Judgment at Nuremberg Page #21

fear of war has been revived.

And we must look once more

to our defenses.

There's talk of Cold War,

while men and women die in real wars.

And the echoes of persecution...

and atrocities...

will not be stilled.

These events cannot help

but color what happens in this courtroom.

But somewhere

in the midst of these events...

the responsibility for the crimes

that we brought forward during this trial...

must be placed in true perspective.

And this is the decision

that faces Your Honors.

It is the dilemma of our times.

It is a dilemma...

that rests with you.

The prosecution rests.

The defendants

may now make their final statements.

Defendant Emil Hahn

may address the tribunal.

Your Honors...

I do not evade the responsibility

for my actions.

On the contrary...

I stand by them before the entire world.

But I will not follow the policy of others.

I will not say of our policy today

that it was wrong...

when yesterday I say it was right.

Germany was fighting for its life.

Certain measures were needed

to protect it from its enemies.

I cannot say that I am sorry

we applied those measures.

We were a bulwark against Bolshevism.

We were a pillar of Western culture.

A bulwark and a pillar

the West may yet wish to retain.

The defendant Friedrich Hoffstetter

may address the tribunal.

I have served my country

throughout my life...

and in whatever position

I was assigned to...

in faithfulness,

with a pure heart, and without malice.

I followed the concept that I believed

to be the highest in my profession.

The concept that says:

"To sacrifice one's own sense of justice...

"to the authoritative legal order.

"To ask only what the law is...

"and not to ask

whether or not it is also justice."

As a judge, I could do no other.

I believe Your Honors will find me...

and millions of Germans like me...

who believed they were doing their duty

to their country...

to be not guilty.

The defendant Werner Lammpe

may address the tribunal.

Your Honors...

The defendant Ernst Janning

may address the tribunal.

I have nothing to add to what I have said.

The testimony has been received

in the case.

Final arguments have been heard.

There remains nothing now but the task

of the tribunal to render its decision.

The tribunal will recess

until further notification.

I've collected

several precedents and arguments here...

that have a bearing on the basis of the case,

which is, of course, the conflict between...

allegiance to international law

and to the laws of one's own country.

We have a mountain of material

to go over here.

What are you looking at, Dan?

I was looking at some of these pictures

attached to the warrants for arrest.

What pictures?

There's Petersen,

before they operated on him.

And here's Irene Hoffman.

She really was once, wasn't she?

Feldenstein.

And here's the situation of a boy,

certainly couldn't have been more than .

Executed for saying things

against the Third Reich.

"By order of Justice Friedrich Hoffstetter."

If I may say so, more pertinent

to the legal basis of the case...

I have the opening address

of the French prosecutor...

before the International Military Tribunal.

"It is obvious that in the state organized

along modern lines...

"responsibility is confined

to those who act directly for the state.

"Since they alone are in a position to judge

the legitimacy of the given orders...

"they alone can be prosecuted."

I have another

from Prof. Jahrreiss' legal aspects...

Trial of the Major War Criminals.

On the basis of these, I don't see

where the prosecution has put forth...

a really clear-cut case against the defense

pertaining to the charges in the indictment.

Regardless of the acts committed...

we cannot make the interpretation

that these defendants...

are really responsible

for crimes against humanity.

What do you think, Dan?

We've been going over these points all day.

If it isn't clear now...

Aren't you going to look

at these precedents?

Aren't you interested at all?

Yes, I'm interested, Curtiss.

You were speaking of crimes

against humanity...

saying that the defendants

were not responsible for their acts.

I'd like you to explain that to me.

- I've just been explaining it.

- Maybe.

But all I've heard is a lot

of legalistic double-talk and rationalization.

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