dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
GEN. RUIDENKO: And it was not by accident that the future leader of this generation, Adolf Hitler, entered the political arena out of the void with the moral and financial support of the Reichswehr. With few exceptions, it was the military caste that gave. Hitler support, and when he seized power, rearmament began almost immediately. The haughty Prussian generals bowed to Hitler the corporal, because they knew that Hitler meant war. Field Marshals Brauchitsch, Milch, Manstein, and others arrived here under Allied guard to give false testimony about themselves to the International Military Tribunal. And so we saw the peculiar spectacle of wolves turning into sheep! I do not know just what kind of naive people they expected to find here, Brauchitsch particularly, when he presented himself here as a confirmed pacifist. If we allow ourselves to believe him, we would then also have to believe that he, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, knew nothing whatever of Germany's aggressive plans, nothing of the coming invasions of Austria and Czechoslovakia, but was persistently and continuously persuading Hitler not to fight. Such a clumsy defense leads merely to self-betrayal. I beg to dwell briefly on evidence to refute the tricks and maneuvers of the Defense whose main aim has been to mask and diminish the extent of the criminal activity of the German High Command. Evidence submitted to the Tribunal proves beyond doubt that both the General Staff and the OKW were fully informed of the criminal intentions of aggression on the part of the Hitlerite Government, that they shared these plans and participated actively in both their preparation and their realization. As soon as Hitler's Mein Kampf appeared, the aggressive anti-social plans of the Hitler conspirators became known to every German. They were widely propagated and made public from day to day and month to month. These plans received immediate recognition from the German military leaders, who subsequently put both their experience and their knowledge at the service of the Hitlerite State.
GEN. RUIDENKO: I do not plan, however, to delve deeply into the history of the Hitlerite State and its military machine to prove just when. and how the subsequent criminal activity of the leading German military organs began. I want to mention only that evidence which refers to the beginning of the war. Already on 23 May 1939, at a staff meeting held in the new Reich Chancellery, Hitler said to his chief military leaders,: "Danzig is not the crux of the matter. For us it is a question of the expansion of our 'Lebensrauni' in the East. Thus the question of whether Poland is to be spared disappears and there remains only the decision to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity." While expounding his military and political plans to his senior officers and generals at a staff meeting on 22 August 1939, at Obersalzberg, Hitler stated: "First of all comes the annihilation of Poland. Even if war breaks out in the West, the destruction of Poland still takes first place. For propaganda purposes I shall give out some excuse for beginning the war; whether it is true or not is unimportant." At a conference of the commanders-in-chief, which took place on 23 November 1939, Hitler said the following in talking to his closest military advisers: "In principle I did not organize the Wehrmacht in order not to strike. The decision to strike was always with me. Earlier or later I wanted to solve the problem. Through force of circumstances it was decided that for the moment the East was to be the object of attack." Is this not evidence that Hitler made no secret of his criminal plans, so far as his chief military officers were concerned? Even more convincing in this respect are the operational papers of the German High Command, which quite cynically describe the criminal aims of aggression on the part of the Hitler Government. In Hitler's directive of 30 May 1938, dealing with the execution of the plan "Gruen" for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, it is stated: "It is my unalterable decision to destroy Czechoslovakia by military action in the near future.
GEN. RUIDENKO: "From a military as well as a political standpoint the most favorable course is lightning-swift action on the grounds of an incident by which Germany is provoked in an unbearable way and which at least part of world opinion will consider as the moral justification for military action." Or there is also the directive of 27 March 1941 regarding the invasion of Yugoslavia, which provides that: "Without waiting for. any declaration of Yugoslavia's loyalty to us, we must make all preparations to destroy Yugoslavia militarily and as a state." This cynical frankness reaches a climax in the German operational material dealing with plans for attacking the Soviet Union. In the directive of the OKW of 13 March 1941 with regard to "special regions," long before the attack on the Soviet Union, it was stated: "The Russian territory occupied in the course of operations shall, as soon as the conclusion of military action permits it, be divided up into individual states with governments of their own, according to special orders." In the instructions for propaganda in the "Barbarossa" region published by the OKW in June 1941, it was foreseen that "for the time being no propaganda should be conducted for the dismemberment of the Soviet Union." Finally, Document Number 21, dated 18 December 1940, known under the code name of "Plan Barbarossa," stated: "The final aim of the operation is to form a screen against Asiatic Russia along the general Archangel-Volga line." The former Field Marshal of the German Army, Friedrich Paulus, gave the Tribunal an exhaustive explanation of this "final aim" pursued by Hitlerite Germany in its war against the Soviet Union, which was known to the entire High Command of the Armed Forces. No less convincing evidence on this matter was given to the Tribunal by my American colleague, who presented an order of Field Marshal Von Manstein, former commander-in-chief of the 11th German Army.
GEN. RUIDENKO: In this order, Von Manstein, giving an account of the political aims of the war against the Soviet Union in accordance with Hitler's instructions, informs his subordinates in an unequivocal manner that the aim of the attack on the Soviet Union is the destruction of the political system of its government. It is strange therefore to hear now the statement of the Hitlerite General Von Manstein that he was only a soldier who was not informed of the policy of Hitler's Government. This order not only shows that the generals were acquainted with the political aims of the war, but also that they approved them. And it could not be otherwise. What could Hitler and his clique have done if the military specialists, the generals of the German Army, did not approve of his plans? There existed a specific structure in the military apparatus in Hitlerite Germany. The OKW functioned simultaneously with the General Staff of the Army, as well as the staffs of the Air Forces and the Navy. The staffs of individual services worked out such parts of the general aggressive plans of Hitlerite Germany as were in the sphere of their competency, and the OKW co-ordinated and combined this work. Inasmuch as the decisive part of the realization of the aggressive plan lay with the Army with its numerous and powerful armored forces, the outstanding position in the preparation of the aggressive measures of the Hitlerite Government was naturally held by the German General Staff. Therefore, the existing structure of the military apparatus of Germany by no means excluded, but on the contrary foresaw, in the elaboration, preparation, and execution of the criminal aggressive plans of the Hitlerite Government, a most active role for the General Staff. In order to characterize the practical role of the German General Staff in the elaboration and preparation of the aggressive plans of Germany, I shall refer to some facts; I shall quote again the statement of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, which he confirmed in this Tribunal.
GEN. RUIDENKO: Paulus stated: "When on 3 September 1940 I took office in the OKH, among other plans I found there a still uncompleted preliminary plan for the attack on the Soviet Union, known under the code name of 'Barbarossa.' "The working-out of the preliminary 'Barbarossa' plan began in August 1940 and ended by the holding of two military maneuvers (Kriegsspiele) under my command at the Headquarters of the OKH at Zossen." Is it not clear now to anyone that the German General Staff, as well as the OKW, were the creators of the criminal "Barbarossa" plan? Equally active was the part of the German General Staff in the preparation of other aggressive plans of Hitlerite Germany. There can be no doubt that in the elaboration of the criminal aggressive plans, the German General Staff, as well as the OKW, played a decisive part. The German Armed Forces and their military leaders perpetrated, independently or in co-operation with the German police agencies, innumerable crimes in the occupied territories. A simple enumeration of documentary evidence disclosing crimes perpetrated by the German Fascist usurpers in the occupied territories would take too much time. Therefore I shall refer only to separate evidence which proves that the military crimes and crimes against humanity were systematically perpetrated by the German Armed Forces on a mass scale, and were organized beforehand, involving all ranks of the German war machine--from Field Marshal to private.
GEN. RUIDENKO: It would be sufficient to recall the regulation of the Defendant Keitel of 13 May 1941 concerning "the application of martial law in the 'Barbarossa' region and the special measures for the troops," in which mention is made of applying "the most drastic measures," for the purpose of which the German officers had the right to execute without trial, and impunity was given for crimes committed by German military personnel against the peaceful population; or the regulation of the same Defendant Keitel of 16 September 1941, by which he ordered the German troops "to bear in mind that in the countries concerned human life has absolutely no value, and that intimidating action is only effective through the use of unusual cruelty." The orders of the OKW may also be recalled concerning the extermination of Soviet commissars taken as prisoners of war, the branding of Soviet prisoners of war, as well as the orders of the Defendant Goering regarding the extermination of captured Allied pilots, the plundering of occupied territories and the deportation of the peaceful population to slavery in Germany; the order of the Defendant Doenitz forbidding, the rescue of men from sinking vessels, the order of the former Field Marshal Reichenau on the conduct of troops in the East, and many others. All these orders have now acquired a common meaning. These criminal orders did not, as some of the witnesses, such as Von Brauchitsch and Von Manstein, tried to establish here, remain only on paper. They were enforced with German thoroughness. The Tribunal has listened to the testimony of the witness, the former Major General of the Medical Service of the German Army, Walter Schreiber. Schreiber, who is a bacteriological specialist, told us of the plans of the Hitlerite conspirators to use the death-dealing plague bacillus as a weapon in the war. He informed us how this crime, inspired by the German High Command, the General Staff, and the Defendants Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Keitel, was conceived and realized.
GEN. RUIDENKO: Only the advance of the Red Army troops towards the frontiers of Germany stopped this criminal plan of the Hitlerite clique, the realization of which would have threatened the whole of Europe with new and dire calamities and devastation. And it was not without purpose that special attention was given to the establishment of a connection between the military apparatus of Hitlerite Germany and other German State organizations. The OKW was represented in many German ministries by so-called liaison officers, and at the same time many ministries had their representatives in the OKW. Such a connection existed especially in the activities of the German military and civil authorities in the occupied territories. When confronted with the proofs, the Hitlerite military leaders are obliged to acknowledge their connection, for instance, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, but they flatly refuse to admit their connection with the German State Police and the SS. This is easy to conceive. The fact alone of such a connection would disclose their participation in numerous crimes in the occupied territories. Therefore I consider myself obliged to prove the existence of a connection between the German military command and the German Secret State Police and other police agencies. This connection arose long before the attack on the Soviet Union by Hitlerite Germany. In the instruction on "special regions" issued by the OKW on 13 March 1941 and signed by the Defendant Keitel, the necessity was foreseen of co-ordinating the activities of the Reichsfuehrer SS and the OKW in the occupied territories.
GEN. RUIDENKO: The witnesses Walter Schellenberg and Otto Ohlendorf, former section chiefs with the Reich Security Main Office, stated in their evidence at this Trial that already in May 1941, in execution of instructions from the OKW, an agreement was concluded between Quartermaster-General Wagner, representative of the OKH, and Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and the SD, concerning the organization and work regulations for special Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police and the SD. During his cross-examination the witness Von Brauchitsch confirmed that he knew of such talks between Wagner and Heydrich. The presence and character of the activity of the Security Police Einsatzgruppen and of the SD in the German Armed Forces is confirmed by evidence from several documents. In a report of 15 October 1941 from Einsatzgruppe "A" of the Security Police and the SD it is stated: "Our task now is to establish with all speed personal contact with the commanders and the commander-in-chief of the armies of the rear area. It must be stressed from the beginning that co-operation with the Armed Forces was generally good; in some cases, for instance with Panzer-Group 4 under Generaloberst Hoeppner, it was very close, almost cordial." And further: "At the start of the Eastern campaign it became obvious with regard to the Security Police that its special work had to be done not only in the rear areas, but also in the areas of the front." From a letter of November 1941 by the Commissioner General for Bielorussia, the hangman Kube, in which even he expresses indignation at the criminal activities of the police in the town of Sluzk, it is apparent that the 2d Police Battalion, which shot masses of Jews in the town, was directly subordinated to the military command. A trail of blood leads from the orders of Goering, Doenitz, Jodl, Keitel, from the criminal agreements of Wagner and Heydrich, from the orders of Reichenau and Manstein, to the innumerable crimes of the German troops and the Einsatzgruppen of the Security Police in the occupied territories.
GEN. RUIDENKO: The blood of millions of innocent victims stains the hands not only of the German soldier Knittel and Obergefreiter Kurt, but also those of the Field Marshals of the German Army. The Hitlerite war machine, headed by the High Command of the Wehrmacht and the German General Staff, was the decisive force with whose aid all the criminal aggressive plans of the Hitlerite Government, all the war crimes against humanity, were plotted and carried out. The German High Command and the German General Staff were therefore one of the most important organizations for the execution of the criminal conspiracy of the Hitlerite clique, and the higher military authorities of the German Armed Forces were active participants in this conspiracy. As a result of the present proceedings I consider that the criminal character of this military organization is fully proved. I pass on to the last of the organizations indicted as criminal to the Reich Cabinet, which occupied a particularly prominent position in the system of Fascist dictatorship. Appendix "C" to the Indictment includes a detailed enumeration of the personalities who made up the Government and who, for this reason, are held responsible for the perpetration of the Hitlerite crimes as specified in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment. In the course of 9 months the Tribunal has examined the evidence upon the monstrous crimes of the Nazis. We have heard here of the crimes of the Police and of the Wehrmacht, of the SS and of the Gestapo, of the Reich Protectors and of the Reich Commissioners in the occupied territories, of various Fuehrer and Leiter. And we can most categorically declare that the homogeneity and the systematic organization of the crimes, the uniformity of the means and measures used to commit them, testify to the fact that these crimes were directed by and carried out through one single center. These innumerable and varied crimes can be traced back to the gang of Fascist conspirators and to the criminal Hitlerite Government.
GEN. RUIDENKO: Seen in this light, the declarations of the Defense and of the defendants to the effect that under Hitler the Council of Ministers was a mere technical apparatus deprived of any real power, are completely unconvincing. Actually not only did the ministers decide themselves all questions coming within their jurisdiction, but they were at the same time the executors of Hitler's will. It is also true that it was Hitler who made the final decision at all official and unofficial discussions and meetings. At the same time, however, one cannot forget the fact that not a single minister in any other government enjoyed such independence in deciding questions coming within his jurisdiction as did the ministers of the Hitlerite Government. Every single one of them was a Fuehrer in his particular field, and by his advice, by the material presented, by drafts of laws and directives, wielded a most tangible influence over all decisions taken by Hitler in connection with questions concerning the sphere of activity of the different ministries. Then again, one cannot discount the fact that Hitler's will fully corresponded to the personal points of view and convictions of his ministers. They were necessary to Hitler just as much as he was necessary to them. Goering, Frick, Rosenberg, Neurath, Speer, Funk and others are inconceivable without Hitler, just as Hitler is inconceivable without them. Under Hitler's leadership they actively participated in the planning of the Fascist conspiracy, and every one of them, enacting the role allotted to him in the general criminal plan which defined the activity of literally all the departments, wittingly and actively carried out that plan. As they were the leaders of all the corresponding central departments of Hitlerite Germany--of Finance, Economics, Justice, Communications, et cetera --they held in their hands, from 1933 to 1945, full legislative, executive, administrative, and political power.
GEN. RUIDENKO: And they used this power in order to, put into effect the criminal plans for seizing foreign territories, for annihilating races and peoples, and for establishing a world domination. Moreover, in order to facilitate the execution of these criminal plans, they first of all seized the power over the German people and the German State, and supported this power by draconic measures. The wave of Fascist terror swept over all of Germany even before Hitler's accession to power, and increased considerably after Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 and the Defendants Frick, Papen, and Von Neurath ministers in the Reich Government. Taking advantage of their presence in the Government, these Fascist ministers fully legalized the terror wrought by the SA of the Nazi Party and prepared the coming seizure of power, using, to achieve this aim, the burning-down of the Reichstag, which had been organized by the Defendant Goering. Immediately after the seizure of power by the Fascists on 24 March 1933, a law was issued "concerning the Protection of the People and the State," giving legislative power to the Reich Government and by-passing the Reichstag. On 26 May 1933 the Reich Government issued the decree for the confiscation of the property of the Communist organization, and starting from 14 July of the same year the property of the Social-Democrat organization was confiscated as well. On 1 December 1933 the criminal Reich Government published the law "To Ensure the Unity of the Party and the Government," which bore the signature of Hitler and of the Defendant Frick. Pursuing the liquidation of the democratic institutions, the Reich Government by virtue of the law "for the Reconstruction of the Reich" of 1934 cancelled all democratic elections for government and regional representative bodies. The Reichstag was changed by the Fascists into. an institution devoid of any real meaning.
GEN. RUIDENKO: By virtue of the law of 7 April 1933 and others, all civil servants, amongst them judges, who had been at any time noticed as having anti-Fascist inclinations or who belonged to Leftist organizations, as well as all Jews, were dismissed from their offices and replaced by Fascists. According to the "basic principles of the German Civil Servants' Law" of 26 January 1937, the inner bond between the civil servant and the Party is taken for granted on his appointment to a post: "...the official shall fulfill the will of the National Socialist Government led by the NSDAP." By making the government machinery in Germany completely Fascist, the Hitlerite conspirators were able to utilize it at a later period as an obedient tool for the perpetration of their criminal plans. The Hitlerite Government introduced a number of measures designed to implant Fascist ideology and to mislead the people of Germany. On 1 May 1934, the Ministry of Education was created. Its function was to educate youth in the spirit of militarism and racial hatred, and to give German youth a view of reality distorted by Fascist dreams. Similar tasks were allotted to the Reich Youth Leader and to those organizations which were subordinated to him. The principle of personal freedom and the freedom of the press and of speech were abolished. The free trade unions were abolished, their property confiscated, and the majority of their leaders thrown into prison. In order to supress by terror every kind of resistance, the Government founded the Gestapo and the concentration camps. Hundreds of thousands were arrested and destroyed without any trial or concrete evidence, merely on the suspicion of having anti-Fascist tendencies. The Defense is attempting to prove that members of the Government did not participate in the issue of the shameful Nuremberg Laws and in racial discrimination against the Jews.