Evening star., 1946-09-30

planning WIN aggressive. WAX dS
the objective had been established
beyond all doubt. The tribunal re-
jected the idea that common
plan could not exist because Hitler
was a dictator.
Hitler could not make aggressive
war by himself. He had to have the
cooperation of statesmen, military
leaders, diplomats and businessmen.
When, with knowledge of his aims,
they gave him their cooperation,
they made themselves parties to
the plan he had initiated.
That they were assigned to their
tasks by a dictator does not absolve
them from responsibility for their
acts.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
The tribunal then proceeded to
deal with the war crimes and crimes
against humanity. The evidence
relating to these matters had been
overwhelming in its volume and de-
tail.
War crimes had been committed
on a vast scale never before seen in
the history of war. The majority of
them arose from the Nazi conception
of total war, and they were, for the
most part, the result of cold and
criminal calculation. Some of the
war crimes had been planned long
in advance. In the case of the
Soviet Union, for example, the
plunder of the territories to be oc-
cupied and the ill-treatment of the
civilian population had been settled
in minute detail before the attack
was begun. Similarly, with regard
to the plan for slave labor. the Ger
man government conceived the prof.
ect of exploiting the inhabitants of
the occupied countries as an essen
tial part of the war economy. Other
war crimes, such as the murder of
prisoners of war who had escaped
and been recaptured, then the muir
der of commandos or captured air
men, or the destruction of the Soviet
commissarS were the result of direct
orders circulated to the highest off,
cial channels.
With regard to the prisoners OF
war, article 6B, of the charter had
defined war crimes to be violation
of the laws or customs of war. The
judgment reviewed some of the prin-
cipal violations which had been
committed. Among these were the
bullet degree of March, 1914, which
ordered that on recapture every es-
capped officer and nonworking MOO
prisoner OF war, with the exception
of British and American prisoners
of war, were to be handed over to
the SIPO and sent to the concen-
tration camp at Mauthausen, to be
executed upon arrival.
Commands Ordered Killed.
The order of the 18th of October
1912, provided that all members OF
the commando units, even when in
uniform or members of sabotage
groups, armed or not. were to be
slaughtered to the last man, either
in battle, in fight or while attempt
ing to surrender. When Allied air.
men were compelled to make forced
landing in Germany they were some
times killed by the civilian popula.
ton, a fact known to the authorities
who instructed the police as a mat.
ter of policy not to interfere with
these killings and the minister o1
justice was informed that no pro.
ceedings should be taken agains
anybody who took part in them
But it was in the treatment of Soviet
prisoners of war that the worst in
humanities were committed. tn,
statement of Gen. Reinecke, The
head of the prisoner of war depart.
ment of the high command, datec
the 9Th of September, 1941, indicated
the nature of the treatment to bt
accorded to Soviet prisoners of war
He then said: The Bolshevist sol.
dier has. therefore, lost all claim Il
treatment as an honorable opponent
In accordance with the Geneva Con.
vention prisoners of war attempting
to escape are to be fired on without
previous challenge. No warning shot
must ever be fired The use of arm.
against prisoners is, as rule, legal.
Prisoners Left to Die.
The Soviet prisoners of war were
left without suitable clothing anc
the wounded without medical care.
They were starved and in many
cases simply left to die. The de.
fendant Rosenberg wrote the defen.
dant Keitel on the 28th of Febru.
ary, 1912. A little more than eight
months after the invasion of the
Soviet Union: The fate of thu
Soviet prisoners of war in Germany
is, on the contrary, a tragedy of the
greatest extent. A large part ol
them has starved or died becaus,
of the hazards of the weather.
There was evidence that prisoner
OF war were wantonly murdered
and tortured. They were made thu
subjects of medical expriments Of
the most cruel kind.
Germs Tested on Prisoners.
In July, 1943, when experimental
work was begun in the preprara.
ton for a campaign of bacteriolog.
ical warfare, Soviet prisoners O.
war were used in the medical expert.
ments which, more often than not
proved fatal.
For example, when preparations
were being made for the spreadine
OF an epidemic of typhus fever be.
hind the Soviet lines, it was the
Soviet prisoners of war who wer.
used to determine the most eff.
cient method of spreading tn,
plague. The fatalities among thu
Soviet prisoners of war were tn,
result of systematic murder on 6
very great scale.
On the 17th of July, 1941, thu
Gestapo issued an order providins
for the killing of all Soviet prisoner
OF war who were or might be dan.
gerous to National Socialism ane
the evidence showed how thoroughly
this had been carried out.
ILL-TREATMENT OF CIVILIANS
The second class of war crime,
dealt with in the judgment was tn,
murder and ill-treatment of tn,
civilian populations.
Again the evidence was ouits