dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
GEN. RUDENKO: As a result of this conference there was created a special economic staff "Oldenburg" which was subordinated to Goering. The creation of special economic inspectorates and units in the largest centers of the U.SS.R. was planned; they were to handle important tasks for the exploitation and plunder of Soviet industry and agriculture. The file of a district agricultural leader contained instructions to agricultural officials who were given full freedom in the choice of methods for the achievement of their criminal purposes. The demand for ruthless treatment of the Soviet peoples, the Russians, the Ukrainians and the Byelorussians was expressly-put forward. The report of the U.S.S.R. Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes committed by the Hitlerites in Kiev, in the region of Stalino and other places, states that these criminal plans of the Defendant Goering and his accomplices were for the greater part realized. To secure the necessary manpower for the German war industry and agriculture, and at the same time for the purpose of the physical extermination and economic weakening of the enslaved peoples, the Defendant Goering and his accomplices in the Nazi conspiracy exploited the foreign workers as slaves. The exploitation of forced labor had been planned by the Nazis even before the war. It is sufficient to remind you of the conference at Hitler's headquarters which took place on 23 May 1939 and in which the Defendant Goering also participated.. At the conference of 7 November 1941 and in his order issued on 10 January 1942 Goering demanded of all the departments subordinated to him the necessary manpower for the German industries at the expense of the population of the occupied Soviet territories. On 6 August 1942 Goering held a conference with the Reich Commissioners for the occupied territories and the representatives of the High Command.
GEN. RUDENKO: Addressing himself to the participants in this conference, Goering said: "You are being sent there not to work for the well-being of the peoples entrusted to you, but for the purpose of extracting everything available.... You must be like bloodhounds, wherever there is still something left.... I intend to plunder and to do it efficiently...." These intentions were carried out. Goering plundered, the Reich Ministers and Reich Commissioners for the occupied territories plundered, the representatives of the High Command, from the generals to the ordinary soldiers, also plundered. Such were the activities of Defendant Goering. There is not a single measure executed by the fascist party, not a single step taken by the Hitlerite Government in which Goering did not participate. He participated actively in all the crimes of the fascist gang and for all his deeds he must be duly punished. Hess. The Defendant Rudolf Hess occupied a leading position among the Nazi conspirators from the very beginnings of the fascist state. It was Hess who had been the leader of the fascist organization of the University of Munich. It was he who had participated in the Munich Putsch. It was he who, together with Hitler, had worked at the fascist bible Mein Kampf, assuming the duties of Hitler's private secretary. It was he who had been president of the Central Political Commission of the fascist party, and it was he who had carried into effect the bestial policy of the fascist cutthroats as Deputy of the Fuehrer after the seizure of power. It was precisely Hess to whom, according to Hitler's decree of 21 April 1933, "full rights were granted to take decisions on Hitler's behalf in all questions concerning the leadership of the Party." Immediately afterward Hess continued to seize one new post after the other in Hitler's Government.
GEN. RUDENKO: As from 1 December 1933 he was Reich Minister without Portfolio "to insure close collaboration of the Party and the SA with the civil authorities"; on 4 February 1938 he was appointed member of the Secret Council; on 30 August 1939, member of the Reich Defense Council; and on 1 September 1939 Hitler declared Hess his successor after Goering. Hess was also appointed Obergruppenfuehrer SS and SA. By a decree of 27 July 1934 Hitler compelled the leaders of all the departments and ministries in Germany to present all drafts of laws to Hess for preliminary approval. Hess had to select and allocate the leading staff of the fascist cadres. This is proved by Hitler's decree of 24 September 1935 and by other documents submitted to the Tribunal by the Prosecution. Special note should be taken of the active part played by Hess in planning and carrying out aggressive wars. All the aggressive actions of Hitler's Germany had been planned and prepared with the direct assistance of Hess and the Party machinery of the Nazis subordinated to him. Already on 12 October 1936, in his speeches in Bavaria, Hess appealed to the Germans: ". . . at times to use a little less fat, a little less pork, fewer eggs....We know"-said Hess-"that the foreign currency that is saved in this way goes for armaments. And the slogan of the day is: 'Cannons instead of butter."' Hess spoke about this on the eve of his flight to England on 1 May 1941, speaking at the Messerschmitt factory where he made an appeal for the continuation of the aggressive war. Together with Hitler, Goering, and other leaders of the Nazi conspiracy, Hess signed the decrees concerning the annexation of the territories seized by the Germans. The man-hating Nuremberg Laws, for the publishing of which this defendant is also responsible, contain a special proviso authorizing Frick and Hess to issue the necessary decrees for carrying these laws into effect.
GEN. RUDENKO: Hess signed the law on the "Protection of ·	584 Race and Honor," the decree of 14 September 1935, depriving the Jews of their right to vote and of their right to employment in government offices; and also the decree of 20 May 1938 extending the Nuremberg Laws to Austria. The question of the part played by Hess in organizing a network for espionage and terroristic units abroad, as well as in creating the SD (Security Service) and in the recruitment of SS units, has been sufficiently elucidated at this Trial. ,' The very position occupied by Hess in the fascist party and Hitler's Government shows the active and leading participation of the defendant in the preparation and realization of the common criminal plan of the fascist conspirators, and consequently the enormous share of his guilt and responsibility for the crimes against peace, for the war crimes and the crimes against humanity. Your Honors, in order to evaluate more correctly the importance of the criminal activity of the Defendant Hess as one of the most notorious leaders of the Nazi Party and Hitler's Government, I shall remind you of the article in the newspaper Nationalzeitung of 24 April 1941, dedicated to Hess. "Many years ago-it was before the beginning of this war- Rudolf Hess was called the 'Conscience of the Party.' It is not difficult to answer the question why this honorable name was given to the Fuehrer's Deputy. There is not an event in our public life that is not connected with the name of the Deputy Fuehrer. He is so versatile and original in his work and in his sphere of activity, that they cannot be described in a few words . . . many measures carried out by the Government, especially in the field of war economy and in the Party, which at their publication are so readily welcomed by the public because they answer to a high degree the real feeling of the people, originate in the personal initiative of the Deputy of the Fuehrer." Hess refused to offer explanations to the Tribunal.
GEN. RUDENKO: His counsel, Seidl, declared with false pathos that Hess considered the present Tribunal incompetent to judge the German war criminals, and immediately afterward, without a pause, he presented proofs in his defense. Hess even tried to declare himself insane to avoid punishment deserved. But when he was convinced that such a maneuver would not help him, he was forced to tell the Tribunal that he had simulated loss of memory, that it had been a trick on his part, and he had to admit that he bore full responsibility for all that he had done and signed together with the others. Thus, this clumsy attempt of Hess to avoid responsibility was fully exposed at the Trial and he should suffer the full extent of his punishment for his participation in the Common Plan or Conspiracy for committing crimes against peace, war crimes and the most grievous crimes against the world and humanity, crimes perpetrated by him together with the other defendants. Bormann. The name of Martin Bormann is closely connected with the creation of Hitler's regime. He was one of those who committed the most outrageous crimes, directed at the annihilation of many hundreds of thousands. Together with the Defendant Rosenberg, Bormann carried on with cruel perseverance a propaganda of racial theories together with the persecutions of the Jews. He issued numerous instructions aiming at discrimination against the Jews in Hitler's Germany, which discrimination later on had such fatal effects and resulted in the annihilation of millions of Jews. By this activity he won Hitler's confidence. He was "authorized to represent the Party in the sphere of government activities" (Verordnungen and Befehle der Parteikanzlei, Volume II, Page 228) and did so. Thus, as chief of the Party Chancellery, he directly participated in the annihilation of Jews, Gypsies, Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, and Czechoslovaks. Under his leadership the NSDAP became a police organization, closely co-operating with the German Secret Police and the SS.
GEN. RUDENKO: Bormann not only knew of all the aggressive plans of Hitler's Government but he also took an active part in their realization. He made full use of the entire Party machinery of the NSDAP to realize the aggressive plans of Hitler's Government, and he appointed the Party Gauleiter Reich Defense Commissioners in the regions where they operated. The NTSDAP Party machinery and Bormann personally participated actively in all measures taken by. the German military and civil authorities for the inhuman exploitation of prisoners of war. This is proved by the numerous instructions and directives issued by Bormann. The evidence of the Prosecution and the legal proceedings have now established the extent of mass annihilation resulting from the savage ill-treatment of the prisoners of war. The Party machinery and the Defendant Bormann personally participated directly in the measures adopted by Hitler's Government in connection with the deportation of the peoples of the occupied territories for slave labor. The secret deportation of Ukrainian girls to Germany for enforced Germanization was carried out with Bormann's approval. By Hitler's order of 18 October 1944, Bormann and Himmler were entrusted with the leadership of the Volkssturm, consisting of all men from 16 to 60 years of age, capable of carrying arms. On the eve of the collapse of Hitler's Germany, Bormann headed the Werewolf underground organization for diversion and subversive activities behind the Allied lines. Bormann participated directly in the plunder of historical and cultural treasures and works of art in the occupied territories. In 1943 he made suggestions for the intensification of the economic plunder in the occupied territories. Such are the crimes of the Defendant Bormann, Hitler's closest collaborator, sharing the full responsibility for the numerous crimes of Hitler's Government and the Nazi Party. Ribbentrop.
GEN. RUDENKO: Joachim van Ribbentrop was not only one of the principal instigators and leaders of the foreign policy of Hitlerite Germany, but he was also one of the most active participants in the criminal conspiracy. Having officially entered the Nazi Party in 1932, the defendant, however, contributed actively to the seizure of power by the Nazis long before this actually occurred, and he rapidly became the official adviser of the Party, inasmuch as he was the "collaborator of the Fuehrer on matters of foreign policy." Ribbentrop's promotion is indissolubly connected with the development of the activities of the Nazi conspirators, activities directed against the interests of peace. In his testimony Ribbentrop declared: "He (Hitler) knew that I was his loyal collaborator." That is why on 4 February 1938 Hitler appointed the convinced and faithful Nazi, Ribbentrop, as official leader of foreign policy, a post which was one of the most important forces in the realization of the entire Nazi conspiracy. Ribbentrop, however, did not limit his activities to the scope of foreign policy. As member of the Hitlerite Government, the Reich Defense Council, and the Secret Council, he participated in the solution of all the innumerable problems connected with the preparation of aggressive wars. That is why he, Ribbentrop, although he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, participated in the solution and realization of problems only faintly relevant to foreign policy, such as the exploitation of manpower in wartime, the organization of the concentration camps, and so forth. In this connection it should be noted that Ribbentrop signed a special, far-reaching agreement with Himmler on the organization of joint intelligence service. Ribbentrop became Reich Foreign Minister exactly at the beginning of the realization of the plans of aggression, which counted on the submission of Europe to Germany. This coincidence is no accident. Ribbentrop was considered, not without reason: as the most qualified person for the realization of this criminal conspiracy.
GEN. RUDENKO: He was preferred even to such an expert on international provocation as Rosenberg, which induced the latter to lodge an official complaint, not without reason. And Hitler was not mistaken in his choice, for Ribbentrop fully justified his confidence. As early as 12 February 1938, a week after his appointment, Ribbentrop together with Hitler and the Defendant Papen, who for a long time before this date had been directing the diversionist activities of the Nazi agents in Austria, participated in a conference at the Obersalzberg. At this meeting he addressed an ultimatum, punctuated by threats, to the Austrian Federal Chancellor Schuschnigg and the latter's Foreign Minister, Schmidt, demanding their agreement to the sacrifice of Austria's independence and this object was attained. As Minister, Ribbentrop was present at the conference of 28 May 1938, during which a decision was made for the execution of Case Green-the plan for aggression against Czechoslovakia. In conformity with the Nazi tactics of weakening their future victim from inside, Ribbentrop constantly kept a close contact with and gave material assistance first to the German Sudeten Party, and then to the Slovak National Socialists, with the object of attaining an internal split and Matricidal war in Czechoslovakia. Having seized Czechoslovakia, the Nazi conspirators, and Ribbentrop among them, began to prepare for the next aggressive act, which had already been outlined by them in their criminal plan against peace-the attack on Poland. Being forced by reason of the recently realized annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia to temporarily conceal Germany's further intentions, Ribbentrop personally and through his agents and his diplomats endeavored to allay the vigilance of the European states by hypocritical declarations to the effect that Germany had no further territorial demands. On 26 January 1939, in Warsaw, the Foreign Minister of fascist Germany, Ribbentrop, declared: ". . .
GEN. RUDENKO: that the consolidation of friendly relations between Germany and Poland on the basis of our agreement constituted the most important factor of Germany's foreign policy." A very short time elapsed and Poland experienced the full value of these assurances of Ribbentrop. I will not dwell here on the perfidious part played by the Defendant Ribbentrop in the German aggression against Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg, for my colleagues have already dealt with this matter convincingly enough. The Defendant Ribbentrop personally and actively participated in carrying out the aggression against Yugoslavia and Greece. Reverting to his favorite method of giving false guarantees in order to conceal future aggressions, Defendant Ribbentrop assured Yugoslavia, on 20 April 1938, that after the Anschluss Germany's frontiers with Yugoslavia were considered both "final and unalterable." At the same time manifold preparations for aggression were carried out with the assistance of the Defendant Ribbentrop. On 12 and 13 August 1939, at the conferences held by Hitler and Ribbentrop with Ciano on the Obersalzberg, an agreement was reached concerning the liquidation of the neutrals one by one. With the direct and immediate assistance of the Defendant Ribbentrop, the Nazi conspirators planned, prepared) and executed the treacherous attack on the U.S.S.R. of 22 June 1941. The Defendant Ribbentrop himself admitted in the courtroom, that at the end of August and the beginning of September 1940, that is, at the time when the work on Case Barbarossa was being carried out-as is evident from the depositions of General Warlimont, General Muller and Field Marshal Paulus-the Defendant Keitel was discussing with him the question of attacking the U.S.S.R. The activities of the defendant, and the Ministry directed by him, played a primary part in the organization of war against the U.S.S.R. with the participation of Finland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
GEN. RUDENKO: After the beginning of the aggression of Germany against the Soviet Union, the Defendant Ribbentrop continued to apply his efforts to lure new accomplices to the side of Germany. Thus in a telegram to the German Ambassador in Tokio on 10 June 1941 he said: "I beg you to try all the means at your disposal to influence Matsuoka in order to force Japan to enter into war with Russia as soon as possible. The sooner, the better. The aim, of course, should be that Japan and Germany shake hands on the Siberian railway before winter comes..." As has been established at the Trial, Ribbentrop, together with the other defendants, was preparing a policy of extermination and plunder, planned by the Hitlerites and then carried out in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. The Defendant Rosenberg, who was elaborating the plans for the exploitation of the occupied territories in eastern Europe, held a conference on this question with the OKW, the Ministry of Economics, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his "Report on Preparatory Work on the Eastern European Questions" he wrote: "As a result of negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latter appointed Consul General Brautigam as their representative to Rosenberg." It is therefore indisputable that Ribbentrop not only knew about the preparations for the military attack on the U.S.S.R., but that he, together with the other conspirators, had planned beforehand the colonization of the territory of the Soviet Union and the enslavement of the Soviet citizens. The defendant was compelled to admit that he had known of the notes issued by the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov concerning the atrocities of the Hitlerites in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union.
GEN. RUDENKO: He, as well as the other conspirators, had also known the other declarations of the chiefs of the Allied Governments concerning the responsibility imposed upon the Nazi Government for the perpetration of the monstrous atrocities by the Hitlerites in the occupied countries. Ribbentrop, as the witness for the Defense, Steengracht, former Secretary of State at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has confirmed, had been one of the initial organizers and was to be appointed honorary member of the International Anti-Jewish Congress which the Germans hoped to convene in July 1944, in Krakow. Ribbentrop himself admitted at the Trial that he had negotiated with the governments of European countries concerning the banishment of the Jews. According to the record of Ribbentrop's conversation with Horthy: "The Minister of Foreign Affairs declared to Horthy that the Jews should either be exterminated or sent to concentration camps. There can be no other decision." This statement amply confirms the fact that Ribbentrop was aware of the existence of the concentration camps although he tried hard to prove the reverse here. Ribbentrop lent his support to other Nazi leaders and above all to the Defendant Sauckel in deporting the population of the occupied countries for forced labor in Germany. Moreover, the Defendant Ribbentrop when carrying out the common plan of conspiracy which included the destruction of the national culture of the peoples of the occupied territories, took a most active part in plundering cultural treasures which are the common property of all nations. To carry out this task, a "Special Service Battalion" had been created on Ribbentrop's instructions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which, during the entire war, followed the advance units, requisitioned, and deported to Germany all kinds of cultural treasures from the occupied territories in the East, in accordance with Ribbentrop's directions.
GEN. RUDENKO: Thus the Defendant Ribbentrop had participated in the seizure of power by the Nazis, playing a leading role in planning, preparing, and waging aggressive and predatory wars; together with the other conspirators he participated, in pursuance of the fascist plans, in the leadership, committing most grievous crimes against the nations whose territories had been temporarily occupied by the Hitlerite invaders. The military group. Several of the defendants in the dock at this Trial of the major war criminals may be said to form a military group. Excluding Goering-who is quite a peculiar figure, uniting in his person the politician, administrator, and soldier-there remain Keitel, Jodl, Doenitz and Raeder. In the course of these proceedings not only have all the Counts of the Indictment against them been sustained, but even more incriminating evidence has been brought to light. The documentary evidence, the testimony of witnesses, including those called by the Defense, helped tip the scales in favor of the Prosecution. The Defense Counsel tried to convince the Tribunal that their clients were the pawns of destiny, involved in this sinister tragedy in spite of themselves. The defendants-Keitel, Jodl, Doenitz, and Raeder endeavor to appear in the role of noble-minded simpletons. To do the Defense justice, they did the best they could to help them in this attempt. We have heard a great deal about the honor of the soldier-of military discipline, fidelity to duty and oaths of allegiance-and the consequent obligation to fulfill Hitler's orders, even those which in their hearts aroused both doubt and direct protest. Such a presentation of their position completely distorts the actual state of affairs. Before passing to the question of the guilt of Keitel, Jodl, Doenitz, and Raeder, I consider it necessary to ask the following four questions: 1) Did these defendants know that Hitlerite Germany, in violation of her international obligations, had prepared a series of aggressive and predatory wars?