dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
In areas subjugated by the aggressors innocent Poles, Czechs, Norwegians, Dutch, Danes, French, Greeks, Russians, Chinese, Filipino&-and many others--are being starved or frozen to death or murdered in cold blood in a campaign of savagery. The slaughters of Warsaw, Lidice, Kharkov and Nanking.--the brutal torture and murder by the Japanese, not only of civilians but of our own gallant American soldiers and fliers-these are startling examples of what goes on day by day, year in and year out, wherever the Nazis and the Japs are in military control-free to follow their barbaric purpose. In one of the blackest crimes of all history-begun by the Nazis in the day of peace and multiplied by them a hundred times in time of war-Ale wholesale systematic murder of the Jews of Europe goes on unabated every hour. As a result of the events of the last few days hundreds of thousands of Jews, who while living under persecution have at least found a haven from death in Hungary and the Balkans, are now threatened with annihilation as Hitler's forces descend more heavily upon these lands. That these innocent people, who have already survived a decade of Hitler's fury, should perish on the very eve of triumph over the barbarism which their persecution symbolizes, would be a major tragedy. It is therefore fitting that we should again proclaim our determination that none who participate in these acts of savagery shall go unpunished. The United Nations have made it clear that they will pursue the guilty and deliver them up in order that Justice be done. That warning applies not only to the leaders but also to their functionaries and subordinates in Germany and in the satellite countries. All who knowingly take part in the deportation of Jews to their death in Poland or Norwegians and French to their death in Germany are equally guilty with the executioner. All who share the guilt shall share the punishment. Hitler is committing these crimes against humanity in the name of the German people. I ask every German and every man everywhere under Nazi domination to show the world by his action that in his heart he does not share these insane criminal desires. Let him hide these pursued victims, help them to get over their borders, and do what he canto save them
in the name of the German people. I ask every German and every man everywhere under Nazi domination to show the world by his action that in his heart he does not share these insane criminal desires. Let him hide these pursued victims, help them to get over their borders, and do what he canto save them from the Nazi hangman. I ask him also to keep watch, and to record the evidence that will one day be used to convict the guilty. In the meantime, and until the victory that is now assured is won, the United States will persevere in its efforts to rescue the victims of brutality of the Nazis and the Japs. In so far as the necessity of military operations permit this Government will use all means at its command to aid the escape of all intended victims of the Nazi and Jap, executioner-regardless of race or religion or color. We call upon the free peoples of Europe and Asia temporarily to open their frontiers to all victims of oppression. We shall find havens of refuge for them, and we shall find the means for their maintenance and support until the tyrant is driven from their homelands and they may return. In the name of justice and humanity let all freedom loving people rally to this righteous undertaking. Reply the Soviet Government (2) The Soviet Government replied on October 14th,1942, by the following Note of M. Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, to the Note Verbale presented to it by the Czechoslovak Minister and a representative of the French National Committee on behalf of the Belgian Government, the Czechoslovak Government, the French National Committee, the Greek Government, the Luxembourg Government, the Netherlands Government the Norwegian Government, the Polish Government and the Yugoslav Government: (Text) MY DEAR MINISTER In reply to the Note of July 23rd which I received from you and M. Garraux, I have, the honour to transmit to you herewith the text of the declaration by the Soviet Government on the responsibility of the Hitlerite interlopers and their henchmen for the crimes which they have committed in the occupied countries of Europe. The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, having acquainted himself with the collective
by the Soviet Government on the responsibility of the Hitlerite interlopers and their henchmen for the crimes which they have committed in the occupied countries of Europe. The Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R., Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, having acquainted himself with the collective appeal from representatives of countries temporarily occupied by Hitlerite Germany, and having given a solemn warning as to the responsibility for the crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerites on the territory seized by them, instructed the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, to bring the notice of the Governments of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Norway, Greece, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg and the French National Committee the following declaration of the Soviet Government: The Soviet Government and the entire Soviet people are imbued with feelings of fraternal solidarity and profound sympathy for the sufferings and courageous struggle of the peoples of the countries of Europe occupied by the Hitlerites. The misery, degradation and privation inflicted on these peoples by Hitlerite tyranny is all the more understood by the peoples of the Soviet Union since the Hitlerite invaders, in the Soviet areas temporarily occupied by them, are perpetrating crimes and atrocities on a monstrous scale; mass murders of civilians, destruction of towns and villages, plunder and ruin of the population, brutal violation of women, children and the aged, enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people. The Soviet Government once more confirms the universal and deliberate character of the bloody crimes of the Hitlerite invaders, which prove that the German Fascist Government and its accomplices, in striving to enslave the peoples of the occupied countries, to destroy their culture and debase their national dignity, have also made it their aim to carry out the direct, physical annihilation of a considerable section of the population of the territories captured by them. The Soviet Government at the same time puts on record that neither by their methods of annihilation and crime, nor by their incitement to internecine strife, nor by their plunder and starvation, nor by their bloody crimes have the German Fascists succeeded in
section of the population of the territories captured by them. The Soviet Government at the same time puts on record that neither by their methods of annihilation and crime, nor by their incitement to internecine strife, nor by their plunder and starvation, nor by their bloody crimes have the German Fascists succeeded in breaking the will of the European peoples to struggle against the invaders for the liberation and restoration of their independent countries. Dauntless in the face of the inevitable sacrifices which the just, liberating struggle brings in its train, and knowing neither mercy to the enemy nor to his accomplices, the patriots of the countries oppressed by the Hitlerites are making use of all available means of struggle against the invaders, including the launching of popular guerilla warfare. The courageous fighters for the honour, freedom and independence of the peoples oppressed by the Nazis make every effort to inflict the greatest possible losses on the Hitlerite invaders and the German war machine. They sabotage war industry and production in occupied territories, using a variety of methods-from slowing down output, and lowering the quality of the work to the calling of strikes, to mass withdrawals from production, destruction of machinery and production, diversionist acts in workshops, power stations and mines. They sabotage the deliveries of agricultural produce to the German oppressors. They frustrate the Hitlerite measures to recruit for Germany's factories foreign workers, doomed to slave labour on the production of guns intended for use against the Allies and the oppressed peoples of Europe. They are fighters against the violent German brigands and imperialists and strive to despoil the war supplies and raw materials of the invaders. They break down enemy communications, tear up rails, blow up bridges, derail trains, inflict damage on mercantile and naval vessels, cut telegraph and telephone wires. They give practical aid to operations by the Allied air forces over occupied Hitlerite territory. They sabotage the measures of military and civil occupation authorities. They punish with death these guilty of organizing and carrying out Hitlerite violence and terror, as well as those traitors who give aid
They give practical aid to operations by the Allied air forces over occupied Hitlerite territory. They sabotage the measures of military and civil occupation authorities. They punish with death these guilty of organizing and carrying out Hitlerite violence and terror, as well as those traitors who give aid to the invaders. The most substantial losses have been inflicted on the enemy in those countries where, on the lines of the great movement of people's avengers-guerillas-who are fighting against the invaders in temporarily-occupied Soviet territories, armies of patriots have fearlessly taken this path of armed struggle against the invader, such as has occurred in particular in Yugoslavia. There is not the slightest doubt that the successful development of this glorious liberating struggle in all its forms will become one of the most important conditions making for the final defeat of the common enemy, and will bring nearer the retribution justly demanded by the representatives of the countries occupied by Hitlerite Germany. In the note of Vyacheslav Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R., dated November 254, 1941, on the abominable crimes of the German authorities against Soviet prisoners of war, and that dated January 6th, 1942, on the universal plunder and ruin of the population and the monstrous atrocities of the German authorities in Soviet territories captured by them, and that dated April 27th, 1942, on the monstrous atrocities and brutal violence of the German Fascist invaders in Soviet districts occupied by them and on the responsibility of the German Government and Military Command for these crimes, sent to all Governments with which the Soviet Union has diplomatic relations, the Soviet Government laid full responsibility for the inhuman and brigandly acts of German troops on the criminal Hitlerite Government of Germany. It declared that the Hitlerite Government and its accomplices would not escape responsibility and deserved punishment for all the unprecedented atrocities perpetrated against the peoples of the U.S.S.R. and against all the freedom-loving countries. The Soviet Government declared in addition, that its organs would make a detailed record of these crimes and atrocities of the Hitlerite Army, for which the outraged Soviet people justly demand and
all the unprecedented atrocities perpetrated against the peoples of the U.S.S.R. and against all the freedom-loving countries. The Soviet Government declared in addition, that its organs would make a detailed record of these crimes and atrocities of the Hitlerite Army, for which the outraged Soviet people justly demand and will obtain retribution. Having received information about the monstrous atrocities perpetrated and being perpetrated by the Hitlerites, by order of the Government and military and civil authorities of Germany, on the territories of France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Norway, Greece, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg, and giving the widest publicity to the information received from these countries, the Soviet Government once more declares to the world its inflexible determination that the criminal Hitlerite Government and all its accomplices must and shall suffer deserved, stern punishment for the crimes perpetrated against the peoples of the Soviet Union and against all freedom-loving peoples in territories temporarily occupied by the German army and its accomplices. The Soviet Government approves and shares the just desire expressed in the collective Note received, that those guilty of the crimes indicated shall be handed over to judicial courts and prosecuted, and that the sentence passed on them shall be put into execution. The Soviet Government is ready to support all practical measures to this end on the part of Allied and friendly Governments, and counts upon all interested States giving each other mutual assistance in seeking out, handing over, bringing to court and passing sentence on the Hitlerites and their accomplices guilty of the organization, promotion or perpetration of crimes on occupied territory. The Soviet Government is in agreement with the declaration of Mr. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, made in his speech of October 12th, on the question of punishing the Nazi leaders concretely responsible for countless acts of brutality, i.e., that the, clique of leaders and their cruel accomplices must be mentioned by name, arrested and tried according to the criminal code. The whole of mankind knows the names and bloody crimes of the leaders of the criminal Hitlerite clique: Hitler, Goering, Hess, Goebbels,
responsible for countless acts of brutality, i.e., that the, clique of leaders and their cruel accomplices must be mentioned by name, arrested and tried according to the criminal code. The whole of mankind knows the names and bloody crimes of the leaders of the criminal Hitlerite clique: Hitler, Goering, Hess, Goebbels, Himmler, Ribbentrop, Rosenberg and other organizers of German brutalities from among the leaders of Fascist Germany. The Soviet Government considers that, like the governments of all states defending their independence against the Hitlerite hordes, it is obliged to regard the stern punishment of the aforesaid leaders of the criminal Hitlerite clique as its immediate duty to the countless widows, orphans, relatives and friends of all those innocent people who have been brutally tortured and killed by order of the criminals named. The Soviet Government considers it essential to hand over without delay to the courts of the special international tribunal, and to punish according to all the severity of the criminal code, any of the leaders of Fascist Germany who in the course of the war have fallen into the hands of States fighting against Hitlerite Germany. Renewing at the present time its warning of the full weight of responsibility which the criminal Hitlerite, leaders and all their accomplices bear for the monstrous atrocities perpetrated by them, the Soviet Government considers it opportune to confirm the conviction, expressed in its official declaration, that the Hitlerite Government, which recognizes only brute force, must be smashed by the all-powerful forces of the freedom-loving peoples, since the interests of the whole of mankind demand that as soon as possible the band of barefaced murderers called the government of Hitlerite Germany, shall be finished with once and for all. Thanking you in advance, I beg you to communicate this declaration to your Government, as well as the Governments of Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Belgium, Norway, Holland and Luxembourg. Please accept the assurance of my profound regard. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. MOLOTOV. To M. Z. Fierlinger, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Czechoslovakia, Kuibishev. (1) The four declarations
as the Governments of Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Belgium, Norway, Holland and Luxembourg. Please accept the assurance of my profound regard. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. MOLOTOV. To M. Z. Fierlinger, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Czechoslovakia, Kuibishev. (1) The four declarations drawn up at the Conference of Foreign Ministers In Moscow Oct. 19-30, 1943, were released to the press on Nov. 1. The date, Oct 30, appeared on one of these declarations and Is frequently used with reference to the others as well. The documents in this volume which cite the Moscow declaration on atrocities sometimes refer to "the declaration of October 30" and sometimes to "the declaration issued on November 1." Back (2) This Is a reply to a note verbale which was not Included in the memorandum to the President. Back Source: International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945 Report of Robert H. Jackson, United States Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945 International organization and conference series; II European and British Commonwealth 1 Department of State Publication 3080 Washington, DC : Government Printing Office, 1949
International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945
Aide-Memoire from the United Kingdom, April 23, 1945
Previous Document
Contents
Next Document
Note:
On April 23, 1945, the following aide-mémoire was handed to Judge Samuel Rosenman, assistant to the President, by Sir Alexander Cadogan.
1.
H.M..G. assume that it is beyond question that Hitler and a number of arch-criminals associated with him (including Mussolini) must, so far as they fall into Allied hands, suffer the penalty of death for their conduct leading up to the war and for the wickedness which they have either themselves perpetrated or have authorized in the conduct of the war. It would be manifestly impossible to punish war criminals of a lower grade by a capital sentence pronounced by a Military Court unless the ringleaders are dealt with with equal severity. This is really involved in the concluding sentence of the Moscow Declaration on this subject, which reserves for the arch-criminals whose offences have no special localization treatment to be determined in due course by the Allies.
2.
It being conceded that these leaders must suffer death, the question arises whether they should be tried by some form of tribunal claiming to exercise judicial functions, or whether the decision taken by the Allies should be reached and enforced without the machinery of a trial. H.M.G. thoroughly appreciate the arguments which have been advanced in favour of some form of preliminary trial. But H.M.G. are also deeply impressed with the dangers and difficulties of this course, and they wish to put before their principal Allies, in a connected form, the arguments which have led them to think that execution without trial is the preferable course.
3.
been advanced in favour of some form of preliminary trial. But H.M.G. are also deeply impressed with the dangers and difficulties of this course, and they wish to put before their principal Allies, in a connected form, the arguments which have led them to think that execution without trial is the preferable course. 3.
The central consideration for deciding this difficult choice must, in H.M.G.'s view, be reached by asking-what is the real charge which Allied people and the world as a whole makes against Hitler! It is the totality of his offences against the international standard which civilised countries try to observe which makes him the scoundrel that he is. If he were to be indicted for these offences in the manner that is necessary for reasons of justice in a criminal court, and if his fate is to be determined on the conclusion reached by the tribunal as to the truth of this bundle of charges and the adequacy of the proof, it seems impossible to conceive that the trial would not be exceedingly long and elaborate. He, of course, must have in such a trial all the rights properly conceded to an accused person. He must be defended if he wishes, by counsel, and he must call any relevant evidence. According to British ideas, at any rate, his defence could not be forcibly shut down or limited because it involves a great expenditure of time. There is nothing upon which British opinion is more sensitive in the realm of criminal procedure than the suspicion that an accused person-whatever the depths of his crime-has been denied his full defence.
4.
rate, his defence could not be forcibly shut down or limited because it involves a great expenditure of time. There is nothing upon which British opinion is more sensitive in the realm of criminal procedure than the suspicion that an accused person-whatever the depths of his crime-has been denied his full defence. 4.
There is a further consideration which, in the view of H.M.G. needs to be very carefully weighed. If the method of public trial were adopted, the comment must be expected from the very start to be that the whole thing is a "put-up job" designed by the Allies to justify a punishment they have already resolved on. Hitler and his advisers- if they decide to take part and to challenge what is alleged-may be expected to be very much alive to any opportunity of turning the tables. Public opinion as the trial goes on is likely to weary at the length of the process. It is difficult to think that anybody would in the course of time look on Hitler as an injured man, but it is by no means unlikely that a long trial will result in a change of public feeling as to the justification of trying Hitler at all. Will not some people begin to say "The man should be shot out of hand"? And if in the complicated and novel procedure which such a trial is bound to adopt-for Russian, American and British ideas must in some way be amalgamated-the defence secured some unexpected point, is there not a danger of the trial being denounced as a farce?
5.
say "The man should be shot out of hand"? And if in the complicated and novel procedure which such a trial is bound to adopt-for Russian, American and British ideas must in some way be amalgamated-the defence secured some unexpected point, is there not a danger of the trial being denounced as a farce? 5.
There is a further point. Reference has been made above to Hitler's conduct leading up to the war as one of the crimes on which the Allies would rely. There should be included in this the unprovoked attacks which, since the original declaration of war, he has made on various countries. These are not war crimes in the ordinary sense, nor is it at all clear that they can properly be described as crimes under international law. These would, however, necessarily have to be part of the charge and if the tribunal had-as presumably they would have-to proceed according to international law, an argument, which might be a formidable argument, would be open to the accused that this part of the indictment should be struck out. It may well be thought by some that these acts ought to be regarded as crimes under international law. Under the procedure suggested this would be a matter for the tribunal, and would at any rate give the accused the opportunity of basing arguments on what has happened in the past and what has been done by various countries in declaring war which resulted in acquiring new territory, which certainly were not regarded at the time as crimes against international law.
6.
H.M.G. earnestly hope that their Allies will consider the arguments set out above for they are most anxious that a very early agreement should be reached as to the method of dealing with Hitler and his chief associates, and that the method should be one in which the principal Allies concur. It would in any case be valuable if a document could now be drawn up giving the reasoned basis for the punishment of the men concerned.
Source:
International Conference on Military Trials : London, 1945