The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.10). International Military Tribunal

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ should be defined. The sphere of interest of the Axis is Europe, and England's sphere of interest is the Empire."

      I ask now that you turn back, namely to Page 153 of the document book. Here we find on the last line the second point of the proposals which Hess made. Dr. Mackie is reading:

      "2. Return of German Colonies."

      I turn to Page 154 of the document book and begin to quote at the top of the page-it is possible that the figure "2" is inadvertently repeated here in the document hook. It should be:

      "3. Indemnification of German citizens who before or during the war had their residence within the British Empire, and who suffered damage to life and property through measure of a Government of the Empire or as a result of pillage, riot, et cetera; indemnification of British subjects by Germany on the same basis.

      "4. Armistice and peace to be concluded with Italy at the same time." I Then there is a personal remark by Hess as follows: "The Führer in our conversation repeatedly presented these points to me in general as the basis for an understanding with England."

      I shall not read any further excerpts from these minutes.

      I forego the reading a$ the other passages marked in red. The conference was terminated by a statement made by Lord Simon to the effect that he would bring the proposals made by Hess to the knowledge of the British Government. That was Exhibit Number H-15.

      Your Honors, the Defendant Rudolf Hess is accused in the Indictment of helping the Nazi conspirators to seize power and of furthering the military, economic, and psychological preparations for the war as mentioned under Count One of the Indictment; of participating in the political planning and preparation of aggressive wars and of war in violation of international treaties, agreements and promises, as mentioned in Counts One and Two, and of participating in the preparation and planning of foreign political plans of the Nazi conspirators as listed under Count One.

      That accusation is the nucleus of the Indictment against Rudolf Hess. It is therefore my duty to discuss also briefly in evidence the circumstances which in 1939 led to the outbreak of war. In that respect I have the following to say: On 23 August 1939, at Moscow a non-aggression pact was concluded between Germany and the Soviet Union, which has already been submitted by the Prosecution as Exhibit GB-145 (Document TC-25). On the same day, that is to say but 1 week before the outbreak of the war and 3 days before the planned attack on Poland, these two nations made another secret agreement. This secret agreement essentially contained the definition of the spheres of interest of both nations within the European territory lying between Germany and the Soviet Union.

      THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, you are not forgetting, are you, the Tribunal's ruling that this is not the opportunity for making a speech, but simply the occasion for introducing documents and calling witnesses. You will have the opportunity of making your speech at a later stage.

      DR. SEIDL: Yes, indeed. I do not intend to make a speech, but I intend to say a few- introductory w~rds on a document which I shall submit to the Tribunal. Germany, in the secret documents, declared herself disinterested in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.

      THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, we have not yet seen the document. If you are going to put in the document, put in the document.

      DR. SEIDL: Yes. indeed. I can submit the document at once. It is an affidavit of the former ambassador, Dr. Friedrich Gaus. In the year 1939 he was the Chief of the Legal Department of the Foreign Office. He was present at the negotiations as the assistant of the then German plenipotentiary in Moscow, and it was he who drafted the non-aggression pact which has already been submitted as an exhibit, as well as the secret agreement, the contents of which I want to submit now to the Tribunal as fads which are important as evidence.

      THE PRESIDENT: Well, will you hand in the document?

      DR. SEIDL: Surely. However, I intend to read parts of this document later.

      THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, the Tribunal does not quite understand what this document is, because it is not included in your .document book and it does not appear that you made any application for it or made any reference to it, end it is in German; it is not translated.

      DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, when I prepared the document book for the Defendant Hess, I did not as yet have this affidavit in my possession. It dates from 15 March 1946. At that time, when the relevancy of the applications for Defendant Hess were discussed, I had as yet no definite knowledge of the context which would have enabled me to make a proper application. The excerpts which I intend to read from this document are short, and it will be possible to have them translated immediately by the interpreters present here in the courtroom.

      THE PRESIDENT: Have you a copy for the Prosecution?

      DR. SEIDL: Surely, a German copy.

      THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid that would not be any use to me. I do not know whether it is to all the members of the Prosecution. Have the Prosecuting Counsel any objection to passages being read from this document?

      GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): Mr. President, I did not know about the existence of this document, and I therefore strenuously object to having it read into the record.

      I would wish that the procedure established by the Tribunal be observed by the Defense. The Prosecution, in the past, when presenting its evidence invariably presented copies of these documents to the Defense Counsel. Counsel for Hess is now presenting a completely unknown document, and the Prosecution, with every reason, would like to familiarize itself with this document beforehand. I do not know what secrets or what secret agreements Counsel for the Defense is talking about and on what facts he is basing his statements. I would therefore, to say the least, define them as unfounded. I request that this document should not be read into the record.

      DR. SEIDL: The Prosecutor for the Soviet Union states that he has no knowledge of the existence d this secret document which shall be established by this affidavit. Under these circumstances I am compelled to move that Foreign Commissar Molotov of the Soviet Union be called as a witness, so that it can be established, firstly whether this agreement was actually concluded, secondly, what the contents of this agreement are, and thirdly...

      THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, the first thing for you to do is to have a translation of this document made, and until you have a translation of this document made the Tribunal is not prepared to hear you upon it. We do not know what the document contains.

      DR. SEIDL: As to what the document contains, I already wanted to explain that before. In the document there is...

      THE PRESIDENT: No, the Tribunal is not prepared to hear from you what the document contains. We want to see the document itself and see it in English and also in Russian. I do not mean, of course, you have to do it yourself, Dr. Seidl. If you would furnish this copy to the Prosecution they will have it translated into the various languages and then, after that has been, done, we can reconsider the matter.

      DR. SEIDL: Very well. I turn then to another document, the reading of which can certainly raise no objections, because it is a document which has already been submitted by the Prosecution. It is the address made by the Führer to the Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on 22 August 1939. It was submitted by the Prosecution of the Soviet Union as 798-PS and as Exhibit Number US-29. I quote from Page 6 of the German photostat: "Thereupon Hitler declared . . ."

      THE PRESIDENT: Have you got it in your document book or not, I mean just for convenience?

      DR. SEIDL: The document was already submitted by the Prosecution СКАЧАТЬ