Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-01-25
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Trial Of Nazis Historic
Attempt TO Outlaw War
Defense Attorneys Cooperate to Test Validity
Of Effort to Prove Aggression Is Illegal
Instrument Of Policy.
BY BAUKHAGE
NesDs analyst and Commentator,

mony which might tend to stir up
Ill will among the Allies.
As we faced the German attor-
neys In the press room in the court
house at one Of the conferences
which they requested, I could not
help feeling that they were ap-
preaching their job In . businessliks
manner and that they were not per-
uniting the fact that It was victor
versus vanquished to influence their
attitude. might add that some Of
the reporters questions were asked
with n1-concealed emotional motives
rather than desire to obtain in
formation. This always annoys
trained newsmen. They have no OBJ
lection when a reporter presses hard
for an answer or makes charges in
response to which he might expect
an explanation, but batting always
brings protest from the majority.
Finds Streicher
Out of Place
1t may prove to have been q mis-
take to include Streicher among the
prisoners. As one lawyer here put
it, Hes in too fast company" What
he meant was that Streicher simply
was not important enough in the
Nazi set-up to make him RESPONSE
BILE. He was perhaps chosen as
a symbol Of the particularly petty
side of Nazi Jew-baiting. The other
prisoners from the first have had
little to do with him. His newspa-
per, which was devoted entirely to
antl-Semitism, was an obscene
sheet and 1t went out of existence
when 1t was found that Streicher had
diverted party funds. saw his sheet
when I was in Germany before and
it was one Of those miserable at
tempts at satire which is simply
dirty and not at all funny.
This trial is concerned with more
important matters than Streicher's
sordid affairs and it is regrettable
that he was included with the others,
who, evil though they may be, for
the most part are criminals worthy
OF consideration by a respectable
court of law.
AS one of the members of the
American delegation said to me,
the real Importance of the trial
is. that it satisfies the allied peoples.
They must be assured that it is
conducted fairly and they must see
its significance. In Justice Jackson's
words:
"What makes this inquest signif-
cant is that these prisoners rep
resent sinister influences that will
Turk in the world long after their
bodies have turned to dust. They
are living symbols of intrigue
and war-making which have en-
broiled Europe generation after
generation. Civilization can af-
ford no compromise with the social
forces which would gain renewed
strength if we deal ambiguously or
indecisively with men in whom
these forces now survive"
When Justice Jackson spoke those
words ! was looking at the prison.
ers. AL were listening quietly. Sud-
denly Keitel began writing feverish-
ly. l am sure that he felt that such
intrigue and war-making' as he
had engaged in was perfectly legal
and proper.
To eliminate that viewpoint is
even more important than eliminat-
ing Keitel.
German teen-agers, one of the
greatest problems in the restora-
tion of law and order, are in some
places getting one phase of demo-
cratization - instruction in the
American national game. Reports
from Frankfurt indicate that in
many places American troops are
lending their equipment and are
teaching the Germans baseball,
This has been done spontaneously
without any suggestions from the
military government, which, how
ever, looks upon it with approval
OF course, the G.I.s well known
affection for children, for which the
soldiers of World War I were equal
ly famous, tends to put the emphasis
on this phase of determination with
the more youthful segment of the
German population. Naturally, any
perpetuation of the Hitler youth
movement has been stopped and
this leaves the boys, especially
those of high school age (since the
secondary schools are still closed),
with plenty Of time on their hands,
Getting them to spend their time
on baseball diamond instead of on
the street corners is bound to be a
! healthy move.
The commercial globesters of the
near tomorrow will follow trails to
remote corners of the world that
the war made possible. The giant
planes that will be able to carry
you and your friends from the
United States due east or west, or
north or south, and back to the
United States again, will have
weather information from hitherto
incommunicable areas, frequently
where weather originates. And the
planes will land on air-strips in