DOCSLIB.ORG

INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL (NUREMBERG) Judgment of 1 October 1946

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL (NUREMBERG) Judgment of 1 October 1946 INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL (NUREMBERG) Judgment of 1 October 1946 Page numbers in braces refer to IMT, judgment of 1 October 1946, in The Trial of German Major War Criminals. Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal sitting at Nuremberg, Germany , Part 22 (22nd August ,1946 to 1st October, 1946) 1 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ {iii} THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL IN SESSOIN AT NUREMBERG, GERMANY Before: THE RT. HON. SIR GEOFFREY LAWRENCE (member for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) President THE HON. SIR WILLIAM NORMAN BIRKETT (alternate member for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) MR. FRANCIS BIDDLE (member for the United States of America) JUDGE JOHN J. PARKER (alternate member for the United States of America) M. LE PROFESSEUR DONNEDIEU DE VABRES (member for the French Republic) M. LE CONSEILER FLACO (alternate member for the French Republic) MAJOR-GENERAL I. T. NIKITCHENKO (member for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) LT.-COLONEL A. F. VOLCHKOV (alternate member for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) {iv} THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS Against: Hermann Wilhelm Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Robert Ley, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Walter Funk, Hjalmar Schacht, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Martin Bormann, Franz von Papen, Artur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Constantin von Neurath, and Hans Fritzsche, individually and as members of any of the following groups namely: Die Reichsregierung (Reich Cabinet); Das Korps der Politischen Leiter der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party); Die Schutzstaffeln der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (commonly known as the “SS”) and including Der Sicherheitsdienst (commonly known as the “SD”); Die Geheime Staatspolizei (Secret State Police, commonly known as the “GESTAPO”); Die Sturmabteilungen der N.S.D.A.P. (commonly known as the “SA”) and the General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces. Robert Ley committed suicide on 25th October, 1945. 2 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach – Trial postponed by order of Tribunal. {v} COUNSEL FOR POSECUTION For the United Stated of America: CHIEF OF COUNSEL: Mr. Justice Robert H. Jackson EXECUTIVE TRIAL COUNSEL: Mr. Thomas J. Dodd AASOCIATE TRIAL COUNSEL: General Telford Taylor ASSISTANT TRIAL COUNSEL: Major Hartley Murray Mr. Drexel A. Sprecher Mr. Whitney R. Harris Dr. Robert M. Kemper For the French Republic: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: M. Auguste Champetier de Ribes DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTORS: M. Charles Dubost M. Edgar Faure ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS (Chiefs of Sections): M. Charles Gerthoffer M. Delphin Debenest ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS: M. Constant Quatre 3 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ M. Serge Fuster M. Jacques Herzog M. Jean-Jacques Lanoire M. Henry Monneray {vi} For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: H.M. Attorney-General, The Rt. Hon. Sir Hartley Shawcross, P.C., K.C., M.P. DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR: The Rt. Hon. Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, P.C., K.C., M.P. JUNIOR COUNSEL: Lt.-Colonel J.M.G. Griffith-Jones, M.C., Barrister-at-Law Colonel H.J. Phillimore, O.B.E., Barisster-at-Law Major F. Elwyn Jones, M.P., Barrister-at-Law and Major J. Harcourt Barrington, Barrister-at-Law For the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: CHIEF PROSECUTOR: General R.A. Rudenko DEPUTY CHIEF PROSECUTOR: Colonel Y.V. Pokrovsky ASSISTANT PROSECUTORS: State Counsellor of Justice of the 2nd Class, M.Y. Raginsky Chief Counsellor of Justice, L.N. Smirnov Colonel D.S. Karev 4 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ Major F.G. Denisov {vii} COUNSEL OF THE DEFENDANTS For the defendant Göring Dr. Otto Stahmer Hess Dr. Alfred Seidl von Ribbentrop Dr. Martin Horn Keitel Dr. Otto Nelte Kaltenbrunner Dr. Kurt Kauffmann Rosenberg Dr. Alfred Thoma Frank Dr. Alfred Seidl Frick Dr. Otto Pannenbecker Streicher Dr. Hanns Marx Funk Dr. Fritz Sauter Schacht Dr. Rudolf Dix Prof. Herbert Kraus (associate counsel) Dönitz Flottenrichter Otto Kranzbuehler Raeder Dr. Walter Siemens von Schirach Dr. Fritz Sauter Sauckel Dr. Robert Servatius Jodl Prof. Franz Exner Bormann Dr. Friedrich Bergold von Papen Dr. Egon Kubuschok Seyss-Inquart Dr. Gustav Steinbauer Speer Dr. Hans Flaechsner von Neurath Freiherr Otto von Lüdinghausen Fritzsche Dr. Heinz Fritz For the Groups and Organizations: 5 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ Reich Cabinet Dr. Egon Kubuschok Leadership Corps of Nazi Party Dr. Robert Servatius SS Ludwig Babel Horst Pelckmann (associate counsel) SD Dr. Hans Gawlik SA Georg Boehm Gestapo Dr. Rudolf Merkel General Staff and High Command Dr. Hans Laternser 6 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ CONTENTS THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL IN SESSOIN AT NUREMBERG, GERMANY ......................................................................................................... 2 Before:........................................................................................................... 2 Against: ......................................................................................................... 2 COUNSEL FOR POSECUTION.................................................................... 3 COUNSEL OF THE DEFENDANTS ............................................................. 5 CONTENTS........................................................................................................ 7 JUDGMENT...................................................................................................... 12 THE CHARTER PROVISIONS ................................................................... 14 THE NAZI REGIME IN GERMANY ............................................................. 15 THE ORIGIN AND AIMS OF THE NAZI PARTY ........................... 15 THE SEIZURE OF POWER........................................................... 17 THE CONSOLIDATION OF POWER............................................. 18 MEASURES OF REARMAMENT .................................................. 21 THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY AND AGGRESSIVE WAR .............................................................................................. 24 PREPARATION FOR AGGRESSION............................................ 25 THE PLANNING OF AGGRESSION ............................................. 26 THE INVASION OF AUSTRIA .................................................................... 29 THE SEIZURE OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA..................................................... 32 THE AGGRESSION AGAINST POLAND.................................................... 34 THE INVASION OF DENMARK AND NORWAY ........................................ 40 THE INVASION OF BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS AND LUXEMBURG43 THE AGGRESSION AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA AND GREECE................... 45 THE AGGRESSIVE WAR AGAINST THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS................................................................................................ 47 WAR AGAINST THE UNITED STATES...................................................... 49 VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES......................................... 50 HAGUE CONVENTIONS............................................................... 50 VERSAILLES TREATY.................................................................. 50 7 PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/45f18e/ TREATIES OF MUTUAL GUARANTEE; ARBITRATION AND NON- AGGRESSION............................................................................... 51 KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT ............................................................ 51 THE LAW OF THE CHARTER.................................................................... 52 THE LAW AS TO THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY ..................... 56 WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY ................................. 58 MURDER AND ILL-TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR ...... 59 MURDER AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CIVILIAN POPULATION.... 63 SLAVE LABOUR POLICY ............................................................. 71 PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS.................................................... 75 THE LAW RELATING TO WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY ................................................................................................. 79 THE ACCUSED ORGANIZATIONS............................................................ 81 THE LEADERSHIP CORPS OF THE NAZI PARTY ...................... 83 Conclusion............................................................................. 86 GESTAPO AND SD....................................................................... 86 Conclusion............................................................................. 90 SS.................................................................................................. 92 Conclusion............................................................................. 95 THE SA.......................................................................................... 96 Conclusion............................................................................. 97 THE REICH CABINET................................................................... 97 GENERAL STAFF AND HIGH COMMAND ................................... 98 THE
Load more

Recommended publications
  • D'antonio, Michael Senior Thesis.Pdf
    Before the Storm German Big Business and the Rise of the NSDAP by Michael D’Antonio A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Honors Degree in History with Distinction Spring 2016 © 2016 Michael D’Antonio All Rights Reserved Before the Storm German Big Business and the Rise of the NSDAP by Michael D’Antonio Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. James Brophy Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. David Shearer Committee member from the Department of History Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. Barbara Settles Committee member from the Board of Senior Thesis Readers Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Michael Arnold, Ph.D. Director, University Honors Program ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This senior thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of Dr. James Brophy of the University of Delaware history department. His guidance in research, focused critique, and continued encouragement were instrumental in the project’s formation and completion. The University of Delaware Office of Undergraduate Research also deserves a special thanks, for its continued support of both this work and the work of countless other students. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Eagle's Nest Is Located in Berchtesgaden
    media information… The Eagle’s Nest (Kehlsteinhaus 1,834m) The so-called Eagle’s Nest teahouse (Kehlsteinhaus) was offered to Adolf Hitler on the occasion of his 50th birthday with the aim of using it for representation purposes for official guests. The challenging construction of the Eagle’s Nest, including the access road was completed in some 13 months’ time. The road leading up to the Eagle’s Nest upper bus terminal area is Germany’s highest and is considered a unique feat of engineering. The brass-line elevator that gives access to the summit is also a distinctive feature of this world-famous attraction. Today the Eagle’s Nest is open to the public and can be seen in its original form. Thanks to its many visitors, proceeds from this sightsseing attraction are used for charitable purposes. Location: The Eagle's Nest is located in Berchtesgaden. Special mountain buses depart every 25 min from Obersalzberg (Kehlsteinbusabfahrt). The journey takes about a quarter of an hour each way. From the parking area at the top, visitors walk 124m (406ft) through a tunnel to the original elevator. The lift transports up to 46 passengers at a time up into the Eagle's Nest building. Local Events and cultural highlights: Road and weather conditions permitting, the building and its road access are open from around mid-May through October. On clear days, visitors to the Eagle’s Nest are rewarded with spectacular views over the Berchtesgaden area, Lake Königssee and Salzburg, as well as with a grandiose mountain panorama of the majestic Berchtesgaden Alps.
    [Show full text]
  • The German-American Bund: Fifth Column Or
    -41 THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUND: FIFTH COLUMN OR DEUTSCHTUM? THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By James E. Geels, B. A. Denton, Texas August, 1975 Geels, James E., The German-American Bund: Fifth Column or Deutschtum? Master of Arts (History), August, 1975, 183 pp., bibliography, 140 titles. Although the German-American Bund received extensive press coverage during its existence and monographs of American politics in the 1930's refer to the Bund's activities, there has been no thorough examination of the charge that the Bund was a fifth column organization responsible to German authorities. This six-chapter study traces the Bund's history with an emphasis on determining the motivation of Bundists and the nature of the relationship between the Bund and the Third Reich. The conclusions are twofold. First, the Third Reich repeatedly discouraged the Bundists and attempted to dissociate itself from the Bund. Second, the Bund's commitment to Deutschtum through its endeavors to assist the German nation and the Third Reich contributed to American hatred of National Socialism. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION... ....... 1 II. DEUTSCHTUM.. ......... 14 III. ORIGIN AND IMAGE OF THE GERMAN- ... .50 AMERICAN BUND............ IV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BUND AND THE THIRD REICH....... 82 V. INVESTIGATION OF THE BUND. 121 VI. CONCLUSION.. ......... 161 APPENDIX....... .............. ..... 170 BIBLIOGRAPHY......... ...........
    [Show full text]
  • A Historical Retrospect of the Nazi Party and Its Leaders," (Set No, I, Set of Fourty)
    A historical retrospect of the Nazi Party and its leaders," (Set No, I, set of fourty) 1. November 9th 1923, the Nazi Party with Hitler as its leader felt strong enough to kick the Bavarian G-overnement out of its sad- dle. The marching Nazis when reaching the Odeonsplatz in Munich, were odered to stop. After ignoring the order tostop, they were fired upon and a total of 16 men were killed by machinegun fire. The Nazi Party thereafter was declared as illegal and was forbidden by law. Hitler himself, as the head and leader of the party was cobvicted to spend five years in jail. 2. The"BLOODFLAG", under which the first 16 Nazi victims were killed on November 9th 1923 on the Odeonsplatz at Munich* Later on this flag only was shown to the public when political events of im- portant nature took place. More or less, this flag was considered as a symbol of the party. 3. Hitler in his cell during imprisonment 1924 at Landsberg/Lech The party which had been forbidden, went underground so it couldn't be controlled by governement officials. Fin^llythe Bavarian governe- ment decided to set Hitler free because of J~oo much dangerous un- derground activities of the illegal Nazi party. 4. Adolf Hitler after becoming chancellor of the state, visiting the prison cell at Landsberg/Lech, where he spent nearly ten months. 5. Hitler, holding a speech in Munich on the stairs of the fa- mous " FELDHERRNHALLE ", eleven years after the first 16 members of his party were killed.
    [Show full text]
  • German Hegemony and the Socialist International's Place in Interwar
    02_EHQ 31/1 articles 30/11/00 1:53 pm Page 101 William Lee Blackwood German Hegemony and the Socialist International’s Place in Interwar European Diplomacy When the guns fell silent on the western front in November 1918, socialism was about to become a governing force throughout Europe. Just six months later, a Czech socialist could marvel at the convocation of an international socialist conference on post- war reconstruction in a Swiss spa, where, across the lake, stood buildings occupied by now-exiled members of the deposed Habsburg ruling class. In May 1923, as Europe’s socialist parties met in Hamburg, Germany, finally to put an end to the war-induced fracturing within their ranks by launching a new organization, the Labour and Socialist International (LSI), the German Communist Party’s main daily published a pull-out flier for posting on factory walls. Bearing the sarcastic title the International of Ministers, it presented to workers a list of forty-one socialists and the national offices held by them in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Poland, France, Sweden, and Denmark. Commenting on the activities of the LSI, in Paris a Russian Menshevik émigré turned prominent left-wing pundit scoffed at the new International’s executive body, which he sarcastically dubbed ‘the International Socialist Cabinet’, since ‘all of its members were ministers, ex-ministers, or prospec- tive ministers of State’.1 Whether one accepted or rejected its new status, socialism’s virtually overnight transformation from an outsider to a consummate insider at the end of Europe’s first total war provided the most striking measure of the quantum leap into what can aptly be described as Europe’s ‘social democratic moment’.2 Moreover, unlike the period after Europe’s second total war, when many of socialism’s basic postulates became permanently embedded in the post-1945 social-welfare-state con- European History Quarterly Copyright © 2001 SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi, Vol.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Nuremberg Trials to the Memorial Nuremberg Trials
    Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Memorium Nürnberger Prozesse Hirschelgasse 9-11 90403 Nürnberg Telefon: 0911 / 2 31-66 89 Telefon: 0911 / 2 31-54 20 Telefax: 0911 / 2 31-1 42 10 E-Mail: [email protected] www.museen.nuernberg.de – Press Release From the Nuremberg Trials to the Memorial Nuremberg Trials Nuremberg’s name is linked with the NSDAP Party Rallies held here between 1933 and 1938 and – Presseinformation with the „Racial Laws“ adopted in 1935. It is also linked with the trials where leading representatives of the Nazi regime had to answer for their crimes in an international court of justice. Between 20 November, 1945, and 1 October, 1946, the International Military Tribunal’s trial of the main war criminals (IMT) was held in Court Room 600 at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice. Between 1946 and 1949, twelve follow-up trials were also held here. Those tried included high- ranking representatives of the military, administration, medical profession, legal system, industry Press Release and politics. History Two years after Germany had unleashed World War II on 1 September, 1939, leading politicians and military staff of the anti-Hitler coalition started to consider bringing to account those Germans responsible for war crimes which had come to light at that point. The Moscow Declaration of 1943 and the Conference of Yalta of February 1945 confirmed this attitude. Nevertheless, the ideas – Presseinformation concerning the type of proceeding to use in the trial were extremely divergent. After difficult negotiations, on 8 August, 1945, the four Allied powers (USA, Britain, France and the Soviet Union) concluded the London Agreement, on a "Charter for The International Military Tribunal", providing for indictment for the following crimes in a trial based on the rule of law: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Monita Secreta Or, As It Was Also Known As, The
    James Bernauer, S.J. Boston College From European Anti-Jesuitism to German Anti-Jewishness: A Tale of Two Texts “Jews and Jesuits will move heaven and hell against you.” --Kurt Lüdecke, in conversation with Adolf Hitleri A Presentation at the Conference “Honoring Stanislaw Musial” Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (March 5, 2009) The current intense debate about the significance of “political religion” as a mode of analyzing fascism leads us to the core of the crisis in understanding the Holocaust.ii Saul Friedländer has written of an “historian‟s paralysis” that “arises from the simultaneity and the interaction of entirely heterogeneous phenomena: messianic fanaticism and bureaucratic structures, pathological impulses and administrative decrees, archaic attitudes within an advanced industrial society.”iii Despite the conflicting voices in the discussion of political religion, the debate does acknowledge two relevant facts: the obvious intermingling in Nazism of religious and secular phenomena; secondly, the underestimated role exercised by Munich Catholicism in the early life of the Nazi party.iv My essay is an effort to illumine one thread in this complex territory of political religion and Nazism and my title conveys its hypotheses. First, that the centuries long polemic against the Roman Catholic religious order the Jesuits, namely, its fabrication of the Jesuit image as cynical corrupter of Christianity and European culture, provided an important template for the Nazi imagining of Jewry after its emancipation.v This claim will be exhibited in a consideration of two historically influential texts: the Monita 1 secreta which demonized the Jesuits and the Protocols of the Sages of Zion which diabolized the Jews.vi In the light of this examination, I shall claim that an intermingled rhetoric of Jesuit and Jewish wills to power operated in the imagination of some within the Nazi leadership, the most important of whom was Adolf Hitler himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va
    GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA. No. 32. Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police (Part I) The National Archives National Archives and Records Service General Services Administration Washington: 1961 This finding aid has been prepared by the National Archives as part of its program of facilitating the use of records in its custody. The microfilm described in this guide may be consulted at the National Archives, where it is identified as RG 242, Microfilm Publication T175. To order microfilm, write to the Publications Sales Branch (NEPS), National Archives and Records Service (GSA), Washington, DC 20408. Some of the papers reproduced on the microfilm referred to in this and other guides of the same series may have been of private origin. The fact of their seizure is not believed to divest their original owners of any literary property rights in them. Anyone, therefore, who publishes them in whole or in part without permission of their authors may be held liable for infringement of such literary property rights. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-9982 AMERICA! HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE fOR THE STUDY OP WAR DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECOBDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXAM)RIA, VA. No* 32» Records of the Reich Leader of the SS aad Chief of the German Police (HeiehsMhrer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei) 1) THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (AHA) COMMITTEE FOR THE STUDY OF WAE DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA* This is part of a series of Guides prepared
    [Show full text]
  • Wolfgang Stelbrink: Die Kreisleiter Der NSDAP in Westfalen Und Lippe
    Die Kreisleiter der NSDAP in Westfalen und Lippe VERÖFFENTLICHUNGEN DER STAATLICHEN ARCHIVE DES LANDES NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN REIHE C: QUELLEN UND FORSCHUNGEN BAND 48 IM AUFTRAG DES MINISTERIUMS FÜR STÄDTEBAU UND WOHNEN, KULTUR UND SPORT HERAUSGEGEBEN VOM NORDRHEIN-WESTFÄLISCHEN STAATSARCHIV MÜNSTER Die Kreisleiter der NSDAP in Westfalen und Lippe Versuch einer Kollektivbiographie mit biographischem Anhang von Wolfgang Stelbrink Münster 2003 Wolfgang Stelbrink Die Kreisleiter der NSDAP in Westfalen und Lippe Versuch einer Kollektivbiographie mit biographischem Anhang Münster 2003 Die Deutsche Bibliothek – CIP Eigenaufnahme Die Kreisleiter der NSDAP in Westfalen und Lippe im Auftr. des Ministeriums für Städtebau und Wohnung, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-West- falen hrsg. vom Nordrhein-Westfälischen Staatsarchiv Münster. Bearb. von Wolfgang Stelbrink - Münster: Nordrhein-Westfälischen Staatsarchiv Münster, 2003 (Veröffentlichung der staatlichen Archive des Landes Nordrein-Westfalen: Reihe C, Quellen und Forschung; Bd. 48) ISBN: 3–932892–14–3 © 2003 by Nordrhein-Westfälischen Staatsarchiv, Münster Alle Rechte an dieser Buchausgabe vorbehalten, insbesondere das Recht des Nachdruckes und der fotomechanischen Wiedergabe, auch auszugsweise, des öffentlichen Vortrages, der Übersetzung, der Übertragung, auch einzelner Teile, durch Rundfunk und Fernsehen sowie der Übertragung auf Datenträger. Druck: DIP-Digital-Print, Witten Satz: Peter Fröhlich, NRW Staatsarchiv Münster Vertrieb: Nordrhein-Westfälischen Staatsarchiv Münster, Bohlweg 2, 48147
    [Show full text]
  • Paper Number: 2860 Claims on the Past: Cave Excavations by the SS Research and Teaching Community “Ahnenerbe” (1935–1945) Mattes, J.1
    Paper Number: 2860 Claims on the Past: Cave Excavations by the SS Research and Teaching Community “Ahnenerbe” (1935–1945) Mattes, J.1 1 Department of History, University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Wien, Austria, [email protected] ___________________________________________________________________________ Founded in 1935 by a group of fascistic scholars and politicians around Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the “Ahnenerbe” proposed to research the cultural history of the Aryan race and to legitimate the SS ideology and Himmler’s personal interest in occultism scientifically. Originally organized as a private society affiliated to Himmler’s staff, the “Ahnenerbe” became one of the most powerful institutions in the Third Reich engaged with questions of archaeology, cultural heritage and politics. Its staff were SS members, consisting of scientific amateurs, occultists as well as established scholars who obtained the rank of an officer. Competing against the “Amt Rosenberg”, an official agency for cu ltural policy and surveillance in Nazi Germany, the research community “Ahnenerbe” had already become interested in caves and karst as excellent sites for fossil man investigations before 1937/38, when Himmler founded his own Department of Karst- and Cave Research within the “Ahnenerbe”. Extensive excavations in several German caves near Lonetal (G. Riek, R. Wetzel, O. Völzing), Mauern (R.R. Schmidt, A. Bohmer), Scharzfeld (K. Schwirtz) and Leutzdorf (J.R. Erl) were followed by research travels to caves in France, Spain, Ukraine and Iceland. After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939, the “Ahnenerbe” even planned the appropriation of all Moravian caves to prohibit the excavations of local prehistorians and archaeologists from the “Amt Rosenberg”, who had to switch for their excavations to Figure 1: Prehistorian and SS- caves in Thessaly (Greece).
    [Show full text]
  • From Charlemagne to Hitler: the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire and Its Symbolism
    From Charlemagne to Hitler: The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire and its Symbolism Dagmar Paulus (University College London) [email protected] 2 The fabled Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire is a striking visual image of political power whose symbolism influenced political discourse in the German-speaking lands over centuries. Together with other artefacts such as the Holy Lance or the Imperial Orb and Sword, the crown was part of the so-called Imperial Regalia, a collection of sacred objects that connotated royal authority and which were used at the coronations of kings and emperors during the Middle Ages and beyond. But even after the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the crown remained a powerful political symbol. In Germany, it was seen as the very embodiment of the Reichsidee, the concept or notion of the German Empire, which shaped the political landscape of Germany right up to National Socialism. In this paper, I will first present the crown itself as well as the political and religious connotations it carries. I will then move on to demonstrate how its symbolism was appropriated during the Second German Empire from 1871 onwards, and later by the Nazis in the so-called Third Reich, in order to legitimise political authority. I The crown, as part of the Regalia, had a symbolic and representational function that can be difficult for us to imagine today. On the one hand, it stood of course for royal authority. During coronations, the Regalia marked and established the transfer of authority from one ruler to his successor, ensuring continuity amidst the change that took place.
    [Show full text]
  • Indictment Presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945)
    Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945) Caption: On 18 October 1945, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg accuses 24 German political, military and economic leaders of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Source: Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal sitting at Berlin on 18th October 1945. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, November 1945. 50 p. (Cmd. 6696). p. 2-50. Copyright: Crown copyright is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the Queen's Printer for Scotland URL: http://www.cvce.eu/obj/indictment_presented_to_the_international_military_tribunal_nuremberg_18_october_1945-en- 6b56300d-27a5-4550-8b07-f71e303ba2b1.html Last updated: 03/07/2015 1 / 46 03/07/2015 Indictment presented to the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg, 18 October 1945) INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS — AGAINST — HERMANN WILHELM GÖRING, RUDOLF HESS, JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP, ROBERT LEY, WILHELM KEITEL, ERNST KALTEN BRUNNER, ALFRED ROSENBERG, HANS FRANK, WILHELM FRICK, JULIUS STREICHER, WALTER FUNK, HJALMAR SCHACHT, GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN UND HALBACH, KARL DÖNITZ, ERICH RAEDER, BALDUR VON SCHIRACH, FRITZ SAUCKEL, ALFRED JODL, MARTIN BORMANN, FRANZ VON PAPEN, ARTUR SEYSS INQUART, ALBERT SPEER, CONSTANTIN VON NEURATH, AND HANS FRITZSCHE,
    [Show full text]