dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. ROBERTS: And Keitel made the prophecy that Great Britain would not enter the war. I submit that Keitel's vital part, again, in the preparation for the aggression against Poland is clearly established beyond possibility of dispute. Jodl, as I have said to the Tribunal, was recalled on the 23rd of August, as seen in his diary entry, Document 1780-PS, where he says that he is recalled to take charge of the Operations Staff. He says: "Received order from armed forces high command to proceed to Berlin and take over position of Chief of Armed Forces Executive Office." And then "1100 hours to 1330 hours discussion with Chief of Armed Forces High Command. X-Day has been announced for the 26th of August. Y-Time has been announced for 0430 hours." And I submit that the Tribunal can infer the importance of Jodl to this conspiracy from the fact that on the eve of the war he is recalled to Berlin to take his place at the head of the operational staff of the Supreme Command. So Poland was invaded, and before I pass to the next aggression may I just point out that, according to the evidence of General Lahousen, if the Tribunal accepts it on this point, Keitel and Jodl were in the field with Hitler on the 10th of September 1939. That is in the shorthand notes, Pages 617 and 618 (Volume II, Pages 447 and 448). I don't suppose there will be any dispute that the head of the High Command and the Chief of his Operational St Staff were in the field. My Lord, I pass now to Norway and Denmark. So far as both are concerned we see from Document C-64, Exhibit GB-86, that on the 12th of December 1939 Keitel and Jodl were both present at Hitler's conference with Raeder the invasion of Norway was discussed; and Keitel's direct responsibility to those operations is shown in my submission by Document C-63, Exhibit GB-87, in which Keitel says that the operations against Norway will be "under my direct and personal guidance." And he sets up a planning staff of OKW for the carrying out of those operations.
MR. ROBERTS: Jodl's knowledge and complicity, in my submission, are clearly shown also from the entries in his own diary - Document 1809-PS. That is the second part of his diary. And the Tribunal will remember the entry of the 13th of March 1940, in which he records that the Fuehrer was still looking for an excuse for the "Weser" operations. That is the 13th of March, My Lord, 1809-PS: "The Fuehrer does not give the order yet for Weser. He is still looking for an excuse." And then, on the 14th of March, "Fuehrer has not yet decided what reason to give for Weser Exercise," which, in my submission, if I may be allowed to make a short comment, shows up in a lurid light the code of honor of the military leaders of Germany - still looking for an excuse. My Lord, then, as we know, Norway was attacked unawares; and then subsequently lying excuses were given. My Lord; the invasion of the Low Countries and Luxembourg equally, in my submission, is clearly shown by the documents to have been controlled and directed by Keitel with Jodl's assistance. The Tribunal already have a note of the conference in May of the lands to be occupied - Document L-79. Document C-62, Exhibit GB-106, is a directive, signed "Hitler," on the 9th of October 1939 and another directive, signed "Keitel," on the 15th of October. C-62 comprises two documents, the 9th of October and 15th of October two directives, one signed "Hitler" and one signed "Keitel" both giving orders for the occupation of Holland and Belgium. My Lord, Document C-10, Exhibit GB-108, dated the 8th of November, is Keitel's operation orders for the 7th Parachute Division to make an airborne landing in the middle of Holland. Document 440-PS, Exhibit GB-107, dated the 20th of November 1939, signed "Keitel," is a further directive for the invasion of Holland and Belgium. Document C-72, Exhibit GB-109, 7th of November 1939, the 10th of May 1940, 18 letters - 11 signed by Keitel, 7 signed by Jodl: "The Fuehrer is postponing A-Day because of the weather." My Lord, Jodl's diary is also eloquent on that subject.
MR. ROBERTS: That is Document 1809-PS. Several entries - perhaps I need not refer to them again relating to these forthcoming operations, culminating with the one on the 8th of May, which perhaps the Tribunal Will remember, when Jodl says, "Alarming information from Holland,'' and he expresses righteous indignation that the wicked Dutchmen should erect roadblocks and make mobilization preparations. My Lord, and so those three neutral countries were invaded, and I submit there is copious and overwhelming evidence that these men were in charge of the military organizations which made those invasions possible. My Lord, I pass now to the planning for the aggression against Greece and Yugoslavia. Document PS-1541, Exhibit GB- 117, dated 13th of December 1940, Hitler's order for "Marita," the operation against Greece, signed by Hitler, and a copy to Keitel, namely, OKW. Document 448-PS, Exhibit GB-118, 11th of January 1941: Keitel initialed a Hitler order for the Greek operation. Document C-134, Exhibit GB-119, 20th of January 1941: Both Keitel and Jodl are present at the conference with Hitler's, Mussolini, and others when the operations against Greece and Yugoslavia are discussed. Document C-59, Exhibit GB-121, 19th of February 1941: The dates of the operations against Marita are filled in by Keitel. Document 1746-PS, Exhibit GB-120, 27th of March 1941: A conference with Hitler, Keitel, and Jodl present; the decision to attack and destroy Yugoslavia is announced, and the Fuehrer said: "I am determined to destroy Yugoslavia. I shall use unmerciful harshness to frighten other neutrals" and these two soldiers were present when that was said. My Lord, I submit that on that the complicity of these two men for that aggression is amply proved. My Lord, I pass to Barbarossa Document 446-PS, Exhibit USA - 131, dated 18th of December 1940 Hitler's order for the Barbarossa operation, initialed by Keitel and Jodl. Hitler says, the Tribunal will remember, that he intends to overthrow Russia in a single rapid campaign.
MR. ROBERTS: Document 872-PS, Exhibit USA-134, 3rd of February 1941: A discussion with Hitler, Keitel, and Jodl re: Barbarossa and "Sonnenblume" North African suggestions. Hitler said, "When Barbarossa commences, the world will hold its breath and make no comments." Then, Document 447-PS, Exhibit USA-135, dated 13th of March 1941: That is an operation order signed by Keitel re: the administration of the areas which were to be occupied; showing again that Keitel was more than a mere soldier; this is civil administration. Document C-39, Exhibit USA-138, 6th of June 1941: Timetable for Barbarossa, signed by Keitel, and Jodl gets a sixth copy. Document C-78, Exhibit USA-139, 9th of June 1941, is Hitler's order to Keitel and Jodl to attend the pre- Barbarossa conference on the 14th of June 1941, 8 days before the operation. My Lord, on those facts and documents on the position of these two defendants, again I respectfully submit their participation in this aggression is overwhelmingly proved. My Lord, the last aggression is with regard to the provoked persuasion of Japan to commit an aggression against the United States of America. My Lord, there are two key documents; and both Keitel and Jodl are implicated by both of them. My Lord, the first is Document C-75, Exhibit USA-151, dated 5th of March 1941. It is an OKW order signed by Keitel, copy to Jodl. "Japan must be induced to take positive action as soon as possible" is a quotation from it. Document C-152, Exhibit GB-122, 18th of March 1941: The meeting between Hitler, Raeder, Keitel, and Jodl Japan to seize Singapore. That is the relevant extract on that. My Lord, on those acts of aggression and those preparations for aggression, I submit that the case against these two men is overwhelming. It is clear, in my submission, that there could be no defense open to them except that they were obeying the orders of a superior. That defense is not open to them under this Charter . No doubt all these wicked schemes germinated in the wicked brain of Hitler, but he could not carry them out alone.
MR. ROBERTS: He wanted men nearly as wicked and nearly as unscrupulous as himself. My Lord, I now pass very rapidly to the question of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. My Lord, it has already been proved that Keitel signed the "Nacht und Nebel" decrees, committing persons to incarceration in Germany where all trace of them was lost. That is Document L-90, Exhibit USA-503. There is one fresh document that I desire to put in. Colonel Telford Taylor put in Document C-50, Keitel's order as to ruthless action in the Barbarossa campaign. There is one complementary document to that, Document C-51, which is Exhibit GB-162, Keitel's order dated the 27th of July 1941: "In accordance with the regulations concerning classified material the following offices will destroy all copies of the Fuehrer's decree of 13 May 1941" that is C-50, the Barbarossa decree "in the communication mentioned above: "a) All of flees up to the rank of 'general commands' inclusive;" My Lord, that means that corps commanders and downwards should destroy copies "b) group commands of the armored troops" that again means offices of the armed corps below the rank of corps commanders should destroy the copies "c) army commands and offices of equal rank, if there is an inevitable danger that they might fall into the hands of unauthorized persons." That is to say that even higher generals, if the war approaches closely to them, should destroy these documents rather than risking any chance of their being captured. "The validity of the decree is not affected by the destruction of the copies.
MR. ROBERTS: In accordance with Paragraph III, it remains the personal responsibility of the commanding officers to see to it that the offices and legal advisers are instructed in time and that only these sentences are confirmed which correspond to the political intentions of the Supreme Command." That was with regard to German soldiers not being tried by court-martial for offenses against Soviet troops: "This order will be destroyed together with the copies of the Fuehrer's decree." My Lord, I submit that the anxiety on the part of the OKW, presided over by Keitel, to destroy that I suggest an illegal order; a barbarous order is significant. My Lord, I desire now to put in another document which is almost the last document in the bundle, UK-20. Your Lordship will find it flagged at the end of the bundle. It is from the Fuehrer's headquarters, 26th of May 1943. It says: "Re: Treatment of supporters of De Gaulle who fight for the Russians. "French airmen serving in the Soviet forces have been shot down on the Eastern Front for the first time. The Fuehrer has ordered that employment of French troops in the Soviet forces is to be counteracted by the strongest means. "It is therefore ordered: "1) Supporters of De Gaulle who are taken prisoner on the Eastern Front will be handed over to the French Government for proceedings in accordance with OKW order.... " And then I read Paragraph 3: "Detailed investigations are to be made in appropriate cases against relatives of Frenchmen who fight for the Russians, if these relatives are resident in the occupied area of France. If the investigation reveals that relatives have given assistance to facilitate escape from France, then severe measures are to be taken." My Lord, I offer that as Exhibit GB-163. My Lord, there is a document which I feel I should put in, which is the next document in the bundle. It is Document UK-57, Exhibit GB-164. This is the last document, I think, in the bundle. My Lord, it is from the Ausland Abwehr I believe it is from the intelligence foreign department.
MR. ROBERTS: It is to the OKW and it is signed the 4th of January 1944. My Lord, the heading is "Be: Counteraction to Kharkov 'trial."' Paragraph 2 is all that I read: "The documents concerning 'commandos' have been asked for and thoroughly investigated by the Reich Security Main Of lice. In five cases members of the British Armed Forces were arrested as participants. Thereupon they were shot in compliance with the order from the Fuehrer. It would be possible to attribute to them breaches of international law and to have them posthumously sentenced to death by a Tribunal. Up to the present no breaches of international law could be proved against commando participants." My Lord, I read no more, and I submit that that is clearly an admission of murder, not warfare at all. My Lord, Keitel's comments are to be found in the top left-hand corner of that document: "We want documents on the basis of which we can institute similar proceedings. They are reprisals which have no connection with battle actions. Legal justifications are superfluous."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that not at the top signed by Keitel?
MR. ROBERTS: It is typewritten in the of lice copy which is the original.
THE PRESIDENT: There is no actual signature?
MR. ROBERTS: No.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): How does it connect with Keitel then?
MR. ROBERTS: "Vermerk Chef OKW" that is "note of the Chief of OKW." Now, that is the first minute. My Lord, the second minute is on the same subject, and it is dated the 6th of January 1944; and there is a large red Keitel "K" initialed on the top of this letter, showing that he got it. My Lord, the first paragraph deals with two officers who were then at Eichstatt Camp in Bavaria. My Lord, there is no importance in that paragraph, because those two officers are still alive. The second paragraph: "Attempted attacks on the battleship Tirpitz. "At the end of October '42 a British commando that had come to Norway in a cutter had orders to carry out an attack on the battleship Tirpitz in Drontheim Fjord by means of a two-man torpedo. The action failed since both torpedoes which were attached to the cutter were lost in the stormy sea. From the crew consisting of six Englishmen and four Norwegians, a party of three Englishmen and two Norwegians were challenged on the Swedish border. However, only the British seaman Robert Paul Evans, born 14 January '22 at London, could be arrested. . . the others escaped into Sweden. "Evans had a pistol pouch in his possession such as are used to carry weapons under the armpit and also a knuckle- duster. Violence, representing a breach of international law, could not be proved. He has made extensive statements about the operation. In accordance with the Fuehrer's order he was shot on 19 January '43." Again I submit, that is murder. Violence representing a breach of international law could not be proved. My Lord, then the third paragraph: "Blowing up of the Glomfjord power station. "On 16 September '42,`10 Englishmen and two Norwegians landed on the Norwegian coast dressed in the uniform of the British Mountain Rifle Regiment, heavily armed and equipped with explosives of every description. After negotiating difficult mountain country they blew up important installations in the power station Glomfjord on 21 September '42. The German sentry was shot dead on that occasion.
MR. ROBERTS: Norwegian workmen were threatened that they would be chloroformed should they resist. For this purpose the Englishmen were equipped with morphia syringes. Several of the participants have been arrested while the others escaped into Sweden. "Those arrested are: Captain Graeme Black, born 9 May '11 in Dresden; Captain Joseph Houghton, born 13 June '11 at Bromborough; Sergeant-major Miller Smith, born 2 November '15 at Middlesborough; Corporal William Chudley, born 10 May '22 at Exeter; Rifleman Reginald Makeham, born 28 January '14 at Ipswich; Rifleman Cyril Abram, born 20 August '22 in London; Rifleman Eric Curtis, born 24 October '21 in London. They were shot on 30 October '42." Again there is no suggestion that there was any breach of international law. They were British seamen and they were in uniform. Then Paragraph 4: "The sabotage attack against German ships off' Bordeaux. "On 12 December '42, a number of German ships off Bordeaux were seriously damaged by explosives below water-level The adhesive mines had been fixed by five English sabotage gangs working from canoes. Of the 10 participants the following were arrested after a few days.... " Then there followed six names, six British names one an Irishman; a lieutenant, a petty officer, a sergeant, and three marines. "A seventh soldier named Moffett was found drowned; the remainder apparently escaped into Spain. "The participants proceeded in pairs from a submarine in canoes upstream into the mouth of the River Gironde. They were wearing olive grey special uniforms. After effecting the explosions they sank the boats, and attempted to escape into Spain in civilian clothes, with the assistance of the French civilian population. No special criminal actions during the flight have been discovered. All the arrested, in accordance with orders, were shot on 23 March 1943." Keitel initialed that document. That document, read by my learned leader Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe not so long ago, is Document Number 735-PS, quoting Keitel as saying, "I am against legal procedure. It does not work out."
THE PRESIDENT: Would you read the Page 5 which follows that?
MR. ROBERTS: If it will please the Tribunal, that is what I shall do. Page 5: "The Fuehrer's headquarters, 9 January 1944. The Chief of OKW has handed the Deputy Chief" that ought to be WSt, that is Jodl "the enclosed letter with the following account: "It is of no importance to establish documentary proof of breaches of international law. What is important, however, is the collection of material suitable for a propaganda presentation of a display trial. A display trial as such is therefore not meant actually to take place but merely to be a propaganda presentation of cases of breaches of international law by enemy soldiers, who will be mentioned by name and who have already either been punished with death or are awaiting the death penalty The Chief of the OKW asks the Chief of the Foreign Department to bring with him pertinent documents for his next visit to the Fuehrer's headquarters." As the Tribunal heard from my learned friend, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, when he read Document 735-PS earlier today, Keitel said, "I am against legal procedure. It does not work out." One can agree with Keitel after having read that record of what, in my submission, is cold-blooded murder of brave men, brave soldiers and sailors who were fighting for their country; and although this Trial has a record of the death of brave men, of The murder of brave men, there are few cases which are more poignant than those shown in the documents to which I have just referred. I have finished my presentation of the case against Keitel and against Jodl. So far as Jodl's part in the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity is concerned, he figures much less than Keitel. Of course, he had no power of giving orders or directives, but we see that he at any rate signed and circulated an infamous order of the Fuehrer saying that commandos ought to be shot and are not to be treated as prisoners of war at all. In my submission the evidence against these two men is overwhelming and their conviction is demanded by the civilized world. Your Lordships, Mr. Walter W.
MR. ROBERTS: Brudno of the American Delegation will present the case against Alfred Rosenberg.
MR. WALTER W. BRUDNO (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): May it please the Tribunal, in connection with the case against the Defendant Rosenberg, I wish to offer the document book designated as United States Exhibit EE. This book contains the English translation of all the documents which I will offer into evidence, as well as the English translation of those documents previously offered to which I will refer. The documents are arranged by series in the order of C, L, R. PS, and EC, and they are arranged numerically within each series. Your Honors will note that on the first four pages of the document book there appears a descriptive list of documents. This list is a tabulation of all the documents directly implicating Rosenberg, including those previously offered, and those which I will offer into evidence. Those previously offered are keyed to the transcript page of the Record, and to their exhibit numbers. The list is included in the document books. The list is included in the document books made available to the Defense. This list will gather together in one place all references to the Defendant Rosenberg which are in the Record up to this point. In order to avoid repetition, I will not refer to a great many of the documents previously introduced. The Indictment at Page 29 (Volume I, Page 70) charges the Defendant Rosenberg under all four Counts of the Indictment. In the presentation which follows, I will show that as charged in Count One, Section IV, Subparagraph D , Rosenberg played a particularly prominent role in developing and promoting the doctrinal techniques of the conspiracy, in developing and promoting beliefs and practices incompatible with Christian teaching, in subverting the influence of the churches over the German people, in pursuing the program of relentless persecution of the Jews, and in reshaping the educational system in order to make the German people amenable to the will of the conspirators and to prepare the people psychologically for waging an aggressive war.
MR. WALTER W. BRUDNO (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): I will also show that Rosenberg played an important role in preparing Germany for the waging of aggressive war through the direction of foreign trade, as charged in Count One, Subparagraph E , of the Indictment, and that his activities in the field of foreign policy contributed materially toward the preparation for the aggression charged in Subparagraph F in the Indictment and the Crimes against Peace, as charged in Count Two . Finally I will show that Rosenberg participated in the planning and direction of the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as specified in Paragraph G of Count One of the Indictment. Particularly, he participated in the planning and direction of the spoliation of art treasures in the western countries and in the numerous crimes committed in that part- of the eastern countries formerly occupied by the U.S.S.R. The political career of the Defendant Rosenberg embraced the entire history of National Socialism and permeated nearly every phase of the conspiracy with which we are concerned. In order to obtain a full conception of his influence upon and participation in the conspiracy, it is necessary to review briefly his political history, and to consider each of his political activities in their relation to the thread of the conspiracy which stretches from the inception of the Party in 1919 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. It is both interesting and revealing to note that for Rosenberg the 30th of November 1918 marked the "beginning of political activities with a lecture about the 'Jewish Problem.' " That statement is found at Line 2 of the translation of Document 2865-PS, which is an excerpt from a book entitled, The Work of Alfred Rosenberg, a biography, and I offer this book as Exhibit Number USA-591.