dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. THOMA: I consider it completely impossible to read anything about looting into this clear text. Certainly, in the East great quantities of cultural objects of considerable value were destroyed by direct military actions, or by wanton destruction, or looting. It would be a fundamental misconstruction of the true facts of the case, and a great injustice, if these losses should be charged to the account of the Einsatzstab and its chief, for his efforts went exactly in the opposite direction. In the West (I refer to the testimony of the witness Robert Scholz of 19 June 1946, Document Number Rosenberg-41), the case was different but, in my opinion, here also the defendant cannot be charged with looting and robbing objects of art. When in the summer of 1940 the inhabitants of Paris, with the exception of the Jews, had once more returned, somebody conceived the idea of searching the now ownerless apartments, houses, and palaces for books and libraries and of taking to Germany whatever of this scientific material was of interest. From various branches of the Armed Forces came the report that especially in Jewish-owned palaces there were collections of objects of art which one could not guarantee to remain intact in case of a long occupation. Thereupon, Rosenberg made the proposal that his Einsatzstab be allowed to direct its attention to objects of art and to take them into its custody, which was then ordered by Hitler. What did the Einsatzstab do with these objects of art? It set up an accurate card index containing the names of the particular owner of each picture, photographed the art objects, scientifically appraised them, repaired them expertly insofar as was necessary, packed them carefully and shipped them to the Bavarian castles of Neuschwanstein and Chiemsee. Because of the danger of air raids, they were then stored in an old Austrian mine. Rosenberg attached great importance to keeping separate the objects cared for by the Einsatzstab, and not to have them mixed with the large-scale purchases which Hitler made for the proposed gallery in Linz.
DR. THOMA: Was that looting, robbery, theft? Looting is the indiscriminate and wanton carrying-off of objects in situations involving general distress and danger. Robbery is carrying off by force. Theft is carrying off without force. In all cases intent must exist to appropriate the object illegally for oneself or somebody else. What intent did Rosenberg have? He never denied that he and his co-workers had hopes of the pictures remaining in Germany. Perhaps as compensation or as a security for the peace negotiations, but in any case his intent was only directed at confiscating and safeguarding the objects and it has been proved that the question of what should be done with the confiscated items was left open until the end and that no decision was made on it. It is absolutely certain that Rosenberg did not have the intention of 10 July g6 appropriating the things for himself or anybody else. If Rosenberg had been a plunderer of objects of art, he certainly would not have had exact notations made concerning dates and place of confiscation and names of the owners. As a precaution, however, I should also like to point out that because of the flight of their owners the objects were virtually ownerless, and that the question of the lack of a possessor and of the legality of their acquisition by Rosenberg cannot be judged by normal circumstances, but must be judged according to the extraordinary circumstances of the war. If the Prosecution claims that public and private objects of art were stolen at random, I should like to reply to the statement that only Jewish possessions, and indeed the specified ownerless objects were confiscated. Above all it is not true that state-owned property was also touched. Finally he did not act on his own responsibility but in carrying out a governmental order, and I want to ask that the fact be not overlooked that Rosenberg acted without any egotistical motive.
DR. THOMA: Not a single picture passed into his private possession; he did not gain a single Reichsmark from this transaction involving millions, and after all, all the artistic and cultural property has been found again. I would like to thank the French Prosecution for having acknowledged this fact here publicly. Goering supported the work of the Einsatzstab and, as he admits, "diverted" some objects for his own use, with the Fuehrer's approval. This disturbed Rosenberg because the Einsatzstab was in his name, and he declared that as a matter of principle he did not want to give anything even to the museums, that his task was purely one of registration and safeguarding. The Fuehrer should have the final decision on these works of art. Rosenberg could not undertake anything against Goering, but he ordered his deputy Robert Scholz at least to make an accurate inventor' of what was given to Göring, and to have the latter sign a receipt, which he did. Thus, most certainly it cannot be proved that Rosenberg had the intention of illegally appropriating the objects of art for himself or for somebody else. Furthermore, Robert Scholz confirmed that Rosenberg also forbade all his assistants to acquire any objects of art or culture even by virtue of an official appraisal (Document Number Rosenberg-41). The Prosecution says that with the Rosenberg Einsatzstab a gang of vandals broke into the European Mouse of Art in order to plunder in a barbarous way. If one contemplates the tremendous work of drawing up an inventory, of cataloging, of restoration, and of scientific appraisal, and if one finally bears in mind that all these treasures were most carefully stored away, and certainly came through the war better than would have been the case if the German authorities had not taken care of them, then I believe that, objectively speaking, one can use any term but that of "vandalism."
THE PRESIDENT: I think this would be a good time to break off. [A recess was taken.]
DR. THOMA: Rosenberg is also especially charged with looting furniture. He allegedly ransacked the contents of 79,000 Jewish-owned homes, among them 38,000 in Paris, and took the loot to Germany. Unquestionably, these measures were taken for the benefit of air-raid victims; in the cities which had been destroyed by air warfare new homes were set up for the homeless. It was in line with National Socialist mentality and it must certainly be morally condemned that the confiscation was limited to Jewish property. The essential question, however, is whether the confiscation was at all legal. In all my statements I have avoided trying to excuse a weak legal position with a state of military emergency, and I do not wish to do it at this point either, for, as an expert on international law states, "The state of emergency is the lever by means of which the entire body of martial law can be torn from its hinges." In this case, idles not the justification of national and military necessity exist, did not air warfare bring intense and general distress to Germany? One might object that such distress could have been ended by unconditional surrender. In my opinion, however, the above-mentioned justification cannot be denied to the defendant by this reference to unconditional surrender, entailing the Reich's abandonment of its own existence, its independence, and its own vital interests. The appropriation of enemy private property took place in application of a right of requisitioning, which was extended beyond the legal terms of martial law and justified by the state of emergency. I venture to assert that his procedure of confiscating furniture, in view of the devastating effects of air warfare against Germany, was not contradictory to "the customs among civilized peoples," "the laws of humanity," and "the demands of the public conscience" (Marten's clause in the preamble to the agreement concerning the Laws and Customs of Land Warfare; see Scholz, in the afore-mentioned book, Page 173).
DR. THOMA: May it please the High Tribunal, I shall now pass on to the Norway operation. The Prosecution characterizes Rosenberg and Raeder as the most energetic conspirators in the Norway operation, and later in the same matter calls Rosenberg a "dealer in high treason." The opinion of the Prosecution and also the assumption of the present Norwegian Government (Norwegian Report of 13 October 1945, Document Number TC-56' are obviously to the 10 Jul5, 46 effect that the Party's Foreign Political Office, of which Rosenberg was the head, and Quisling had plotted the war against Norway in mutual conspiracy. I believe that of all the charges against Rosenberg hitherto dealt with, none has less foundation than this one. On the basis of the few documents which have been submitted to the Court, in my opinion the case could doubtlessly be cleared up in favor of the defendant. There existed a Foreign Political Office of the Party, which had the task of informing foreign visitors about the National Socialist movement, of referring any suggestions to the official offices, and otherwise of functioning as a central office of the Party for questions of foreign policy. The special interest, and I may say the special sympathy, of the leading men of the Party and the State was directed toward the Scandinavian countries. It was specifically in this direction that the Foreign Political Office placed the main emphasis on the field of cultural policy. The already existing "Nordic Society" was expanded, the birthdays of great Scandinavian scientists and artists were observed in Germany, a great Nordic music festival was held, and so forth. The relations took on a really political note only with the appearance of Quisling, whom Rosenberg had seen for the first time in 1933 and who then, in 1939, 6 years later, looked up Rosenberg again after the convention of the Nordic Society in Lubeck; the former spoke of the danger of European entanglements and expressed the fear that Norway was in danger of being drawn into them.
DR. THOMA: He then feared) above all a partitioning of his country in such a manner that the Soviet Union would occupy the northern and England the southern part of Norway. Quisling again came to see Rosenberg in Berlin in December 1939. The latter arranged for a conference with the Fuehrer. Hitler declared that he would by far prefer to have Norway remain completely neutral and that he did not intend to extend the theater of war and involve more nations in the conflict, but he would) know how to defend himself against a further isolation of Germany and further threats against her. In order to counteract the increasing activity of enemy propaganda, Quisling was promised financial support of his movement, which was based on the pan-Germanic idea. The military treatment of the questions now taken up was assigned to a special military staff; Rosenberg was to deal with the political aspect, and he appointed his assistant Scheidt to maintain liaison. Hagelin, a Norwegian confidential agent of Quisling's, in January 1940 gave Rosenberg some more disturbing reports on the feared violation of neutrality by the Norwegian Government, and Rosenberg passed them on to Hitler. After the Altmark incident, Hagelin, who moved in Norwegian Government circles, intensified his warnings to the effect that the Allies had already begun to examine the Norwegian seaports for disembarkation and transportation possibilities; in any case, the Norwegian Government would be satisfied with protests on paper, and Quisling was indicating that any delay in undertaking a counteraction would mean an exceptional risk. Rosenberg again handed the reports immediately to Hitler. If he had not done so that would have been downright treason to his country. The German counterblow followed on 9 April 1940, and Rosenberg learned about it from the radio and the newspapers like any ordinary citizen. After his above-mentioned report, which he made in the line of duty, Rosenberg did not participate in either diplomatic or military preparations.
DR. THOMA: Should there still be any doubt that in the Norwegian case Rosenberg was only an agent who forwarded information to Hitler, and not an instigator, conspirator, or traitor, I should like to refer to two documents. First, to Document Number C-65, Rosenberg's file note concerning Quisling's visit. Obviously, it is the information on Quisling which Hitler had requested from Rosenberg. If Rosenberg had been on closer terms with Quisling, he certainly would have been only too glad to inform Hitler about it. Rosenberg had only heard of a fantastic and impracticable plan of Quisling's for a coup d'etat (occupation of important central offices in Oslo by sudden action, supported by specially selected Norwegians who had been trained in Germany, afterward having the German fleet called in by a newly formed Norwegian Government). However, an earlier report of Quisling appeared less fantastic to Rosenberg; according to this-names being given-officers of the Western Powers traveled through Norway as consular officials, ascertained the depth of the water in ports of disembarkation, and make inquiries into the crosssections and clearances of railway tunnels. This was the true and only reason for everything Rosenberg did in the Norwegian matter. The second document is the report concerning "The Political Preparation of the Norway Operation".(Document Number 004-PS, Exhibit Number GB-140), a report from Rosenberg to Hess of 17 June 1940. In this interdepartmental report there is also nothing which deviates from Rosenberg's own trustworthy statement and which would allow him to appear as an instigator of war and of high treason. Rosenberg was not called into any political or military discussion concerning Norway. Thus, what criminal act did Rosenberg commit? Was it criminal that he tried' "to gain influence in Norway" (Document Number TC-56), or that with his knowledge the Foreign Office gave subsidies to Quisling?
DR. THOMA: Finally, I should also like to point out that later on, after the operation had succeeded, Rosenberg was in no way entrusted with an office or function with 10 JU13'46 regard to Norway; that even the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for Norway was carried out without consulting him. I shall not deal with the case of Minister Goga, which I have set forth in detail, but I ask the High Tribunal to consider it as having been dealt with. Now I turn to the topic: Persecution of the Church. The Prosecution maintains that Rosenberg, together with Bormann, issued the orders for religious persecutions and induced others to participate in these persecutions. However, not a single order of that kind is known. There were presented only letters by Bormann, partly to Rosenberg, partly to others, from which no charges against Rosenberg can be drawn. On the contrary Rosenberg was repeatedly reproached, as on one occasion when in the presence of Hitler he praised a book by Reich Bishop Muller (Document Number 100-PS); another time when Rosenberg gave Reich Bishop Muller instructions to work out directives for thoughts regarding religious instruction in schools (Document Number 098-PS); once again when Rosenberg sponsored a strictly Christian work by General Von Rabenau. As a witness Rosenberg himself declared (Volume XI, Page 461) that he had opposed propaganda advocating withdrawal from the Church and had never called for state and police measures against his opponents in the fields of theology and research, and particularly that he had never used the Police for suppressing those who were opponents of his book The Myth of the 20th Century. In December 1941, as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, he issued an edict for Church toleration (Documents Number 1517-PS and 294-PS). Rosenberg had nothing to do with arrests, the deportation of priests, and persecution of the Church.
DR. THOMA: He had no part either in the negotiations with the Vatican over the Concordat or in the assignment of the Protestant Reich Bishop; neither did he take any part in measures which were hostile to the Church, and which were later carried out by the Police. He never participated in any other administrative or legislative anticlerical measures. In my opinion it is quite impossible, for lack of documentary evidence, to construe from what Rosenberg thought and said about religious and philosophical matters-which I will quote presently- that he conspired toward a political suppression of religion by force. The only document (Number 130-PS) pointing in this direction was withdrawn by the American Prosecution itself before I was obliged to draw attention to its being a pamphlet directed against Rosenberg. His book The Myth of the 20th Century, which is allegedly written for the reshaping of the denominations in the direction of a Germanic Christianity, is moreover chiefly addressed to those who had already broken with the Church. "No consciously responsible German," says Rosenberg at one place in it, "should suggest withdrawal from the Churches to those who are still believing members thereof" (Document Number Rosenberg-7, Document Book 1, Page 122), and once again: "Science would never have the power to dethrone true religion" (see as above, Page 125). His writings are not addressed to the faithful churchgoers of today in order to hinder them in the course of their chosen spiritual life, but to those who have already discarded their religious faith (Document Number Rosenberg-7, Document Book 1, Page 125). In his speeches he upheld the view that the Party is not entitled to establish norms in metaphysical matters which contest immortality, et cetera.
DR. THOMA: After he had been assigned to supervise ideological education, he said explicitly in his Berlin speech of 22 February 1934: "No National Socialist is allowed to engage in religious discussions while wearing the uniform of his Movement," and he declared at the same time that "all well-disposed persons should strive for the pacification of the entire political and spiritual life in Germany" (Document. Number Rosenberg-7(a), Document Book 1, Page 130). That in this respect, too, things developed along different lines is not due to the desire or influence of Rosenberg. Moreover, I need make only brief allusion to the fact that it is a question of the 1000-year-old problem of relations between the clerical and so-called temporal powers. The struggle of emperors, kings, and popes in the Middle Ages; the French Revolution with the shooting of priests; Bismarck's clerical controversies; the secular legislation of the French Republic under Combos; all those were things, which from the standpoint of the Churches... Mr. President, may I make a brief statement by way of explanation? I wanted to say that I have concluded this topic, that I do not wish to concern myself with the problem of Church persecutions any further. I have finished with it. I am coming to the topic of ideology and general politics. Ideology and education have been nothing but a means of obtaining power and consolidating that power; uniformity of thinking has played an important part in the program of the conspiracy; the formation of the Armed Forces has only been possible in conjunction with the ideological education of the nation and Party-so says the Prosecution (Burden, on 9 January 1946).
DR. THOMA: And continuing its attacks against Rosenberg, the Prosecution proceeds by saying that Rosenberg's ideas formed the foundation of the National Socialist movement, and that Rosenberg's contribution in formulating and spreading the National Socialist ideology gave foundation to the conspiracy by shaping its "philosophical technique." I think that one will have to take care, in judging Rosenberg's case, not to yield to certain primitive ways of thinking and become a victim of them: First of all an exaggeration of the conception of ideology and the inexact use of that concept. At best it was a political philosophy which was hand in glove with Hitler's political measures and which Hitler himself preached in his book Mien Camp, but it was not an ideology in an all-embracing sense. It is true that National Socialism endeavored to create a spiritual philosophy and an ideology of its own, but it had not reached that stage yet by far. Rosenberg's book The Myth of the 20th Century is an attempt in that direction, being a personal confession, without any suggestion of political measures. Therefore, his philosophy cannot have formed the ideological basis of National Socialism. In addition there is a total lack of proof that a straight spiritual line, a clear spiritual causal connection, exists between the conceptions of Rosenberg and the alleged and actual crimes. If one goes to the trouble of looking through the book, The Myth Of the 20th Century, one will immediately observe that though there is some philosophizing in the National Socialist way, it would be, however, pure fiction to affirm that there is any dogmatic formulation of a tangible program in this book, or that it is a foundation for the activities of the responsible leaders of the Reich in this World War. Another mistake of National Socialism was perhaps the boundless unification and simplification: people were made uniform; thinking was made uniform; only one uniform type of German was left.
DR. THOMA: There was also alleged to be only one National Socialist way of thinking, and only National Socialist ideology. But in spite of this, as we see today, the leaders were frequently of different opinions on essential questions. I will recall the question of the policy in the East. Here too, there seems to be danger of accepting this way of thinking, of observing everything through the spectacles of uniformity, and of saying: One idea, one philosophy, one responsibility, one crime, one punishment. Such a simplification, apart from its primitive nature, would certainly also constitute a great injustice toward the Defendant Rosenberg. Finally, when one hears how the Prosecution attacks "Germanic Christianity," the "heathen blood myth," making much of Rosenberg's expression, "the Nordic blood is the mystery which has superseded and overpowered the old sacraments," one feels inclined to close one's eyes for a moment and to picture oneself attending a session of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages where they are about to sentence Rosenberg to the stake as a heretic. Yet nothing must be farther from the Tribunal's mind than to harbor thoughts of intolerance, since here, in spite of all attempts by some of the prosecutors, it is not ideologies but crimes which are involved. In the Defendant Rosenberg's case it is a question of whether by his teachings he was guilty of preparing and promoting crimes. The Prosecution has brought forth arguments to this end, but have not proved it, while I can prove the opposite merely by pointing to Rosenberg's activities in the East. Had he been the bearer and apostle of a criminal idea, he would have had an opportunity, such as no criminal has ever yet had in world history, to indulge in criminal activities. I have stated explicitly that in his case it was just the opposite. So when the bearer and apostle of an idea himself has the greatest of opportunities and yet in practice himself behaves morally, then his teachings cannot be criminal and immoral either.