Among the
statues OF the worlds great law Civ
ers carved upon It's walls is that OF
Hugo Grotius. the father OF interna'
tional law. who lived in Holland In
the 18th century. II was he VINO
laid down the principle that ssgres-
sive war was Illegal by asserting
that there was q difference between
a Just war tof self detense) and
an unjust war.
Until now. In the middle OF the
goth century. no major effort has
been made TO enforce that prinei-
pie. Indeed. the tendency veered
sharply away from that concept and
only today I heard comment with
in a short distance Of the court room
itself echoing sentiments expressei
In American military circles TO the
effect that II was unwise 10 attempt
TO prosecute as criminals the Ger
man military leaders like Doenitz
and Keitel and perhaps Raeder and
Jodl. The argument which is SCI
forth and which is the heart OF the
military leaders case in this trial
was limited at In the words OF Jodl
when he made his plea that What
/ have done ! had TO do and l did
II with a clear conscience before my
people, my God and the world. y
It was taken then that the militsry
defense would be that the high offi-
GERS merely carried out orders as
the officers of any nation would.
jackson faced that issue squarely
at the very beginning and that IS
why he threw his full weight into
the argument that these men. all OF
them, participated In a conspiracy
to wage an aggressive war. And he
proved Il with charts showing the
organization Of the Maxi party, how
! II interlocked with the state, and
then how each step followed the pre-
ceding one toward a planned goal
Of aggression.
II the Americans win their case,
Il will be a great achievement and
one long overdue. for II has taken
nearly three centuries TO produce
a concerted effort TO write into inter-
national law the concept that sg-
gressive war is just what Grotius
said 1t was Illegal and that the
men responsible for planning and
carrying II out were criminals.
There exists universal condemna.
ton OF all the separate acts Of muir
der. pillage, destruction, enslave-
ment which war produces. Jackson
believes that this fact makes con-
domination of the thing that pro-
duces them sound and logical
II was very plain that when the
German defense counsel heard
Jackson's speech and later when
they, like the press. were almost
buried under the avalanche Of evil
dence in the documents produced.
they did not have a definite plan Of
defense to meet the allegations.
either general or specific.
Shortly after Jackson's address ]
learned to my surprise Of remark
Of one Of the leading defense lawyers