dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. FRITZ: Undoubtedly, Fritzsche sacrificed his own convictions and made many a compromise. This, however, he did not do where he thought he discovered injustice, violence, and inhumanity. As is fitting to a journalist, he examined with care whatever reports reached him from abroad. Despite personal danger such as beset those who would penetrate the veil of secrecy, he followed the news which came from within Germany itself. He did not permit himself to be put off with paltry, vague explanations. He reported many details. I merely refer to his visits to Glucks, Heydrich, and his investigations in the Ukraine. Wherever he learned about criminal plans, such as the Commissar Order and the inhuman plan to revenge the air bombardments on Dresden, he opposed them with determination, in the latter case even with the help of a foreign ambassador. And he was successful, too, as these two conspicuous examples show. He did this because he followed the voice of his conscience. He did not first engage in lengthy deliberations as to the pros and cons. With regard to the Commissar Order he merely had heard of it as a soldier-he had never read it, nor did he know whether it actually was carried into practice at any time-and he at once raised a protest. When Goebbels ordered him to announce a mass murder of Allied fliers, he did not mind incurring the anger and the fury of his Minister. Dr. Scharping described this in detail (Document Number Fritzsche-3). When he learned of cruelties in the concentration camp at Oranienburg, he protested. The culprits were punished at that time. Dr. Scharping's affidavits (Document Number Fritzsche-2) which I submitted, and others, prove his implicit willingness to assist those who were persecuted, for political or racial reasons, when they appealed to him. Significant of his tolerance is the fact that he made possible the continued publication of the Frankfurter Zeitung (Document Number Fritzsche-5).
DR. FRITZ: Other proofs along that line, which are also submitted with my Document Book 2, are not negligible, and in the very case of Fritzsche certainly cannot simply be passed over with the comment that he cold-bloodedly handed men over to their death (Prosecution Address of 23 January 1946). He was not willing to sacrifice his dignity as a human being to false idealism, nor for the sake of an oath he had taken. While the Prosecution have tried to darken the picture, I can point to brighter spots-namely, those which picture him as the representative of propaganda. Was he a liar-perhaps a notorious liar? That Goebbels was one became clear by the revelations of this Trial. And as it was wrongly assumed that Fritzsche was his right-hand man, the implication was, of course, that Fritzsche had the same attributes. This assumption should now clearly be refuted. It is my conviction that, had not Goebbels evaded his responsibility by seeking a way out through death, we should not see Fritzsche in the dock here as representative of the Propaganda Ministry. The further assumption that all collaborators of Goebbels must wittingly have made use of lies, too, is unjustified. It would only be justified if it had been established here that Fritzsche was in a position to grasp all the real and deep-lying connection and causalities. But only this Trial made that possible. Fritzsche remained entangled in error like millions of other Germans. Glaring abuses were to be seen everywhere. Fritzsche was not unaware of them. Indeed, he has declined to be characterized before this Tribunal as an opponent of Nazism. He does, however, claim for himself to have opposed abuses insofar as he could recognize them. This entitles him to be put on a higher moral plane. Neither was he a zealot or a fanatic, obsessed by one idea or by the adoration of power and success, and inaccessible to criticism. Of course, it was a sin, indeed the grievous sin against the spirit, to have continued to serve the system. The decisive point is, however, whether he was in a position to detect more than mere abuses.
DR. FRITZ: Falsehood was already built into the foundation, and anything built upon that was bound to be deceitful. It was not only the "thousand-door ministry," as it was once called, that was poisoned. The real reason why everything in Germany was poisoned by falsehood could best be detected by those who lived in a purer atmosphere. Fritzsche did not keep immune from the phraseology; but he used it perhaps with better taste than many others. He was in a position to state here-and this is no mere empty phrase-that he has always acted fairly and honorably in every respect in his professional work. Dr. Scharping, too, has emphasized this in his affidavit. Is this not an indication that he really did not detect that the whole foundation upon which his work was built up was hollow and deceitful? Mad he been a professional liar, he would not have been interested in doing clean, honest work, in checking foreign reports, and in all that which induced him to find a truthful basis for the press and radio. The Prosecution have laid stress upon his rise in the Propaganda Ministry. Did they mean to imply thereby that he was particularly qualified as a liar? Actually, his career-however modest it was, compared to that of Hitler's other vassals-has quite a different foundation as has also been clearly determined here. He got ahead only because he was qualified as a journalist, as an expert, not because he was particularly good at lying, but because he had a better command of speech than many others. As proved by the affidavits of Dr. Scharping and Frau Kruger (Document Number Fritzsche-8) Fritzsche lived on a modest scale. During his activity in the Propaganda Ministry he gathered no riches, possessed no luxurious dwelling; nor would he have accepted any presents. The Prosecution, moreover, made no claims to the contrary. It therefore does not appear astonishing that those who had not only heard his voice on the radio but also knew him personally should have emphasized his humane qualities. Dr.
DR. FRITZ: Scharping declares in his affidavit, "it was considered a distinction to be allowed to work with him." Is it in keeping with human experience that a man who lies could have won such respect? I believe human esteem can only  be won by an honest character. Those who are in daily intercourse with a person can find out whether he is a liar or not. And if his speech does not betray him, then his eyes will. There may be many possibilities to clarify the contradiction that somebody who has co-operated in the propaganda of the Third Reich is nevertheless honest and a lover of truth. The most immediate explanation is probably that which can well be taken from Fritzsche's own remark, which I repeat here: He said he felt-and this may well be significant for the verdict if not for history-that he, too, was deceived by Hitler. Before this Tribunal Fritzsche has not only defended himself but the German people as well. To what extent he himself is responsible to the German people for the fact that he, again and again' and till the end, urged them to see the war through, is not a matter to be decided here. Even though Fritzsche may not, like others, have realized at an earlier date that he was serving . an evil cause, or although he may not have divorced himself from the state leadership because he wanted to shore the cup of bitterness with the German nation to the last dregs, he is not guilty in the sense of the Indictment brought against him before this Tribunal. I ask for his acquittal.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn until 2 o'clock. [The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.] Afternoon Session
MARSHAL: May it please the Tribunal, the Defendants Streicher and Raeder are absent.
THE PRESIDENT: The following is the order of the procedure to be followed in the cases against the organizations: Paragraph 1: The Tribunal draws the attention of counsel for the organizations to the order of July 1st, which directed that any of the evidence taken on commission which counsel for the Defense or the Prosecution wish to use should be offered in evidence and thus become part of the record, subject to any objections. It will be convenient to the Tribunal, if it is desired, to offer the whole of the evidence at the outset of the proceedings. Paragraph 2: The counsel for the Defense will then put in their document books, subject to any objections. Paragraph 3: The witnesses for the Defense will then be called and examined by defense counsel who will bring out the matters they regard as important, given in evidence before the Commission, and any new relevant matters. Each organization will be dealt with in turn, and the whole of the evidence for that organization, both examination and cross-examination, heard before dealing with the next organization. Paragraph 4: Counsel for each organization will then make his closing speech, dealing with the evidence given before the Tribunal, and making the necessary references to the documents introduced in evidence. He will also draw the attention of the Tribunal to the matters contained in the evidence given before the Commissioners and in the summaries of the affidavits which he deems important and which he wishes the Tribunal specially to consider. Paragraph 5: The Counsel for the Prosecution will reply when all the speeches of the defense counsels have been made. Paragraph6: The Tribunal is of the opinion that the closing speeches of counsel for the Prosecution and Defense ought to be short, not exceeding one-half day in each case. If this time is thought likely to be exceeded, a special application must be made to the Tribunal, stating the grounds for such extension of time, not later than Monday next, July 29th. That is all. I call on Doctor Seidl for the Defendant Hess.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): Mr. President, Honorable Judges. Before beginning with the final plea for the Defendant Hess, I beg permission of the Tribunal to represent the defense counsel for Defendant Goring and submit on his behalf two exhibits. Both have been allowed by the Tribunal, and they refer to the Katyn case, that is to say, the question of ~3 the murder of 11,000 Polish officers in the neighborhood of Smolensk. me first is Exhibit Number Goring-60, an extract from the German White Book, referring to the report on the post-mortem examination conducted by the Bulgarian Professor Borotin. The second is Exhibit Number Goring-61, which is also an extract from the German White Book, and refers to the Katyn case. It is the report of the International Medical Commission of 30 April 1943. Mr. President, Honorable Judges: When the German people, having lost the first World War, set out in 1919 to rebuild their public life on democratic principles, they found themselves facing difficulties which were caused not merely by the war itself and the material loss resulting therefrom. The Defendant Rudolf Hess was among the first comrades-in-arms of Adolf Hitler and belonged to those who time and again reminded the German people of the great dangers which would of necessity arise for Germany's domestic economy and for world economy as the result of the reparations policy of the victor states of 1919. The consequences of that policy were bound to be all the more devastating for Germany when in 1923 France proceeded to effect the military occupation of the Ruhr territory, the center of Germany's economic power. At that time of economic collapse and complete disarmament of Germany, Adolf Hitler made the first attempt on 9 November 1923 to seize the power of the state by revolution. The Defendant Rudolf Hess also took part in the march to the Feldherenhalle in Munich. Together with Adolf Hitler, after having been convicted by the People's Court, he underwent imprisonment at Landsberg Fortress, where Hitler wrote his book Mein Kampf.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): When in 1925 the Party was established again, Rudolf Hess was one of the first to resume with Adolf Hitler the struggle for a national rebirth of the German people. During the first years after its rebirth the Party began its slow ascent. Germany's domestic economy had recovered from the worst effects of the Ruhr invasion. The currency had been stabilized and owing to very extensive foreign credits it had even been possible to bring about an economic boom. Very soon, however, it was revealed that the economic progress of the years 1927-29 in reality was but an illusory prosperity for which in Germany, at any rate, there was no foundation in a sound and well-balanced national economy. It is true that the economic crisis which began in 1930 was a general crisis in world economy and that the decline which Germany experienced at that time was but a part of the general disintegration in world economy. It is just as certain, however, that it was not a question here simply of a seasonal decline within the capitalist economy-such as had been experienced repeatedly by individual commercial economies of states and by world economy-but a case, in this instance, of structural changes owing to different causes, one of the most important of which, however, undoubtedly was the disruption in the exchange of products and legal tender caused by the unreasonable reparations policy. It is just as certain that the consequences of the crisis in world economy were devastating in Germany, 7 million having been thrown out of work, because the changes brought about in the national economy as a result of reparations payments were farreaching.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): If, however, the National Socialist German Workers' Party won a major electoral victory in the Reichstag elections of 14 September 1930 and entered the new Reichstag with no less than 107 delegates, it is to be attributed to the economic crisis then prevailing, to the great unemployment, and indirectly to the economic absurdity of the reparation payments and the refusal of the victorious states to consent to a new arrangement despite the most urgent warnings. True, the reparation payments stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles and the mode of settlement were amended by the Dawes and Young Plans. It is, however, just as true that these amendments came too late and demands were continued for payments from Germany to an extent and under conditions which were bound to, and did in fact, lead to an economic catastrophe. In this connection I must point to the following fact: the Prosecution have produced an extensive amount of documentary evidence in reference to the rise of the NSDAP until its seizure of power. A comparison of the Reichstag representatives in the years from 1930 to 1932 with the unemployment figures for the same period would disclose that these figures ran parallel. The more hopeless the social consequences of unemployment became-and in 1932 no less than 25 million people including family members may be estimated to have been affected by the consequences of unemployment-the more impressive became the electoral successes of the National Socialists. I hardly think there could be a more convincing proof of the existence of a causal relation between the consequences of the reparation policy of the victorious powers of 1919 and the rise of National Socialism. The causal relation may be summed up in a short formula: No Versailles Treaty, no reparations-no reparations, no economic collapse with its particularly catastrophic effects upon Germany, which found expression in an unemployment figure of nearly 7 millions-and without this collapse, no seizure of power by the National Socialists.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): The political and historical responsibility of the authoritative foreign statesmen resulting from this causal connection is so crystal-clear that further demonstrations of it are superfluous in the framework of this Trial. This formula may appear too pointed and it may furthermore be true that it was not the economic emergency and the high unemployment figure alone which induced millions of Germans to vote National Socialist on 14 September 1930 for the first time and which led to the subsequent progress of the Party's rise to power. Nevertheless, these causes were assuredly among the foremost, and even the other causes which played a part in the decision of many voters can finally be traced back to the fatal effects of the Treaty of Versailles and refusal of the victorious powers, especially France, to consent to a revision of the treaty. This applies in the first place to the claim for equality of rights raised by all subsequent democratic governments. When the German nation had disarmed in fulfillment of the Versailles Treaty, it was entitled to expect the victorious powers to disarm also, in accordance with the obligation assumed by them in the treaty. This was not carried out and there can be no doubt that their denial of the equality of rights as evidenced by their refusal to disarm themselves figures among the most decisive causes of the rise of National Socialism in the years 1931 and 1932. And if any of Hitler's arguments ever found a response in the German nation, it was that equality of rights could not be denied in the course of time, even after a lost war, to a nation like the German nation, with a population of over 75 millions, situated in the heart of Europe and with a cultural past of which few other nations can boast. It has already been remarked in this courtroom that a nation which has produced a Luther, a Goethe, and a Beethoven cannot be indefinitely treated as a minor nation.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): Again and again Hitler had occasion to remark upon the fact that the statesmen of the Weimar Republic left no method untried to arrive at a peaceful revision of the more unbearable clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. For 8 years the statesmen of democratic Germany, Stresemann and Bruning, went to Geneva to obtain at last the repeatedly promised equality of rights for Germany and they were repeatedly sent home with empty hands. The dangers produced by this situation could not remain concealed from anyone. In fact, the world was warned by German statesmen, as well as by shrewd politicians of Germany's former enemies. All these warnings were scattered to the winds. , When finally in 1932 the National Socialist Party with 230 seats in the Reichstag had become by far the strongest party in Germany, it could only be a question of time until Hitler and his Party would be entrusted with the taking over of government leadership. In the long run this could be avoided all the less since the previous Governments of Herr Von Papen and General Schleicher had no appreciable following in the Reichstag at their disposal and exercised their governmental authority exclusively by the means of emergency decrees in accordance with Article 48 of the Weimar Reich Constitution. When, on 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was actually appointed Reich Chancellor by Reich President Von Hindenburg and was entrusted with the formation of a new cabinet, this was done altogether according to the clauses of the Reich Constitution. At the Reichstag election in 1932 the National Socialist Party received more votes than had been received by any party since the beginning of the German Reich. If the leader of this strongest party was entrusted with the formation of the cabinet, this was by no means extraordinary, particularly in view of the parliamentary conditions prevailing in Germany at that time, and there cannot be the slightest doubt that Hitler and his Party came to power legally, that is, according to the Constitution.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): However, it is correct that in the course of the following years the constitutional structure of the German Reich and particularly Hitler's position underwent a change. There is, however, no evidence on hand that this development as well was not legal. In this respect, in order to avoid repetition I am referring to the statements of the witness Dr. Lammers. In this case it may be left completely undecided whether one wants to attribute this development to Hitler's absolutely autocratic rule by the creation of a so-called prescriptive state law or whether one avails oneself of another theory. For the scope of this Trial it seems to me much more decisive that not a single nation with which Germany maintained diplomatic relations raised any objections whatsoever or even drew diplomatic or international legal conclusions either at the seizure of power or on the occasion of the transformation of the constitutional structure carried on openly before the entire world. Neither at the seizure of power nor at any later period was the question of diplomatic and international legal recognition of the National Socialist State in doubt. In addition, may it merely be pointed out that the law, which in the following period was to become of the greatest importance for the relationship between citizen and state, was still issued by Reich President Von Hindenburg pursuant to Article 48 of the Reich Constitution. I have in mind the decrees of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and the State, dated 28 February 1933 (Reichsgesetzblatt, Part 1, Page 83). In Paragraph 1 of this decree, the most important basic laws pf the Weimar Constitution were voided, and curtailments of personal liberty-the rights of free speech, including freedom of the press; the right to organize and assemble; interference in the privacy of the letters and mails, telegraph and telephone; orders for searching of homes; and confiscations, as well as property restrictions-were declared valid, even beyond the legal limitations otherwise imposed.
DR.ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Hess): From a formal viewpoint there can be just as lithe doubt about the legal validity of this decree as there can be about any other so-called constitutional or basic state law issued by the Reichstag, the Reich Cabinet, the Ministerial Council for Reich Defense, or by Hitler himself. Gentlemen of the Tribunal, on behalf of the Defendant Rudolf Hess I haves already stated that he assumes the full responsibility for all laws and decrees which he has signed in his capacity as the Deputy of the Fuehrer, as Reich Minister and member of the Ministerial Council for Reich Defense. Therefore I have refrained from presenting documentary evidence in reference to accusations which, as a sovereign state, merely concern the domestic affairs of the German Reich and have no bearing on the crimes against peace and crimes against the laws of war mentioned by the Prosecution. I shall, therefore, now only touch on such laws and constitutional and political measures which have some recognizable connection with the actual Counts of the Indictment and the Common Plan or Conspiracy asserted by the Prosecution. The Indictment accuses the Defendant Rudolf Hess of having sponsored the military, economic, and psychological preparations for war and of having participated in the political planning and preparation of wars of aggression. As evidence for this assertion, the Prosecution pointed to the fact that the Defendant Rudolf Hess, in his capacity as Reich Minister without Portfolio, cosigned the law of 16 March 1935 for the reconstruction of the Armed Forces. This law reintroduced general conscription in Germany and stipulated that the German peacetime army was to be divided into 12 corps commands and 36 divisions. For this Trial the proclamation which the Reich Cabinet directed to the German people in connection with the publication of this law and which was placed above the law in the Reichsgesetzblatt, appears to me no less important than the contents of this law. I refer to the contents of this proclamation which has been presented as an exhibit.