dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. STEINBAUER: When the country was occupied and the Reich Commissioner took over the governmental power, he considered it his duty to deal with unemployment in the interests of order and peace. It was evident that this could not be achieved according to liberal principles, because even in countries adhering to the liberal economic order, the whole economy was directed to meeting the requirements of war conditions. Until 1943 the employment of labor was based on the voluntary principle. The defendant himself stated that a certain amount of economic pressure was used. He had found Minister Speer in particular very much in favor of his plan to transfer German undertakings from the Reich to Holland, thus enabling the workers to be used in their home country. In 1943, three age groups of young unmarried men were called up by the labor offices, but not by compulsion. When in 1944 the Reich demanded 250,000 workers, the Reich Commissioner refused, and this has been confirmed by Lammers. The witnesses Hirschfeld, Schwebel, and Wimmer have confirmed that the "man-hunting action" of the autumn of 1944, which rounded up all men of military age among the population, was a drive by the Armed Forces, for which the defendant cannot be made responsible. On the contrary, and this fact must be recorded here, the Reich Commissioner softened these measures by issuing 1,000,000 certificates of deferment and by urging proper transport, as well as by mobilizing the workers. And in this connection it should not be forgotten that the steady growth of the resistance movement rightly caused the Armed Forces to fear lest the massing of people in the southwest provinces might represent a grave danger to the occupying power. Seen from the legal aspect, it must be pointed out that the defendant was bound by the orders of the central offices within the framework of the Four Year Plan-that but for these orders and demands he would never have sent workers to the Reich, also that where even the execution of these orders represented a violation of the laws of humanity, he raised protest.
DR. STEINBAUER: In his actions the defendant upheld the laws of humanity. As to the Prosecution's next point, the so-called economic looting of the country, I likewise refer to the general principles I gave at the beginning. Raw materials were requisitioned from the very start of the occupation in accordance with the Four Year Plan with the help of the Dutch authorities, who thus were able to prevent unnecessary hardship. The defendant would naturally have preferred to keep the stocks within the territory of his own administration. When requisitioning had to be carried out, the defendant insisted on fair compensation being given and he also prevented the transfer of Dutch concerns, as for instance the margarine factory in Dortrecht or the Leyden Cold Storage Works. On the insistence of the Reich Commissioner, Goering promised that the Dutch people should not be in a worse position than German citizens and, therefore, as far as the defendant is concerned, it would appear that Article 53 of the Hague Rules of Land Warfare, if not too narrowly interpreted, had been adhered to. The report of the field economy officer under the Armed Forces commander in the Netherlands, dated 9 October 1944 (Exhibit RF-132), and of Lieutenant Haupt (Document Number 3003-PS, Exhibit USA-196) prove that the requisitions were in the first instance carried out by the Armed Forces. The latter points out that the whole position is made more difficult by the fact that Reich Commissioner Seyss-Inquart is still in the country, although to all intents and purposes he had resigned. This certainly shows that as far as it lay within his power, the defendant always tried to oppose or reduce hardship in this sphere of his activity. In a total war the removal by the Armed Forces of stocks of war material and rolling stock after the invasion, and when the enemy was approaching, is likewise in keeping with international law. The state of emergency created by the war called for the redirection of Dutch economy in Europe.
DR. STEINBAUER: Before the war, according to official statistics, 39 percent of the employed population were engaged in trade and industry, 23 percent in commerce and transport, and 20 percent in agriculture. Cut off from the rest of the world, navigation was at a complete standstill. To give an example-60 percent of the trade passing through the port of Rotterdam consisted of German goods. The highly developed agricultural industry was based on improved and intensive cultivation, dependent on artificial fertilizers from South America and concentrated fodder from Canada. We have learned from the testimony of Dr. Hirschfeld how relatively well Dutch agriculture and particularly the world famed cattle-breeding industry survived the war. This was only made possible by the understanding and collaboration of the Reich Commissioner with the Dutch administration offices and the support the defendant gave them. The extension of trade over the continent of Europe, practically the whole of which during the war was controlled by Germany and her allies, no doubt offered good markets for Dutch trade and industry. It was, therefore, natural that also as regards finance, the economy had to be brought in line with conditions in the German Reich, or rather in the European economic area. It was necessary to regulate the financial economy if only for reasons of price policy. It would exceed the limits of this Trial to state more details here. May I only point out to the Prosecution that the defendant had no part in fixing the amount of the occupation costs and was not even able to examine them. Only the civilian budget of the Reich Commissariat was settled by the Reich Commissioner and had to be approved by the Reich and audited by the Reich Treasury. In agreement with the Dutch agencies, civilian requirements were set at 3 million guilders per month, which was not exceeded. On the contrary, at the end of 1943, a saving of 60 million guilders had been affected, and this remained in the Netherlands.
DR. STEINBAUER: The lifting of the customs barriers in interstate traffic was justified by the joint price policy and could only benefit the Netherlands. Likewise the ratio of the mark to the guilder was also fixed by mutual agreement. A difference arose for the first time when the blocking of foreign exchange was lifted. Here the views of the former Dutch Secretary General, Trip, and those of Commissioner General Fischbock differed. The defendant, who after all was not a financial expert, submitted this important question to the central Reich authorities for their decision, and the Defendant Goering has expressly stated during the hearing of the evidence that he decided in favor of Dr. Fischbock. The defendant therefore cannot be charged with criminal responsibility, not even that of a culpa in eligendo, if in the place of Secretary General Trip, who had resigned, he now appointed Rost van Tonningen, who was a former commissioner of the League of Nations and therefore a first-class financial expert. The Defendant Funk has also testified here that he always considered the clearing debts as real debts. In the Netherlands Government report it is pointed out that the financial demands of the Reich amounted to approximately the same in all the occupied western territories and that only the methods differed. If Germany had won the war, the method employed in the Netherlands would have produced the result that the Netherlands would have had a real claim amounting to 4,500,000,000 guilders against the Reich. The whole question therefore is not a matter for a criminal trial, but rather is one that should be dealt with in the peace negotiations. Furthermore, an exact account was kept of everything. It even went so far that every time a member of the Armed Forces boarded a train with a free ticket, the conductor of the Netherlands Railroad Company always made a careful note of it.
DR. STEINBAUER: As far as the alleged looting of museums and libraries is concerned, as well as the looting of the royal property, to save time let us refer to the evidence which proved beyond doubt that the defendant was particularly mindful of the need to safeguard the world famous public art treasures and that he reduced any arbitrary demands of the Reich offices, if there were such, to a minimum. Insofar as any objects not essential for the conduct of the war, such as, for instance, art treasures, libraries, et cetera, were taken away, the defendant had no part in this. The few pictures which he bought for Vienna he acquired in the open market. As for the royal property, the instructions he issued were such that the confiscation of this property was no more than a demonstration. That this is true is shown in the Dutch Government report. The Rosenthaliana library which has been mentioned so often, did not reach the Reich, as the defendant had it stopped at Groningen after it had been removed against his will. The Arnhem case would likewise appear to have been cleared up by the witnesses Dr. Hirschield and Wimmer, and the report of the field economic detachment (Document 81). The Jewish question has also a certain connection with the economic problems. Before I deal with this main point I must make the position of the Police in the Netherlands clear. The Prosecution seeks to establish that the Police, and by that is meant also the German Police, particularly the Security Police, was under the defendant. This attempt falls short when it is remembered that all the signatories with the exception of the Soviets hold that the Police is actually a part of the civilian, particularly the domestic, administration. The situation in Germany was this: De facto, and not de jure, Himmler was independent, more powerful even than any other minister, although he was nominally State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior. The strictly disciplined and centrally directed SS was subordinate to him in his capacity as ReichsFuehrer.
DR. STEINBAUER: The Defendant Keitel testified on 5 April 1946 that from the outbreak of war the SS became more and more an independent power factor in the Reich. He and those who worked with him had no full knowledge of the extent of Himmler's powers, and Himmler and Heydrich had usurped the jurisdiction over life and death in the occupied countries by the frequently mentioned Fuehrer order. What was the situation in the Netherlands? l) The Fuehrer decree of 18 May 1940 already that the German Police was not part of the Reich Commissioner's organization, nor was it subordinated to him. For it says in the decree: "The Police is at the Reich Commissioner's disposal,"-which would not have been necessary if it had been a part of the Reich Commissioner's office. Thus even though the Reich Commissioner is the supreme governing power in the civil sphere, the Police is not a part of it. 2) In Decree Number 4 the Reich Commissioner named the administrative agencies so that the Dutch could clearly see how it concerned them, without being affected by the splitting up of the Reich authorities. With regard to the Police, that is, the German and Dutch Police, a second Commissioner General was appointed for security affairs (Higher SS and Police Leader). According to Article 5 of this decree the Higher SS and Police Leader has under his command: a) The German Police and Waffen-SS (For the Dutch this order of things was declarative, for the Higher SS and Police Leader was appointed by the Fuehrer on Himmler's recommendation, without the Reich Commissioner being consulted. Rauter presented himself to the Reich Commissioner as having been already appointed, and the Reich Commissioner would never have been able to appoint the commander of the Waffen-SS, which opinion is also shared by the Prosecution). b) The Dutch Police (This order of things was constitutive, because the Reich Commissioner was responsible for the Dutch Police). The Dutch witness, Dr.
DR. STEINBAUER: Hirschield, who was Secretary General throughout the occupation, definitely confirmed that Rauter was directly subordinate to Himmler, and that the apparent unity of the Police and administration, according to the decree, did not exist in reality. On Page 21 of his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe Raphael Lemkin defines the task of the Police as being the liquidation of politically undesirable persons and Jews, just as the main responsibility for the seizure and deportation of the workers in the occupied countries was borne by the Police.
THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a convenient time to break off? [The Tribunal adjourned until 22 July 1946 at 1000 hours.]
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal understands that the British Prosecution will answer on behalf of all the prosecutors with reference to the documents to be translated, relating to the organizations of the SS and the political leaders; so shall we deal with those first?
LIEUTENANT COLONEL J. M. G. GRIFFITH-JONES (Junior Counsel for the United Kingdom): My Lord, I am myself dealing with the documents for the political leaders, and my friend, Mr. Elwyn Jones, is dealing with those for the SS. Perhaps it would be convenient for the Tribunal to take the documents for the political leaders first.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: My Lord, I have spoken to Dr. Servatius, who represents the political leaders corps, and we have agreed on the documents which he should submit in his final book. I have had lists printed which show the documents on which we have agreed. Originally he has submitted six document books, with a total of over 250 documents, some of considerable length. We have agreed that from those a total of 90 odd documents should be included in the final book, and of those 90 we have only-certain passages-to be translated. I have a copy of the document books which have been marked, the passages on which we agree, and the remainder, of course, would be excluded.
TIIE PRESIDENT: What length will the document book be? Can you tell at all?
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Except that there will be about- nearly 100 exhibits, but they will be quite short, the majority of them. The longest, I think, is two pages, and the remaining documents are just short extracts, perhaps a paragraph or two paragraphs.
PRESIDENT: Yes.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: Perhaps I might say this: Dr. Servatius had included in these books a number of affidavits which we have excluded, because we understood the Tribunal desired affidavits to be heard before the Commissioners. He had also included a number of quotations from Mein Kampf. These, if the Tribunal agree, we have excluded, because we thought that the Tribunal had their own copy of Mein Kampf and it would save work in the translating and printing departments. For the remainder, much of the matter that was suggested was cumulative, and Dr. Servatius, I think, quite agrees that what we have put down now in Column A will meet his purpose. There are-I understand, talking to him just before the Tribunal sat this morning-there are certain amendments to this list which he desires to make. He desires to include in Column A Documents 50, 68, 69, and 162, which at the moment are excluded. My Lord, perhaps it would be convenient if Dr. Servatius and myself discussed the matter further, and perhaps you would entrust us to come to some arrangement about the inclusion or exclusion of those documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly.
LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: I do not know whether Dr. Servatius wishes to say anything.
DR. ROBERT SERVATIUS (Counsel for Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party): Mr. President, I agree with this arrangement, and these minor questions which still require clearing up I will settle with the Prosecution. The books will probably then be reduced to two. There will be two document books left.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Yes, Mr. Elwyn Jones?
MAJOR F. ELWYN JONES (Junior Counsel for the United Kingdom): If Your Lordship pleases, with regard to the SS documents, Dr. Pelckmann and the representatives of the Prosecution have reached an agreement as to 99 of the documents. It has been agreed that 22 should be excluded and, with regard to the others, some are to be included in toto, and as to the others only extracts are to be included. As to Documents 31 and 32, Dr. Pelckmann indicated that he was reconsidering his application with regard to these two documents, and it may, therefore, be possible that Dr. Pelckmann will have some observations to make to the Tribunal with regard to them. With regard to six of the documents, however, the Prosecution and the Defense have not been able to reach an agreement. Dr. Pelckmann insists that those documents are necessary for his case and it might, therefore, be convenient for me to indicate to the Tribunal the Prosecution's objections with regard to those six documents. The first is Document Number 69, which is an extract from a speech made before the first meeting of the Reichstag after the Nazi seizure of power by the Social Democrat leader, Wels. This extract states that Wels' party favored the plea for national equality and denied Germany's war guilt. I submit, on behalf of the Prosecution, that that extract is wholly cumulative. There is an abundance of evidence of that kind before the Tribunal already. It is in any event, I submit, not relevant to the SS case.
THE PRESIDENT: Germany's war guilt, at what time?
MAJOR JONES: With regard to the war before the last one.
MAJOR JONES: I finally suggest that if that document is admitted by the Tribunal then it would be proper, in the interests of historical truth, for the extract to be continued to include the severe criticism of the Nazi Party made by Mr. Wels. The next document is Document 85, which is an extract from the Voelkischer Beobachter giving a quotation from William Randolph Hearst's alleged statement to the Defendant Rosenberg on the 3d of September 1934 to the effect that when that distinguished gentleman was in Germany 3 years ago there was the greatest disorder there; today, the 3d of September 1934, under Hitler's leadership Germany is a country of order. The Tribunal will remember that this date was about 9 weeks after what even Himmler has described as the appalling murders of the 30th of June 1934. I respectfully submit that that extract is, again, cumulative, irrelevant, and, finally, is of no probative value whatsoever. The next document is Document 86, which is an extract from the Voelkischer Beobachter purporting to be an American athlete's impression of a journey through Europe in 1934. He states that he is satisfied with what he saw in Germany. Again, I submit that that is cumulative, irrelevant to the SS Case, and of no probative value. The next document which is in dispute is Document Number 96, which is an extract from a book by an author alleged to be an American which was, significantly, published in Germany in 1935. It is a long extract dealing with concentration camps. It describes a visit by the author to Oranienburg Concentration Camp, in which he refers to the modern sanitary installations there, bedrooms which are apparently as good as those of the American Army; the prisoners apparently ate exactly the same dinners as the camp commandants and the SS guards. The author says that they had three rich meals every day, naturally without luxury, and he goes on in that vein. I do submit that that extract is of no probative value whatsoever. There are, finally, two further documents, 101 and 102.
MAJOR JONES: Number 101 is an extract from an American magazine purporting to describe the result of certain experiments carried out by American scientists with a vaccine said to be immunizing. Number 102 is an extract from a book, An American Doctor's Odyssey, referring to further experiments with agents said to be immunizing and to other experiments in connection with the beriberi disease. The Prosecution does not, of course, in any way admit the truth of the facts set out in these extracts, but I submit that even if they were true they have only a to quoque relevancy and I submit should not be included in the documents for the SS organization. Apart from those documents, the Defending Counsel and the Prosecution have reached an agreement, and there is no more to say, My Lord.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to hear Dr. Pelckmann.
HERR HORST PELCKMANN (Counsel for the SS): Mr. President, I have to deal with various documents which have just been objected to by the Prosecution. First of all, I refer to Document Number SS-31 and Document Number SS-32. Documents SS-31 and SS-32 have to do with the question whether the SA and the SS demanded that students should enter the SA and the SS. This is a question which is highly important for the SA. The SA have not yet completed their collection of documents. I think these documents are going to be submitted by the SA, and I shall therefore put them aside for the moment. Up for debate are the remaining six documents only. Let us first come to Document Number SS-69. I should like first to say something in principle with reference to these documents. The documents do not, by any means, deal with the question as to whether what they contain is or was objectively true. They are merely submitted in order to point out how the readers assumed that real facts were being presented, and these facts were decisive for the opinions formed by the German people as well as, of course, by the members of the SS who are part of the German nation; just as they were for the opinions formed by a Party member or a non-Party member. They are documents dealing with the attitude adopted abroad or in our country. I believe that matters will have to be looked at from a different point of view in this connection than perhaps was done in the case of the individual defendants. The attitude adopted abroad cannot be relevant for the individual defendants, for the Prosecution assert that for the majority of the defendants it would appear to be evident that it was just these major defendants who deceived foreign countries. With reference to the masses of the population, however-and that affects the SS members also-what was thought and done abroad must be decisive in forming an opinion as to whether the Nazi regime is criminal or not. That is the general point of view which I think applies to all these documents.
HERR HORST PELCKMANN (Counsel for the SS): The first Document Number SS-69 is a speech, as the prosecutor has said, by the Social Democrat member of Reichstag Wels. It is merely to show that this Social Democrat deputy, even after the seizure of power by Hitler, agreed with Hitler that the Treaty of Versailles must be fought against. By that I do not wish to say anything about the justification or nonjustification of the Treaty of Versailles. I am merely trying to show what the masses of the people were thinking and what the followers of Hitler, who had only just come into power, were thinking, when even a Social Democrat agreed with the Party Program on that point. For that reason I consider the documents as relevant, and particularly for the SS, because they, just as all the other Germans, were influenced by such statements in forming their own opinion.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you mean that the document says that the Treaty of Versailles should be fought against by war, or should be attempted to be changed by negotiations?