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ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8111204 Sin g e r , D o n a l d L e w is GERMAN DIPLOMATS AT NUREMBERG: A STUDY OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE DEFENDANTS OF THE MINISTRIES CASE The American University PH.D. 1980 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Copyright 1980 by Singer, Donald Lewis All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GERMAN DIPLOMATS AT NUREMBERG: A STUDY OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE DEFENDANTS OF THE MINISTRIES CASE by Donald L. Singer submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Signatures of Committee: Chairman: I Date 1980 The American University Washington, D.C. 20016 THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GERMAN DIPLOMATS AT NUREMBERG: A STUDY OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE DEFENDANTS OF THE MINISTRIES CASE BY DONALD L. SINGER ABSTRACT The role of the German Foreign Office officials in Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe raises the following questions: How much did the officials know? Did the officials' actions contribute to Hitler's criminal program? How did the officials justify their continued service in the Nazi regime? Could they have acted differently The Nuremberg trials dealt with these questions. Ostensibly formulated from existing international law, it dealt with a variety of charges. Of all these charges, the attempt to exterminate the European Jews represented the most obvious violation of international conduct. Thus the trial of German diplomats for crimes against the Jews tests the validity of Nuremberg law and provides information on the diplomats themselves. Eight individuals associated with the Foreign Office were defendants at the Nuremberg trial known as the Ministries ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. case: Ernst von Weizsacker, Ernst Woermann, Otto von Erdmannsdorff, Karl Ritter, Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, Wilhelm Keppler, Gustav Adolf Steengracht von Moyland, and Edmund Veesenmayer. This dissertation examines that portion of the Ministries case which dealt with these defendants and the charge of deporting Jews to death camps. This dissertation's principal sources are the Transcripts of the trial, the prosecution and defense exhibits, and the Official Court File. The Transcripts contain the trial proceedings, including the testimony of defendants and witnesses, plus the judgment and a dissenting opinion. Most prosecution exhibits are documents from the Third Reich Foreign Office. Most defense exhibits are affidavits by individuals who knew or worked with the defendants. Generally, the prosecution exhibits tell what the defendants did, while the defense exhibits explain why they did it. The prosecution exhibits often distort the defendants' attitudes, as the defendants had written these documents to please their Nazi superiors. Similarly, defense affidavits must be read discerningly. An affiant's background and cross-examination provide means of assessing the affidavit's credibility. The Official Court File contains motions presented to the Court and the resulting Court orders, providing information on procedural fairness. I have also interviewed five individuals associated with the Ministries trial. These interviews provide details iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and corroborate impressions derived from the Transcripts. The following standards of determining the defendants' legal accountability were suggested during the trial pro ceedings: a defendant's initial or signature on an incriminating document; reliable testimony of a defendant's involvement with incriminating activities; admission of incriminating activity. The Tribunal did not adhere strictly to these standards, and several times reached a conclusion on the basis of probability. The following paragraphs contain my conclusions. Most of the defendants (possible exceptions being Bohle and Ritter) knew enough about the treatment of the Jews to be held legally accountable for any participation in that treatment. Three (Weizsacker, Woermann, and Veesenmayer) or possibly four CSteengracht) defendants signed documents or took actions which made them participants in the deporta tion program. There is, however, a discrepancy between legal guilt and moral guilt. Weizsacker and Woermann, for example, were among the less morally culpable defendants. Most of the defendants said that duty compelled them to remain in office, but their concepts of duty differed markedly. It is plausible that the defendants knew more than could be legally proven. However, psychologically they may have refused to comprehend the obvious. The defendants could have offered greater resistance to the deportations, though not without undetermined personal risk. This coercion justified mitigated punishments, but not acquittals. * i \ t Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Tribunal made some questionable decisions. Furthermore, Bohle's and Keppler's convictions for membership in the SS, an organization associated with the deportations, were contrary to international law. The Tribunal, however, conducted the trial fairly. Generally, its verdicts were sound regarding direct involvement of defendants with the deportations. The Ministries trial of German diplomats for crimes against the Jews was a valid exercise of inter national law. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE When I began this dissertation my main interest in history was European diplomacy, particularly the diplomacy of the 1920s and 1930s. My preferred type of history was biography. The Nuremberg trial of German diplomats was a vehicle to satisfy that interest and preference. The trial, however, soon became the focal point of my research. My original intent was to cover all the major aspects of the Foreign Office defendants’ trial, but this proved impractical. I therefore limited the dissertation to what I believe was the most significant charge directed against the defendants--the charge of having been criminally involved with the deportation of the Jews. In adopting this topic, I rejected the good advice given by a professor many years ago. The professor said that a historian should not write on a subject to which he is emotionally tied. As a Jew two generations removed from Europe, I cannot look upon the deportations with detachment, nor would I wish to. But as an historian, I have tried to view dispassionately the diplomats who were accused of furthering the deportations. Whether I have succeeded is for others to judge. In this dissertation, there are two matters of spelling and one matter of citations which should be clarified. The American participants at Nuremberg spelled the name of that vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. city in a variety of ways: the English spelling, the German spelling with a diacritic, the German spelling with "ue," and wrongly. I have used the English spelling "Nuremberg," but in citing titles of works I have retained the original spelling. The same procedure applies