Chapter XVI: Front Matter (16)

Together with all that I have just told you, I could describe other terrible scenes which I witnessed during the period when I was the rector of this cemetery church. The cemetery was very often bombed by German planes. Please imagine the scene when people who have found eternal rest—their coffins, bodies, bones, skulls—all this is thrown out on the ground. Tombstones and crosses lay scattered in disorder, and people who had just suffered the loss of their kin, had to suffer once more seeing the huge craters made by bombs sometimes on the very spot where they had just buried their relatives or friends, had to suffer once more, knowing that they had no peace.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, during the period of hunger, in what proportion did the number of burial services at this cemetery church increase?

LOMAKIN: I have already said that as a result of the terrible conditions imposed by the siege, as a result of the nonstop air raids, as a result of the shelling of the city, the number of burial services reached an incredible figure—up to several thousand a day. I would especially like to relate to the Tribunal the facts which I observed on 7 February 1942. A month earlier, quite exhausted by hunger and the long walk from my house which I had to the church every day, I fell ill. Two of my assistant priests replaced me.

On 7 February, on the Parents’ Saturday before the beginning of Lent I came for the first time since my illness to my church. A horrifying picture was before my eyes. The church was surrounded by piles of bodies, some of which even blocked the entrance. These piles numbered from 30 to 100 bodies. They were not only at the church door, but also around the church. I witnessed people, exhausted from starvation, who, in their desire to bring the bodies of their relatives to the cemetery, would fall down themselves and die on the spot beside the body. Such scenes I witnessed quite frequently.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Witness, will you please answer the following question: What damage was done to the Leningrad churches?

LOMAKIN: Your Honors, as I have already reported to you, my duty as Archdean of these churches was to observe from time to time the condition of the churches in the city and to report in detail to the metropolitan. The following were my personal observations and impressions:

The Church of the Resurrection on Griboiedov Canal, which is a very remarkable artistic church, was very seriously damaged by shelling from the German enemy. The domes were destroyed, the roofs pierced by shells, numerous frescos were either partly damaged or entirely destroyed. The Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Ismailovskaya Fortress, a memorial ornamented by beautiful artistic friezes commemorating the heroic siege of Izmailovskaya Fortress, was severely damaged by systematic shelling and bombing by the Germans. The roof was broken in. All the sculpture was broken; only a few fragments remained.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, how many churches were destroyed and how many were severely damaged in Leningrad?

LOMAKIN: The Church of the Serafimov Cemetery was almost completely destroyed by artillery fire; this church was not only hit by shells, but great damage was caused to it by air raids. The Luftwaffe caused great damage to churches. I must first of all mention two churches which suffered most from the Leningrad siege. To begin with, the Church of Prince Vladimir, where, by the way, I have the honor of officiating at the present time. In 1942 from February until the first of July, I was rector of this church; and I should like to acquaint Your Honors with the following very interesting but terrible incident which occurred on Easter Eve of 1942.

On Easter Saturday, at 5 p. m. Moscow time, the Luftwaffe carried out a mass raid over the city. At 5:30 two bombs fell on the southwestern part of the Church of Prince Vladimir. The faithful were at that moment waiting to approach the picture of our Lord’s interment. There was an enormous mass of faithful, who wished to fulfill their Christian duty. I saw some 30 persons lying wounded in the portico and in different places about the church. They lay helpless for some time, until we could give them medical aid.

It was a scene of utter confusion. People who had had no time to enter the church tried to run away and hide in the air-raid ditches, while the others who had entered scattered in terror against the walls of the church, awaiting death. The concussion of the bombs was so heavy that for some period of time there was a constant fall of shattered glass, mortar, and pieces of stucco. When I came down from a room on the second floor, I was quite astounded by the scene before me. People flocked around me:

“Little father, are you alive? Little father, how can we
understand this? How can we believe what was said about the
Germans—that they believe in God, that they love Christ, that
they will not harm those who believe in God? Where is their
faith then, if they can shoot about like this on Easter eve?”

I must add that the air-raid lasted right through the night until Easter morning; this night of love, this night of Christian joy, the Resurrection Night, was turned by the Germans into a night of blood, a night of destruction, and a night of suffering for innocent people. Two or three days passed. In the Church of Prince Vladimir—it was obvious to me, as rector—and in other churches and cemeteries the victims of the Luftwaffe Easter raid appeared: women, children, and aged. . .

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, you also visited the Leningrad region to verify the condition of the churches. Were you not a witness to. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, if your examination is going on, I think perhaps we’d better adjourn now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Nelte, can you let the Tribunal know what your wishes are about General Westhoff and Wielen?

DR. NELTE: In reply to the suggestion by the Court, as to calling the witnesses Westhoff and Wielen, I should like to make the following statement after discussion with my colleagues:

First, we abstain from calling both witnesses at this stage of the proceedings provided that the Prosecution also abstains at present from reading out Documents RF-1450 and USSR-413 at this stage of the Trial. Second, I call General Westhoff as witness; and I gather, from the Court’s suggestion, that this witness has been allowed.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly.

Mr. Roberts, could Sir David attend here in the course of a short time, do you think?

MR. ROBERTS: He is at the Chief Prosecutors’ meeting now, but I can get him in a few moments if there is a question which I couldn’t answer on his behalf.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think perhaps it will be best if he were here. It is only a question, really, as to whether the document should be read.

MR. ROBERTS: Well, I am told the meeting has just ended. I didn’t quite get what Your Lordship said.

THE PRESIDENT: I said that the question was whether the document is to be read by the Prosecution. Dr. Nelte, as I understand it, was suggesting that perhaps the Prosecution would forego their right to read the document.

MR. ROBERTS: My Lord, speaking for myself, I feel quite certain that so far as the British Delegation is concerned we should not forego reading that document. We do put it forward, or our Russian colleagues put it forward, as a very cold-blooded murder of brave men; and we are most anxious that the document should be read.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

DR. NELTE: Mr. President, I have not made it a condition that the documents should not be submitted at all, but only at this stage of the proceedings.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but you see, the Prosecution want it read as part of the Prosecution case. If it is postponed until your case begins, it will not be read as part of the Prosecution case.

DR. NELTE: I think that the Prosecution, when cross-examining the witness, could present the documents they want to submit now.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we can’t get Wielen over here tomorrow, and the case of the Prosecution, we hope, will close tomorrow.

DR. NELTE: Yes, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Therefore, the document must be read tomorrow. We will then get General Westhoff and Wielen over for you at any time that is convenient to you.

DR. NELTE: I think the Prosecution has reserved the right to adduce, at any time during the proceedings, other charges and documents. This follows from the Indictment. It therefore seems to me that the Prosecution, without prejudice to its case, could postpone the presentation of this charge until I have examined the witness.

GENERAL RUDENKO: I should like to add something to what my colleague, Mr. Roberts, has said. The point is that the document presented to the Tribunal was put at our disposal by the British Delegation and was submitted by us in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter. This document, being an irrefutable proof, can be read into the record or not, in accordance with the decision of the Tribunal of 17 December 1945.

If the Defense, as Sir David already stated this morning, intends to oppose this document by summoning witnesses, it is their right. This is what I wanted to add to Mr. Roberts’ statement.

MR. ROBERTS: Perhaps Your Lordship would allow me to add one thing. The Tribunal has ruled that this document is admissible, and it has been admitted, as I understand; and therefore, I would submit that it ought to be read as part of the Prosecution case, or perhaps it might be equally convenient after the discussion on organizations.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, yes, I see that Sir David has just come into court.

Sir David, I think the view the Tribunal take is that it is a matter for the Prosecution to decide when they put in this document; and if they wish to put it in now, or as Mr. Roberts suggested, after the argument on organizations, they are at liberty to do so. Then these witnesses can be called at a later stage when the defendants’ counsel wish them to be called.

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: My Lord, I entirely agree with what I am told Mr. Roberts has put forward. We consider that this document ought to be put in as part of the case for the Prosecution. If it will be of any assistance to counsel for the defendants, I shall be glad to take up the matter of the time that shall be fixed, after the organizations; but the reading of the document certainly should be part of the Prosecution’s case.

THE PRESIDENT: The document may be read, then, at the end of the Prosecution’s case.

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Yes.

May I apologize to the Tribunal for being absent. There was other business, connected with the Trial, in which I was engaged.

THE PRESIDENT: Certainly.

Then, Dr. Nelte, the Tribunal would like you to let us know when you wish those witnesses called, so that we can communicate with London in order that the witness, Wielen, may be brought over here.

DR. NELTE: As to when exactly during my presentation the witnesses should appear I cannot say, for I cannot say when the stage for the presentation of my witnesses will be reached. I think the Court is in a better position to judge when it will be my turn for the presentation of evidence. In the course of the examination of those witnesses who will be granted to me, I shall also question this witness.

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Nelte, you see these witnesses not only affect your client, but they affect the Defendant Göring and the Defendant Kaltenbrunner; and therefore, what the Tribunal wish is that you, in consultation with Dr. Stahmer and counsel for Kaltenbrunner, should let the Tribunal know what would be the most appropriate time for those two witnesses to be called, so that time may be given for summoning Wielen here and letting the prison authorities know about Westhoff.

DR. NELTE: We spoke about that and have agreed that the witnesses be called during my presentation.

I just understand from Sir David that we are all agreed that the documents be presented after the case against the organizations.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: May I continue my questioning, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: Continue, yes.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I have one last question to put to you, Witness. Tell me, when you left the city to go into the country to inspect the churches, did you sometimes witness instances of derision of religion and desecration of churches?

LOMAKIN: Yes, I did.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Would you be kind enough to relate this to the Tribunal?

LOMAKIN: In June 1943, by order of Metropolitan Alexei, I went to visit the district of Old Peterhof and Oranienbaum. From personal observations and from my conversations with the members of the church I learned the following, which I know to be true, and which was all corroborated later on when New Peterhof was freed from the German occupation. All that I shall now relate may be verified by inspection.

In Old Peterhof soon after the Germans occupied New Peterhof, exactly within 10 days, all churches were destroyed by the enemy’s artillery fire and aircraft. At the same time the Luftwaffe and German artillery forces timed their raids so that not only would the churches be demolished, but the peaceful worshipers who sought refuge there from the fighting and the artillery fire would be killed as well.

All the churches in Old Peterhof, namely the Znamenskaya Church, the Holy Trinity Cemetery Church, and the small Church of Lazarus attached to it, the church museum at the Villa of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the Serafimovskij Church and the church of the military cemetery—all these were destroyed by the Germans. I can state with certainty that under the ruins of the Cemetery Church of the Holy Trinity and the Lazarus Church, in their crypts, as well as in the cemetery tombs and vaults of the Znamenskaya Church, up to 5,000 persons perished.

The Germans wouldn’t let the survivors come outside. It is easy to picture the sanitary conditions and the general state of the people confined in those church crypts—air fouled by the breathing and excrements of these unfortunate people, frightened to death. They fainted, they grew dizzy, but their slightest attempt to leave the church and come out into fresh air was punished by shots from the inhuman fascists.

Much time has already passed since that time, but I remember especially well one instance which a close relative of the people about whom I am now going to speak related to me. A little girl came out of the crypt of Trinity Church for a breath of fresh air; she was immediately shot by a German sniper. The mother followed in order to pick her up, but she also fell down bleeding at the side of her child. The citizen Romashova, who related this to me, is still alive, and I have seen her many times—she recalls this incident with horror. And many were the incidents of that kind.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell me, Witness, in the other districts of the Leningrad region did you ever witness the desecration of shrines and sacred objects?

LOMAKIN: Yes, for example in Pskov. Pskov presented a horrible picture of ruins and devastation. I feel that I must recall to Your Honors that Pskov is a museum city, a shrine of the Orthodox faith, ornamented by numerous churches, and situated on the Velikaya River and its tributaries.

In that city, there were no less then 60 churches of various sizes and various denominations. Of these 39 were not only priceless monuments of church architecture of high artistic value, with beautiful icons and frescos, but also wonderful historical monuments, reflecting all the greatness and century-old multiform history of the Russian people. The Kremlin (walled city)—the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. . .

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Well, what did the Germans do to those churches?

LOMAKIN: That is just what I want to relate. The Kremlin—the whole Holy Trinity Cathedral, with its remarkable altar screen, was plundered by the German soldiers. Everything was carried out of it as well as out of all the other churches in the city. You won’t find even a single tiny icon left, not a single church vestment or sacramental vessel—all has been taken away by the Germans. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity—I speak again of this Cathedral. I almost paid with my life for my visit there. Just half an hour before my arrival a mine exploded right in front of the altar gates. The gates were destroyed; the altar was blood-spattered. Before my own eyes I saw three of our Soviet soldiers who had perished in the explosion, right in front of the altar.

Mines were also laid in other places. I could give another interesting detail. Pskov was liberated in August 1944, but on Epiphany, in January 1946, another mine exploded, killing two persons. Likewise the church of St. Vasili-on-the-Hill was also mined. There a mine was laid at the very entrance to the church. In all the churches the abundance of all kinds of refuse, dirt, bottles, cans, _et cetera_, was strikingly noticeable. The Cathedral of St. John’s Monastery was turned by the Germans into a stable. In another church, the Church of the Epiphany, they set up a wine cellar. In a third church I saw a depot of fuel—coal, peat, _et cetera_. But why speak of individual churches? Wherever we turn, our hearts bleed at the spectacle of all the suffering, all the plunder, brought about by people who shouted all over Europe about their culture, who despised mankind, while some proclaimed their belief in God. What kind of faith is theirs!

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I have no more questions to ask the witness.

LOMAKIN: I should like to ask the Prosecutor’s permission to say a few more words about what happened in Leningrad.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: With regard to that, you must ask the Tribunal.

LOMAKIN: I am slightly diverging from the usual order. I beg your permission, Your Honors.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

LOMAKIN: The Church of Nikolai Bogoiavlensky is the Cathedral of Leningrad. The present Patriarch Alexei lived at this church during the siege. Since I served there from July 1942 to the end of the war, I witnessed on numerous occasions artillery fire directed at the cathedral. One wonders what kind of military objectives those heroic warriors could seek in our holy church! On high feast days or ordinary Sundays immediately the artillery would begin fire. And what a fire! In the first week of Lent in 1943, from the early morning and until late at night, neither we, the clergy, nor the worshipers praying in the church could possibly leave it. Outside was death and destruction. With my own eyes I saw some fifty persons—I don’t know exactly how many—members of my congregation, killed right near the church. They tried to leave in haste before the “all clear” signal, and death met them near the church. In this sacred cathedral I had to bury thousands of peaceful citizens torn to pieces, victims of the predatory raids of the air force and artillery. An ocean of tears was shed here during the memorial services. During one of the bombardments His Grace, our Metropolitan Alexei, escaped death by a hair’s breadth, as several shell fragments smashed his cell.

I should just like to add, not wishing to take up too much of your time, that it is a remarkable thing that most of the intensive artillery fire on Leningrad always took place on feast days; the houses of God, tramway stops, and hospitals were put under fire, and destroyed with all means. The homes of peaceful citizens were bombed.

It would take too long, Your Honors, to relate everything which I have seen during these grim war days of blood and sorrow of the Leningradians. But I just want to say in conclusion that the Russian people and the people of Leningrad have fulfilled their duty to their fatherland to the very end. In spite of the heavy artillery fire and raids of the Luftwaffe there was organized efficiency and order, and the Orthodox Church shared this suffering. By prayer and preaching of God’s word, she brought consolation and gave courage to the hearts of the faithful. She has laid an unsparing sacrifice on the altar of the fatherland.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I have no more questions to ask the witness, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Do any of the other members of the Prosecution wish to ask any question?

[_Each indicated that he had no question._]

Do any of the defendants’ counsel wish to ask any questions?

[_Each indicated that he had no question._]

Then the witness can retire.

[_The witness left the stand._]

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: May I say a few words by way of concluding my report?

THE PRESIDENT: You may, certainly.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Your Honors, in his note of 6 January 1942 the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. declared that the Soviet Government considered it their duty to inform the “entire civilized world and all honest people throughout the world” of the monstrous crimes committed by the Hitlerite bandits.

In the battles of this war, the greatest ever fought by men, millions of honest people achieved victory over fascist Germany. The will of millions of honest people created this International Tribunal for the purpose of judging the main criminals of war. Behind him each representative of the Prosecution feels the invisible support of these millions of honest people, in whose name he accuses the leaders of the fascist conspiracy.

The honor of concluding the presentation of the evidence submitted by the Soviet Prosecution has fallen to my lot. I know that at this very moment millions of citizens of my country and with them millions of honest persons throughout the world await a just and speedy verdict. Your Honors, may I conclude with this.

MR. DODD: May it please the Tribunal, I have a few matters that will take just a very few minutes, with respect to the record.

In the course of the presentation of the 23rd day of November 1945, pertaining to the economic aspects of the conspiracy, certain documents were read from; but they were not formally offered in evidence. At the time, the Tribunal indicated that sufficient time had not been allowed Counsel for the Defense to make an examination of these documents, and we did not offer them and said instead that we would make them available in the defendants’ Information Center. We did so, and they have been there all of the time since. They should be offered formally and, as the extracts were read, there is no necessity for going through that again. They are as follows:

The first one referred to in the record was one bearing the Document Number EC-14, which we offer as Exhibit USA-758. Extracts from this document were quoted on Page 297 of the record (Volume II, Page 233).

The next one is Document Number EC-27, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-759. Extracts from this document were quoted on Pages 279 and 280 of the record (Volume II, Page 221).

The third one is Document Number EC-28, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-760. Extracts from this document were quoted on Page 275 of the record (Volume II, Pages 218, 219). On that page the document was erroneously referred to as USA Exhibit 23, but the correct number is Exhibit Number USA-760.

Document Number EC-174 was quoted from on pages 303 and 304 of the record (Volume II, Page 238). We offer that as Exhibit Number USA-761.

Document Number EC-252—extracts from it were quoted on Page 303 of the record (Volume II, Page 238). We offer it as Exhibit Number USA-762.

Document Number EC-257—extracts from this document were quoted on Page 303 of the record (Volume II, Page 237). We offer it as Exhibit Number USA-763.

Document Number EC-404—we summarized and quoted from this document on Pages 291 and 292 of the record (Volume II, Page 229). We now offer it as Exhibit Number USA-764.

Document Number D-157 was read from, on Page 288 of the record (Volume II, Page 227), and we now offer it as Exhibit Number USA-765.

Document Number D-167 was summarized and extracts were quoted from it on Page 298 of the record (Volume II, Page 234), and we offer it as Exhibit Number USA-766.

Document Number D-203—extracts from it were quoted on Pages 283 to 286 of the record (Volume II, Pages 224-226), and we offer it as Exhibit Number USA-767.

Document Number D-204, which was quoted from on Pages 286 and 287 of the record (Volume II, Pages 226-227), is offered as Exhibit Number USA-768.

Document Number D-206—extracts from this paper were quoted on Pages 297 and 298 of the record (Volume II, Page 234), and it is offered as Exhibit Number USA-769.

Document Number D-317—extracts were quoted from it on Pages 289 and 290 of the record (Volume II, Page 227), and we offer it as Exhibit Number USA-770.

Now in addition to these documents, Lieutenant Bryson, who presented the case for the Prosecution against the individual Defendant Schacht, offered in evidence Documents EC-437 and 258 in their entirety, on the condition that the French and Russian translations subsequently be filed with the Tribunal. Now, EC-437 was assigned as Exhibit Number USA-624 and EC-258 was assigned as Exhibit Number USA-625, and the Tribunal ruled on Page 2543 of the record (Volume V, Page 129) that the documents would be received in their entirety only after the translations had been completed. Copies of these documents in all four languages have been filed with the Tribunal and in the defendants’ Information Center, and that was done a few weeks ago and in accordance therefore with the ruling of the Tribunal. We now offer these documents in evidence in their entirety, and we assume that they will retain the numbers Exhibit Number USA-624 and Exhibit Number USA-625.

Also in the trial brief on the individual responsibility of the Defendant Schacht, which was recently submitted to the Tribunal and to the defendants’ counsel, reference is made to a few documents which have not already, or heretofore, been offered in evidence. I think there is no necessity for taking the time of the Tribunal to read from these documents, and instead we have had pertinent extracts made available in German, French, Russian, and English; copies in all the four languages have already been distributed to the Tribunal and placed in the defendants’ Information Center. They are these documents, and we ask that they be received in evidence:

They are: Document Number EC-384, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-771; Document Number EC-406, offered as Exhibit Number USA-772; Document Number EC-456, offered as Exhibit Number USA-773; Document Number EC-495, offered as Exhibit Number USA-774; Document Number EC-497, offered as Exhibit Number USA-775; and in addition an interrogation of the Defendant Schacht, dated 11 July 1945, which is one of those referred to in the trial brief as Exhibit Number USA-776; and, finally, with respect to this economic aspect of this person, we respectfully ask that the secret minutes of the meeting of the ministers, dated 30 May 1936, which are included in the set of documents, Number 1301-PS, and assigned Exhibit Number USA-123, be received in evidence in their entirety. These minutes have been made available to the Tribunal and the defendants’ counsel in all four languages.

I also wish to refer to Document Number 1639-PS, which we offer as. . .

DR. KRAUS: The Prosecution has just made the motion to accept in supplementary evidence a number of documents concerning the Defendant Schacht. These documents are contained in a supplementary volume which we received after the special case against the Defendant Schacht had been finished, even a considerable time afterwards.

I do not intend to protest against this procedure; but in my opinion this procedure, if admitted by the Court, has some consequences for Defense Counsel. If this procedure is approved, we ought also to be permitted to offer evidential material on behalf of our clients after this case has been concluded and until the end of the entire presentation of evidence, if we feel that such evidential material, that is, mainly documents, should still be submitted on behalf of our clients.

It is necessary that we should be in a position also to present witnesses later on, and I should like to ask the Tribunal for clarification of this.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Dr. Kraus, the Tribunal thinks that the Prosecution are entitled to apply, as they have applied, to have these documents admitted in evidence and, similarly, that the defendants will be entitled to apply to have any evidence which they wish offered in evidence even after the individual defendants’ case has come to an end.

DR. KRAUS: Thank you, Sir.

MR. DODD: Now I wish to refer to the document bearing our Number 1639-PS, which we wish to offer as Exhibit Number USA-777. For the benefit of the Tribunal, this document is entitled _Mobilization Book for the Civil Administrations_ and is the 1939 edition. It was published in February—or put out in February 1939, over the signature of the Defendant Keitel as Chief of the OKW. It is classified “top secret” and was distributed in 125 copies to the highest Reich Ministries, as well as to the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

In its original German the document runs to some 150 pages. We have had translated into English, Russian, and French Pages 2 to 18, which give the essential text of the document. It appears from statements in the document itself that the _Mobilization Book_ had previously been issued and was revised annually. This particular book which we introduce, or offer to introduce, was effective the 1st day of April 1939 and thus was the operative basis, we say, for the mobilization calendar at the time the Nazis launched their aggression against Poland. However, we wish to relate it back primarily to that part of the record dealing with the Nazi plans and preparations for aggression, because the _Mobilization Book_, or such a _Mobilization Book_, had been in effect for years prior to 1939.

Secondly, we say it fits in with the secret Nazi Defense Laws of 1935 and 1938, which are contained in Documents 2261-PS and 2194-PS, introduced before the Tribunal as Exhibits USA-24 and 36 respectively.

Thirdly, it is another clear indication, we submit, of the Nazi plans and preparations for aggressive war. That portion of the Prosecution’s case dealing with Nazi preparations for aggression was presented by Mr. Alderman of the American prosecution staff at the morning and afternoon sessions of the Tribunal on 27 November 1945 and may be found at Pages 399 to 464 of the record (Volume II, Pages 303-347).

Inasmuch as this document has been translated into all four languages, we assume that it is not necessary to read it into the record; but we do wish to quote, however, directly two extracts—rather, we will withdraw that. They are included in the translation and I see no necessity for reading it into the translation system.

This document was also, I might say, referred to by the Chief Prosecutor for the United States in his opening address, and it is the only document therein referred to which has not been offered formally to the Tribunal in evidence.

Thirdly, I should like to take up one other matter. I wish to move to strike out one piece of evidence offered by an American member of the Prosecution.

[_Mr. Dodd then quoted the evidence in question._]

THE PRESIDENT: Has the Defendant Rosenberg’s counsel any objection to this being struck out of the record?

DR. THOMA: I have no objection, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Then it will be struck out.

MR. DODD: I have only one last matter, which I am sure I can conclude before the usual recess time.

In the course of the presentation of the individual case against the Defendant Ribbentrop, our distinguished colleague Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, the Deputy Chief British Prosecutor, introduced Document Number 3358-PS as Exhibit GB-158. This was on the 9th day of January 1946 and may be found at Page 2380 of the record (Volume V, Page 17).

This document is a German Foreign Office circular dated the 25th day of January 1939, and it is on the subject of the “Jewish Question as a Factor in German Foreign Policy in the Year 1938.” Sir David read portions of this document into the record, including the first sentence of the full paragraph appearing on Page 3 of the English translation of the document.

I have discussed the matter with Sir David, and he has very graciously agreed that we might ask the permission of the Tribunal to add two more sentences to the quotation which he read, because we feel, and Sir David feels with us, that the additional two sentences which follow immediately the sentence which he read add something to the proof with reference to the persecution of the Jews as related to Crimes against Peace. It is desired, therefore, by the Prosecution that the entire paragraph on Page 3 of the English translation of this document be considered as in evidence by the Tribunal, and in accordance with the ruling of the Tribunal generally made as to other such situations we submit now an English, German, French, and Russian translation of that entire paragraph to obviate the necessity for reading it; and the original, of course, is in the German language.

It is a very brief paragraph, but I don’t think that the Tribunal would care to have me read it, even to take a minute or two. It is in the record. There are only two additional sentences. It does not wrench anything from the text; in our opinion, it only adds a little to the proof. If you would like to have it read, I can do so.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I think we would.

MR. DODD: The sentence read by Sir David reads as follows:

“It is certainly no coincidence that the fateful year 1938
brought nearer the solution of the Jewish question
simultaneously with the realization of the ‘idea of Greater
Germany,’ since the Jewish policy was both the basis and
consequence of the events of the year 1938.”

That is the end of the sentence, and that is what was quoted by Sir David on the 9th day of January, at Page 2380 (Volume V, Page 17). We wish to add the following, beginning right after that sentence:

“The advance made by Jewish influence and the destructive Jewish
spirit in politics, economy, and culture paralyzed the strength
and the will of the German people to rise again, perhaps even
more than the political antagonism of the former Allied enemy
powers of the World War.”

And this second sentence which follows immediately, as well:

“The curing of this malady of the people was therefore certainly
one of the most important prerequisites for exerting the force
which, in the year 1938, resulted in the consolidation of the
Great German Reich against the will of the world.”

We felt that that would add something to our proof with respect to this persecution of the Jews. Those are the only matters I have to bring up with reference to the record.

THE PRESIDENT: Some time ago I wrote to Mr. Justice Jackson on behalf of the Tribunal, asking whether a list of the persons who formed the German Staff could be submitted to the Tribunal. Has that been done?

MR. DODD: I am familiar with that communication. I recall Mr. Justice Jackson’s showing it to me. If it has not, it shall be directly. It may have been overlooked.

THE PRESIDENT: I had a letter back from Mr. Justice Jackson saying that it should be done.

MR. DODD: Yes, I recall it.

THE PRESIDENT: And the Tribunal will be glad for you to verify that it has been done.

MR. DODD: I am afraid I must say that if it hasn’t been done, it is probably my fault. I recall the Justice’s handing it to me, and I think I passed it to Colonel Taylor’s organization, but I will check up on it directly and see that it is delivered.

THE PRESIDENT: It will be an appropriate time for it to be done, I should think, during the course of the argument on the organizations, if it hasn’t been done.

MR. DODD: Very well.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, and an affidavit accompanying it, showing how it has been made up.

MR. DODD: Very well, Your Honor.

Lieutenant Margolies tells me that he thinks it has been sent in 2 days ago, but he is not certain.

THE PRESIDENT: He thinks it has been done?

MR. DODD: He thinks so, but we will look into it.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, very well.

Then tomorrow morning at 10, Counsel for the Prosecution will be ready, will they, to argue the case of the organizations which they have asked the Tribunal to be declared criminal under Article 9 of the Charter?

MR. DODD: The Prosecution is prepared to be heard tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock on that.

THE PRESIDENT: And counsel for the various organizations are prepared to argue against that? So that is understood that at 10 o’clock tomorrow the Tribunal will sit for that purpose and will continue until the argument is concluded.

DR. KUBUSCHOK: The Counsel for the organizations are prepared, according to the Tribunal’s suggestion, to join in the discussion of the new argument to be put forward by the Prosecution tomorrow. The Prosecution has helped us by making available to us a copy of the factual points which so far had not been submitted as a basis of the Indictment.

According to the Tribunal’s suggestion not only these factual points would be discussed tomorrow but also new legal questions which have arisen recently, inasmuch as they have bearing on the scope and relevancy of the evidence. The Defense Counsel for the organizations would be obliged if the Prosecution would beforehand make available to us the speech they are going to give on legal questions tomorrow so that we are in the position to answer immediately.

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t know, but we haven’t had any copy of any written argument presented to us. I don’t know whether Counsel for the Prosecution would say whether they have any written argument?

MR. DODD: Well, Sir David can speak much better for himself. What I was going to say is what I said previously, that I am informed that he has already presented his outline both to the Tribunal and to counsel.

Mr. Justice Jackson is still working on his remarks, and while he did hope to submit a draft, late communications received only this morning from interested persons in the War Department have made it necessary for him to work right up to now, and therefore we think that the practical difficulty results in not having a prepared statement to submit.

SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: May it please the Tribunal, I have prepared two appendices which endeavor to cover the first two points in the Tribunal’s statement of January, the elements of criminality and the connected defendants mentioned in Article 9 of the Charter. I arranged that copies in German should be given to all the Defense Counsel. I hope everyone has got a copy. I have also arranged that copies be submitted to the Tribunal.

I have added to that an addendum showing the references to the transcript, and in some cases to the documents, on each of the points, and I am afraid that is in English; but it is reference to paragraphs, so it shouldn’t be difficult for the Defense Counsel to fit it into their document.

I am afraid that it would be impossible to give a copy of the Justice’s speech and mine. What I intended to add was largely on the facts which I have endeavored to put before the Defense Counsel already, but if the Defense Counsel for the organizations would care to hear informally what is the sort of general line, I should be very pleased to tell them, if it would be any help. I want to help in every way I can.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, very well. We will now adjourn.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 28 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]

SEVENTIETH DAY
Thursday, 28 February 1946

_Morning Session_

DR. HORN: Mr. President, on Monday, when I wished to give my reasons for the application to call Winston Churchill as witness, the Tribunal asked me to submit this in writing so that the Tribunal could make a decision.

The decision that Winston Churchill should not be called as witness was, however, made already on the 26th of February, before the Tribunal received my written application. I assume a mistake has been made, and I ask the Tribunal to reconsider the question in the light of the reasons set out in my written application.

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will reconsider the matter.

Mr. Justice Jackson. Did you propose, Mr. Justice Jackson, to argue first on the question of the organizations?

JUSTICE ROBERT H. JACKSON (Chief Counsel for the United States): If that is agreeable to the Tribunal, that’s definitely our . . .

We are taking up, as I understand it, the deferred subject of the rules which should guide in determining the criminality of organizations, partly upon our initiative and partly an response to the questions propounded by the Tribunal.

The unconditional surrender of Germany created for the victors novel and difficult problems of law and administration. Being the first such surrender of an entire and modernly organized society, precedents and past experiences are of little help in guiding our policy toward the vanquished. The responsibility implicit in demanding and accepting capitulation of a whole people certainly must include a duty to discriminate justly and intelligently between the opposing elements of that population, which bore dissimilar relations to the policies and conduct which led to the catastrophe. This differentiation is the objective of those provisions of the Charter which authorize this Tribunal to declare organizations or groups to be criminal. Understanding of the problem with which the instrument attempts to deal is essential to its interpretation and application.

One of the sinister peculiarities of German society at the time of the surrender was that the state itself played only a subordinate role in the exercise of political power, while the really drastic controls over German society were organized outside of the nominal government. This was accomplished through an elaborate network of closely knit and exclusive organizations of selected volunteers, both bound to execute without delay and without question the commands of the Nazi leaders.

These organizations penetrated the whole German life. The country was subdivided into little Nazi principalities of about 50 households each, and every such community had its recognized Party leaders, Party police, and its undercover, planted spies. These were combined into larger units with higher ranking leaders, executioners, and spies, the whole forming a pyramid of power outside of the law, with the Führer at its apex, the local Party officials constituting its broad base, which rested heavily on the German population.

The Nazi despotism, therefore, did not consist of these individual defendants alone. A thousand little Führers dictated; a thousand imitation Görings strutted; a thousand Schirachs incited the youth; a thousand Sauckels worked slaves; a thousand Streichers and Rosenbergs stirred up hate; a thousand Kaltenbrunners and Franks tortured and killed; a thousand Schachts and Speers and Funks administered and supported and financed this movement.

The Nazi movement was an integrated force in every city and county and hamlet. The party power resulting from this system of organizations first rivaled and then dominated the power of the state itself. The primary vice of this web of organizations was that they were used to transfer the power of coercing men from the government and the law to the Nazi leaders. Liberty, self-government, and security of person and property do not exist except where the power of coercion is possessed only by the state and is exercised only in obedience to law. The Nazis, however, set up this private system of coercion outside of and immune from the law, with Party-controlled concentration camps and firing squads to administer privately decreed sanctions.

Without responsibility to law and without warrant from any court, they were enabled to seize property and take away liberty and even take life itself. These organizations had a calculated part—and a decisive part—in the barbaric extremes of the Nazi movement. They served primarily to exploit mob psychology and to manipulate the mob. Multiplying the number of persons in a common enterprise always tends to diminish the individual’s sense of moral responsibility and to increase his sense of security. The Nazi leaders were masters of that technique. They manipulated these organizations to make before the German populace impressive exhibitions of numbers and of power, which have already been shown on the screen. They were used to incite a mob spirit and then riotously to gratify the popular hates they had inflamed and the Germanic ambition they had inflated.

These organizations indoctrinated and practiced violence and terrorism. They provided the systematized, aggressive, and disciplined execution throughout Germany and the occupied countries of the plan for crimes which we have proven. The flowering of this system is represented in the fanatical SS General Ohlendorf, who told this Tribunal without shame or trace of pity how he personally directed the putting to death of 90,000 men, women, and children. No tribunal ever listened to a recital of such wholesale murder as this Tribunal heard from him and from Wisliceny, a fellow officer of the SS. Their own testimony shows the SS responsibility for the extermination program which took the lives of 5 million Jews—a responsibility that that organization welcomed and discharged methodically, remorselessly, and thoroughly. These crimes with which we deal are unprecedented, first because of the shocking number of victims. They are even more shocking and unprecedented because of the large number of people who united their efforts to perpetrate them. All scruple or conscience of a very large segment of the German people was committed to the keeping of these organizations, and their devotees felt no personal sense of guilt as they went from one extreme to another. On the other hand, they developed a contest in cruelty and a competition in crime. Ohlendorf, from the witness stand, accused other SS commanders whose killings exceeded his of “exaggerating” their figures.

There could be no justice and no wisdom in an occupation policy of Germany which imposed upon passive, unorganized, and inarticulate Germans the same burdens as upon those who voluntarily banded themselves together in these powerful and notorious gangs. One of the basic requirements both of justice and of successful administration of the occupation responsibility of our four countries is a segregation of the organized elements from the masses of Germans for separate treatment. That is the fundamental task with which we must deal here. It seems beyond controversy that to punish a few top leaders but to leave this web of organized bodies in the midst of postwar society would be to foster the nucleus of a new Nazidom. These members are accustomed to an established chain of centralized command. They have formed a habit and developed a technique of both secret and open co-operation. They still nourish a blind devotion to the suspended, but not abandoned, Nazi program. They will keep alive the hates and ambitions which generated the orgy of crime we have proven. These organizations are the carriers from this generation to the next of the infection of aggressive and ruthless war. The Tribunal has seen on the screen how easily an assemblage that ostensibly is only a common labor force can in fact be a military outfit training with shovels. The next war and the next pogroms will be hatched in the nests of these organizations as surely as we leave their membership with its prestige and influence undiminished by condemnation and punishment.

The menace of these organizations is the more impressive when we consider the demoralized state of German society. It will be years before there can be established in the German State any political authority that is not inexperienced and provisional. It cannot quickly acquire the stability of a government aided by long habit of obedience and traditional respect. The intrigue, obstruction, and possible overthrow which older and established governments always fear from conspiratorial groups is a real and present danger to any stable social order in the Germany of today and of tomorrow.

Insofar as the Charter of this Tribunal contemplates a justice of retribution, it is obvious that it could not overlook these organized instruments and instigators of past crimes. In opening this case I said that the United States does not seek to convict the whole German people of crime. But it is equally important that this Trial shall not serve to absolve the whole German people except 21 men in the dock. The wrongs that have been done to the world by these defendants and their top confederates were not done by their will and their strength alone. The success of their designs was made possible because great numbers of Germans organized themselves to become the fulcrum and the lever by which the power of these leaders was extended and magnified. If this Trial fails to condemn these organized confederates for their share of the responsibility for this catastrophe, it will be construed as their exoneration.

But the Charter was not concerned with retributive justice alone. It manifests a constructive policy influenced by exemplary and preventive considerations.

The primary objective of requiring that the surrender of Germany be unconditional was to clear the way for a reconstruction of German society on such a basis that it will not again threaten the peace of Europe and of the world. Temporary measures of the occupation authorities may by necessity, and I mean no criticism of them, have been more arbitrary and applied with less discrimination than befits a permanent policy. For example, under existing denazification policy, no member of the Nazi Party or its formations may be employed, in any position—other than ordinary labor—in any business enterprise, unless he is found to have been only a nominal Nazi. Persons in certain categories whose standing in the community is one of prominence or influence are required to be, and others may be, denied further participation in their businesses or professions. It is mandatory to remove or exclude from public office and from positions of importance in quasi-public and private enterprises persons falling within about 90 specified categories, deemed to consist of either active Nazis, Nazi supporters, or militarists. Property of such persons is blocked.

Now, it is recognized by the Control Council, as it was by the framers of this Charter, that a permanent long-term program should be based on a more careful and more individual discrimination than was possible with sweeping temporary measures. There is a movement now within the Control Council for reconsideration of its whole denazification policy and procedure. The action of this Tribunal in declaring, or in failing to declare, an accused organization criminal has a vital bearing on this future occupation policy.

It was the intent of the Charter to utilize the hearing processes of this Tribunal and its judgment to identify and condemn those Nazi and militaristic forces that were so strongly organized as to constitute a continuing menace to the long-term objectives for which our respective countries have spent their young lives. It is in the light of this great purpose that we must examine the provisions of this Charter.

It was obvious that the conventional litigation procedures could not, without some modification, be adapted to this task. No system of jurisprudence has yet evolved any satisfactory technique for handling a great number of common charges against a great multitude of accused persons. The number of individual defendants that fairly can be tried in a single proceeding probably does not greatly exceed the number now in your dock. Also, the number of separate trials in which the same voluminous evidence as to a common plan must be repeated is very limited in actual practice. Yet, adversary proceedings of the type in which we are engaged are the best assurance the law has ever evolved that decisions will be well-considered and just. The task of the framers of the Charter was to find some way to overcome the obstacles to practicable and early decision without sacrificing the fairness implicit in hearings. The solution prescribed by the Charter is certainly not faultless, but not one of its critics has ever proposed an alternative that would not either deprive the individual of all hearing or contemplate such a multitude of long trials that it would break down and be impracticable. In any case, this Charter is the plan adopted by our respective governments and our duty here is to make it work.