dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR. THOMA: Thank you, My Lord. May it please the Tribunal, after what General Rudenko has said, I should like to make one statement. In my speech I have tried to argue upon the statements of the Prosecution and nothing else. I would like to say something else. The words "chivalrous solution of the Jewish question" were not my expression; I just quoted that as a statement made lay Rosenberg a long time before he came into this Court. The Prosecution quotes the following as Rosenberg's statement of a program: "The Jewish question..." and so on; I have already read that. It was not a mere question of chance that Rosenberg did not take part in the boycotting of Jews in 1933, that he was not called upon to work out the laws against the Jews in 1933, 1934, 1935, and so on (expatriation, prohibition of marriages, withdrawal of the right to vote, expulsion from all important positions and offices). Above all, he never took part in the action of 1938 against the Jews, nor in the destruction of synagogues, nor in anti-Semitic demonstrations. Neither was he the instigator in the background who sent out, or ordered, lesser people to commit certain actions. To be sure, Rosenberg was a true follower of Hitler, who took up Hitler's slogans and passed them on. For example, the motto, "The Jewish question will be solved only when the last Jew has left Germany and the European continent," and once the slogan of "Extermination of Jewry." Exaggerated expressions were always part of the National Socialist weapons of propaganda. A Hitler speech was hardly imaginable without insults to his internal or external political 10 July 4¢ opponents, or without threats of extermination. Every one of Hitler's speeches was echoed a million times by Goebbels down to the last speaker of the Party in a small country inn. The same sentences and words which Hitler had used were repeated, and not only in all the political speeches, but in the German press as well, in all the editorials and essays, until, weeks or months later, a new speech was given which brought about a new echo of a similar kind.
DR. THOMA: Rosenberg was no exception. He repeated, as everyone did, all of Hitler's slogans, including that of the "solution of the Jewish question," and once also that of the "extermination of Jewry." Apparently, like Hitler's other supporters, he gave as much or as little thought to the fact that in reality none of those phrases were clear but that they had a sinister double meaning and, while they might have meant real expulsion, they might also have implied the physical annihilation and murder of the Jews. May I remind the Tribunal at this point that Rosenberg, during his testimony, made a reference to a speech of the British Prime Minister in the House of Commons in September 1943, in which speech it was stated that Prussian militarism and National Socialism had to be exterminated root and branch. No German interpreted that literally, and I believe no one interpreted it to mean that German soldiers and the National Socialism had to be exterminated physically. Aside from the knowledge and will of the German people, and aside from the knowledge and will of the majority of the leadership of the Party-that is to say, known only to Bormann, Himmler, and Eichmann-there was hatched and carried out, from 1941 onward, a mass crime which surpassed all human concepts of reason and morality. The "Jewish question" was developed even further and brought to a so-called "final solution." The Tribunal will have to decide the question whether Rosenberg, the specially characteristic exponent of the Party, the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, is also responsible for the murder of the Jews, and particularly for the murder of Jews in the-East; that is, is he a murderer of Jews? Or must it be recognized and admitted that, although he- stands but a hair's breadth from the abyss, it was, after all, external circumstances which led up to it all, and that these circumstances were outside his sphere of responsibility and guilt? I believe I can say that Rosenberg never aimed, either openly or in secret, at the physical extermination of the Jews.
DR. THOMA: His reserve and moderation were certainly no mere tactics. The slipping of anti-Semitism into crime took place without his knowledge or will. The fact in itself that he preached anti-Semitism justifies his punishment as the murderer of Jews as little as one could hold Rousseau and Mirabeau responsible for the subsequent horrors of the French Revolution. Furthermore, no matter how much the first impression might lead to it, criminal guilt on his part cannot be deduced from his position as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. As already stated, the "responsible minister" cannot simply be held responsible for criminal acts committed in his sphere or his territory. Criminal responsibility, according to the German Penal Code, Paragraph 357, exists only if an official knowingly assents to the criminal actions of his subordinates, and if-the commentaries furnish this supplement-the superior is in a position to prevent the action. I should like to take up the question of his responsibility on the grounds of the documents submitted for this purpose. (1) The action taken against the Jews at Sluzk (Document Number 1104-PS). On 27 October 1941, a horrible slaughter of Jews took place in Sluzk, committed by the four companies of a police battalion, because the commander received an order from his superior to clear the city of all Jews without exception. The district commissioner immediately made vigorous protests, demanded that the action be stopped at once, and gun in hand kept the police officers in check as far as he was able. He reported to the General Commissioner of White Ruthenia, Kube, at Minsk, and the latter suggested to the Reich Commissioner Ostland, Lohse, that the officers implicated be punished for this "unheard-of bestiality." He in turn reported to the Reich Minister for the East, with the request that immediate measures be taken at higher levels. The Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories sent the entire report to Heydrich, the Chief of the Security Police and of the SD, requesting further action.
DR. THOMA: Due to an ingenious system according to which the Police were not responsible to the competent administrative chief and were not even obliged to report, Rosenberg could not take any further steps either in this or in similar cases. He was not head of the Police, and could only hope that the transmission of the report to Heydrich would be sufficient to stop what he considered to be regional excesses of the Police. It can be seen from the indignation of all the administrative offices over the reported incidents that none of them knew that it was no question of excesses, but of an action ordered by Heydrich and Himmler. Even though Rosenberg violently disliked Heydrich and Himmler, not even he could suspect anything of this kind. (2) Also from October 1941 dates Document 3663-PS in which the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, for whom Dr. Leibbrandt signed, calls for a report by the Reich Commissioner Ostland, because a complaint has been made by the Reich Security Main Office that the Reich Commissioner Ostland had prohibited executions of Jews in Libau. To this the addressee replied: "I prohibited the execution of Jews in Libau because there was no justification for the way in which it was carried out." This is followed by a request for further instructions. Regarding this document-which is signed by the departmental chief Leibbrandt, and which in no way points to any knowledge on the part of the Defendant Rosenberg-I wish to make the following provisional brief statement: It is not conceived as a reproach by the Reich Minister for the East because the executions of Jews were discontinued, but it simply represents the transmittal of a complaint by the Reich Security Main Office, adding a request to report. It is to be presumed that the reason for the complaint was that the Reich Commissioner Ostland encroached on the competency of the Reich Security Main Office and the demand for a report was presumably issued in that sense.
DR. THOMA: In a letter of 18 December 1941, the Reich Minister, in a letter also signed "By order: Brautigam," asked the Reich Commissioner Ostland to settle directly any questions which might arise with the Higher SS and Police Leader. To identify the letter "R" as Rosenberg's initial, because the Prosecution obviously was more than doubtful about Rosenberg's knowledge of matters, turned out to be equally unfortunate. This "R" is not Rosenberg's. (3) Document Number 3428-PS concerns a letter of the General Commissioner for White Ruthenia to the Reich Commissioner for the East. It is a shocking document about the mass extermination of Jews in White Ruthenia; however, there is nothing of interest in it for the case against Rosenberg, because those horrible events could be attributed to him only if he knew of them, and in neglect of his duty failed to intervene. There is no actual proof to found a supposition of such knowledge. The claim that these documents were found in Rosenberg's possession cannot be in accordance with the actual facts, for they show the Reich Commissioner in Riga as the addressee. (4) In the '`Memorandum for the Fuehrer of 18 December 1941" (Document Number 001-PS) the defendant suggested the following, which I must quote literally: "The assaults against members of the German Armed Forces have not stopped, but have gone on. It seems to be an obvious plan to disturb German-French co-operation, to force Germany to take measures of retaliation, thereby bringing about a new defensive attitude on the part of the French against Germany. My suggestion to the Fuehrer is that instead of killing 100 Frenchmen, he should have 100 or more Jewish bankers, lawyers, et cetera' shot." It is not my task here to discuss how far it is admissible to shoot hostages, but one thing is certain, that Rosenberg was convinced such a measure was admissible. In that case, however, his suggestion must be considered in that light, and can by no means be judged as an independent incitement to murder. Besides, the suggestion had no results.
DR. THOMA: In his reply of 31 December 1941, Lammers, acting on behalf of the Fuehrer, merely referred to the suggestion of utilizing the furniture and fittings from Jewish houses, and not to the shooting of hostages. Therefore, Rosenberg made no more reference to it. At this point I should like to interpolate the following: The French prosecutor charged Rosenberg, when the latter was in the witness box, with the fact that this was murder. Gentlemen of the Tribunal, it was not murder, because no execution took place. But neither was it incitement to murder. One can only incite someone who still has to be persuaded. However, if the man who commits the act is already prepared for anything, is an omni mode facturus, then he can be incited no more, and there only remains the offense of a suggestion of a criminal act, which, according to German law, must be judged as an offense to receive only slight punishment, because it has had no consequence. Just at this point I should like to recall that Rosenberg testified as a witness that on one occasion a court sentenced a district commissioner in the East to death for having extorted valuables from a Jewish family, and that that sentence was carried out. Please do not consider it an improper argument of the defense when I say: Does that not prove that Rosenberg abhorred criminal acts against the Jews? (5) Document Number Rosenberg-135, Exhibit Number USSR-289, refers to the report of the General Commissioner of White Ruthenia in Minsk, dated 1 June 1943, on the subject of what happened in the prison of Minsk as regards gold fillings. This was addressed to the Reich Commissioner Ostland, who forwarded the report on 18 June 1243 with the utmost indignation. At his hearing before the Tribunal on 16 April 1946 the defendant already made a statement on this point.
DR. THOMA: I should like to repeat this briefly now: The defendant had returned on 22 June 1943 from an official visit to the Ukraine and found a pile of notices about conferences, a number of letters, and above all the Fuehrer decree from the middle of June 1943, in which Rosenberg was instructed to limit himself to the fundamentals of lawmaking and not to bother about details. Herr Rosenberg did not read the letter concerned, but he has to surmise-he cannot . remember this-that the letter was explained to him by his office, and presumably in the course of the reading he was informed of many documents and learned that there was again serious trouble between the Police and the civilian administration, and it is probable that Rosenberg said: Turn that over for investigation to Gauleiter Meyer or to the liaison officer. Otherwise the terrible details would certainly have remained in Rosenberg's memory. Nobody doubts for a moment that the horrible crimes shown in these documents and all the other frightful things not covered in the documents, but which actually happened, call for atonement. Nobody doubts that not only the lesser henchmen acting on higher orders shall be punished, but also above all those who issued the orders, and those responsible for the crimes. Rosenberg did not issue an order to murder Jews; that much is clear. Is he, in spite of this, responsible for the frightful murders? There is no trace of the defendant's handwriting on any of the murder documents. Nor has it been determined in any case that he knew anything about what went on. Can we condemn Rosenberg on the basis of his presumed and probable knowledge? Rosenberg has by no means the intention of playing a false and cowardly game of hide-and-seek behind his advisers and officials. But let us remember how cunningly the so-called executions of the Jews were kept secret, not only from' the public, but even from Hitler's closest collaborators. Is it not possible, and even credible, that they were playing a game of hide-and-seek even with Rosenberg?
DR. THOMA: The thoughts and intentions of none of the other NSDAP leaders were revealed so openly and clearly to all the world as particularly those of the author Rosenberg. Of none other could one be so sure that he would turn with indignation from inhuman and criminal acts. But let us go one step further and assume that Rosenberg had full knowledge of this greatest crime. It is not proved, but one could imagine it and surmise it. Is he then responsible, too? Peculiar, even subtle, as we well know, was the departmental authority, and the responsibility which went with it, in the eastern countries. The entire police system had been taken from Rosenberg's sphere of influence, at the highest level of which was Himmler, and under him Heydrich. Of their orders and measures Rosenberg naturally had no knowledge and no idea. The lower echelons of police leaders and police agencies were in effect subordinate and responsible to their police superiors and no one else. It was quite immaterial whether or not Rosenberg knew anything of the measures taken by the Police; he could change them as little as any other of his fellow citizens in the Third Reich. One might say: Yes, he could have remonstrated with Himmler or Hitler; he could have resigned. Of course, he could have done so. The decisive point, however, is not whether he could have done; it; the question is whether he would have achieved anything by doing so- that is to say, whether he could have prevented the execution; for only in such a case could his responsibility be affirmed on the basis of his failure to act, and only in such a case could one speak of causality without which criminal responsibility is unthinkable. One might further claim, still under the assumption of Rosenberg's knowledge of matters, that Rosenberg could at least have taken steps against the Reich commissioners, who were obviously involved in these matters. We know that the administrative organization and the dividing up of final authority in the East were vague, to say the least.
DR. THOMA: The Reich commissioners were sovereign masters in their own territory, who had the final decision in the shooting of hostages and in other retaliatory measures of far-reaching consequence. And what was the actual extent of their authority? In case the Reich Commissioner was dissatisfied with Rosenberg-and mostly he was' dissatisfied-he went to Hitler. Does anyone really believe that if Rosenberg disagreed with Koch as regards the execution of Jews, he would have been upheld by Hitler if he had approached him? Here again, there is a lack of that causality which is indispensable for a legal condemnation. I come now to the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, the Operational Staff Rosenberg. No less than three prosecutors have taken the stand in this Trial against Rosenberg, and have accused him of wholesale stealing of objects of art and science in the East and West (Storey, 18 December 1945; Gerthoffer, 6 February 1946; Smirnov, 15 February 1946). First I must take exception to some obvious exaggerations and injustices, that is, the assertion that the activities of the special staff in the West extended to public and private property without distinction (Volume VII, Page 55), and that the objects of art Germany appropriated amount to more than the combined treasures of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, of the British Museum in London, of the Louvre in Paris, and of the Tretjakov Gallery. Further, I must declare the statement incorrect that the "looting program" of Rosenberg was intended to rob the occupied countries of their entire centuries-old possessions of art and science. Finally, the Prosecution contrasts Rosenberg's actions to the looting of art treasures in former wars. It says that while egotism, conceit, taste, and personal inclination used to be the underlying motives of such looting, the National Socialists primarily had the criminal intention of storing up reserves of valuables (Volume VII, Page 65).
DR. THOMA: I think it unnecessary to refer to the looting of art treasures in former times as far back as Napoleon, because the concepts of international law and regulations have changed in the meantime, but I should like to mention two things: First, how many of the most famous objects of art in the most famous galleries of the world got there through the channels of war and how many got there in a peaceful way? Second, I am prepared to accept the fact that the Prosecution denies Rosenberg's delight in art, or joy in the possession of art treasures as a possible motive for his actions, because Rosenberg was no robber, no plunderer, of art. He had no intention of appropriating the objects of art for himself or for someone else. What were the actual facts? Rosenberg's operational staff was active in the East and in the West. It had two tasks: First, to search libraries, archives, et cetera, for material suitable for the proposed "university" of the Party, to confiscate this material and take it away for the purpose of research, and secondly, to seize objects of cultural value which were in the possession of or which belonged to Jews, or which had no owner or were of a doubtful origin. The Prosecution says: "The true and only motive, the true and only purpose of this 'seizure' was robbery and looting; there could be no question of intentions of mere 'safeguarding."' On 20 August 1941 Rosenberg wrote to the Reich Commissioner Ostland that he wished distinctly to prohibit the transfer of any kind of art treasure from any place whatsoever without the approval of the Reich Commissioner (Document Number 1015(c)-PS).
DR. THOMA: On 30 September 1942 the Commander-in-Chief of the Army issued an order (Document Number 1015(n)-PS) in agreement with Rosenberg to the following effect: "Apart from exceptional cases when it is urgent to safeguard endangered objects of cultural value, it is desired that for the time being such objects be left where they are." Later on, it says: "The troops and all military commands within the operational area are now as before directed to spare valuable cultural monuments as far as possible and to prevent their destruction or damage." In the report of the Special Staff for Creative Arts (report on work carried out between October 1940 and 1944, Document Number 1015(b)-PS) it is stated that in the Occupied Eastern Territories the activities of the Special Staff for Creative Arts were restricted to the scientific and photographic registration of official collections, and that the safeguarding and protection of these was carried out in co-operation with the military and civilian agencies. It says further that in the course of vacating the territories, several hundred valuable icons and paintings, et cetera, were saved and, with the co-operation of the individual army groups, were brought to a place of safekeeping in the Reich. Finally, on 12 June 1942 Rosenberg sent out the following decree in a circular letter to the highest Reich authorities, which reads: "In the Occupied Eastern Territories a number of offices and individuals are engaged in the safeguarding of objects of cultural value. They work from various approaches to the subject and independently of each other. It is absolutely essential for the administration of these territories that a survey be made of the existing objects of cultural value. Furthermore it must be endeavored, as a general rule, to leave them where they are for the time being.
DR. THOMA: To this end I have set up a central office for the registration and safeguarding of objects of cultural value in the East as a special division within my ministry." Thus Rosenberg, as can be proved, proceeded from the point of view that objects of cultural value had to remain in the country and only through the retreat of the German troops were a few hundred valuable icons and paintings brought into Germany. In time of war, objects of cultural value, both mobile and immobile, are as exposed to the danger of destruction as are any other objects of value. Rosenberg stopped all unnecessary destruction, theft, and removal; he centralized the safeguarding of objects of cultural value and had all necessary actions taken through his operational staff in the East and the West (for example, see Abel's report on the library at Minsk, Document Number 076-PS). It is quite in accordance with the conception of international law (I quote Scholz, Privateigentum im besetzten And unbesetzten Feindesland, Berlin 1919, Page 36) that care should be taken on the part of the occupying powers not only to protect, but to safeguard' and salvage protected objects of art as far as the war situation permits. It is even considered a cultural duty for the occupying power to remove particularly valuable objects of art from the combat zone and place them in safety as far as possible. Under certain circumstances the concept of international law may render it the cultural duty of the occupying power to bring into his own country for reasons of salvage objects of special scientific and artistic value. This is not an inadmissible 'Seizure'' (Article 56, Paragraph 2, Rules of Land Warfare), because this term could only apply to acts which are anticultural, not to acts which are procultural. (See Scholz, as above, Page 37). Finally, I want to refer to Document Number 1109-PS, a report according to which scientific institutes that' had been saved were ready to be taken back to the Ukraine immediately after the hoped for re-entry of the troops.