Nuremberg Page #6

Hitler said that he would

give you an indoctrination

on the political

situation and he said,

we are left with the decision

to attack Poland at

the first opportunity.

Did you still think that he

had no aggressive intentions?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I believed

that for a long time.

Just as General Jodl said,

after Hitler had solved

the Czech problem

purely politically,

it was to be hoped he

would also be able to solve

the Polish question

without bloodshed.

I believed that until

the last moment,

until the 22nd of August.

[NARRATOR] Keitel

is cross-examined.

[NARRATOR] Yesterday

your counsel showed you

this order dated

16th September, 1941.

It said that it is

necessary to take

immediate, cruel measures

and that human life

in the East is

absolutely worthless.

You remember the basic

idea of the order,

that human life costs

absolutely nothing?

[NARRATOR] Please

answer the question.

[NARRATOR] You signed this

order with this statement?

Ja!

[NARRATOR] Next Jodl.

[NARRATOR] Do you

remember any other reason

for such great mortality

among Soviet prisoners of war?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I didn't know the

reasons for this mass murder,

but they seemed to be completely

wrong, that I do know.

[NARRATOR] Now von Ribbentrop.

[NARRATOR] Are you

telling the tribunal,

on your oath, that

you knew nothing

about the effect of military

pressure on Austria?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I wish

to stress again

that I knew nothing

about military measures,

and that if I had

known something,

I wouldn't see any

reason not to say so.

But it is a fact that

during the days before

and after the

Hitler-Schuschnigg meeting,

I was so busy taking

over the foreign office

that I could give

only slight attention

to the Austrian problem.

[NARRATOR] Then Goering

is cross-examined.

[NARRATOR] At the

end of the meeting

you used the following

words didn't you?

German Jewry must, as a penalty,

forfeit one-billion marks,

then the pigs won't

commit any more crimes.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Do you still say

that neither Hitler

nor you knew of the policy

to exterminate the Jews?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I already have

said that not even approximately

did I know to what degree

this thing took place.

[NARRATOR] You did

not know to what degree,

but you knew there was a policy

that aimed at the

liquidation of the Jews.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] No, not

liquidation of the Jews.

I only knew that certain,

perpetrations had taken place.

[NARRATOR] Speer

takes the stand.

[NARRATOR] You were

present on April 23, 1945,

when Hitler received the

telegram from Goering

suggesting that he

take over power.

What did Hitler say

on that occasion?

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] Hitler

was most excited

about the contents of the

telegram and he expressed himself

in a very clear

manner about Goering.

He said that he knew for some

time that Goering had failed,

that he was corrupt, that

he was a drug addict.

It was typical of

Hitler's attitude

toward the entire problem,

however, that he followed

the statement up by saying,

but he can, nevertheless,

negotiate the capitulation.

He stated in an offhand manner,

it doesn't really

matter who does it.

His disregard for

the German nation

was expressed in the

way he said this.

[NARRATOR] After

months of examination

and cross-examination,

several defendants

make final statements

to the tribunal.

Frank is first.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I myself,

speaking from the very depth

of my sentiments and from

the experience of five months

of this trial, want to say this.

Now, that I have

gained the last insight

into all that which has

been committed in the way

of dreadful atrocities, I feel

a terrible guilt within me.

[NARRATOR] Funk declares.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] When these

measures of terror and violence

against Jews were put up to me,

I suffered a nervous break

down because at the moment

it came to my mind

with full clearness

that, from here on, the

catastrophe took its course

all the way up to the

terrible and atrocious things

about which we have heard

and about which I knew only

in part at the time

of my imprisonment.

I felt ashamed and

guilty at that moment

and I feel the same way

today, but it's too late.

[NARRATOR] Now

Schirach speaks.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] It is my guilt

that I educated German youth

for a man who committed

murders million fold.

[NARRATOR] Schacht is next.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] Everything he

promised to the German people,

and, thereby to himself,

he did not afterwards keep.

He promised equal

rights for all citizens

and, without regard

to their capabilities,

his adherents got privileges

before all other citizens.

He promised to fight

against political lies

and, together with his Minister

Goebbels and by himself,

he never did anything

but disseminate

political lies and

political fraud.

He released criminals and

put them into his service.

He did everything in the way

of not keeping his promises.

He deceived the

world, Germany and me.

[NARRATOR] Speer once more.

[NARRATOR] The

tremendous danger

contained in this totalitarian

system only became

really clear the moment we

were approaching the end.

Everything that has

happened during this trial,

everything you have seen

in the way of orders

which were carried out

without any hesitation

did, after all, turn

out to be mistaken.

That is why this

trial must contribute

to the prevention of such

distorted wars in the future

and to the establishment

of principles

for human cooperation.

[NARRATOR] And Keitel again.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] I erred, I

was not able to prevent

what should have been prevented.

That is my guilt.

I can only wish that out

of a clear recognition

of the causes of the

disastrous methods

and the terrible

consequences of this war,

there will arise for the

German people a new hope

for a better future in

the community of nations.

[NARRATOR] Now Frank.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] We call

on the German people,

whose representatives we

were, to abandon this way,

which was doomed to failure

in the will and justice of God

and which is doomed for everyone

who may try to follow it

anywhere in the world.

[NARRATOR] The last defendant

to speak is Fritzsche.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

[NARRATOR] You of the

prosecution did not expect

anything good from

Hitler and you are amazed

about the extent of

what really happened.

But then try to understand

the indignation of those

who did expect something

good from Hitler

and were betrayed.

I am one of these betrayed.

[NARRATOR] Finally, both

defense and prosecution

sum up their arguments

for the tribunal.

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