NUREMBERG) Judgment of 1 October 1946

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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 {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 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 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 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 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 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 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 DEFENDANTS.................................................................................. 101 GÖRING ...................................................................................... 101 CRIMES AGAINST PEACE................................................. 101 WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.......... 102
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