William J. Bosch - Judgment on Nuremberg: American Attitudes toward the Major German War-Crime Trials

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Judgment on Nuremberg

Copyright 1970 by
The University of North Carolina Press
All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Standard Book Number 807811394
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 72109456

Acknowledgments

On the long road to publication of Judgment on Nuremberg I have met many helpful friends and critics. Professor Robert M. Miller was the first to point me in the direction of this topic, and his continual encouragement and confidence were a major reason for the books completion. He has been not only an inspiring mentor but also a valued friend. Credit and thanks are also due to Professors John E. Semonche, Charles Phipps, S.J., and John M. Anspacher for detailed critical readings of the entire manuscript. Professors Elisha P. Douglass and Frank M. Klingberg graciously reviewed the text at an early stage of its journey. Individual chapters have been improved through the kind advice of Professors Samuel F. Wells and Edward M. Conan.

Because of the vast amount of published material surveyed in this study, special acknowledgment is due to the dedicated members of the library staffs at the Library of Congress and at the newspaper division of the New York Public Library as well as to the librarians of Boston College, Catholic University, Duke University, LeMoyne College, Harvard University, and Syracuse University. The greatest debt, however, is owed to the librarians of the University of North Carolina who constantly amazed me by their generosity in time and energy.

All books are improved immeasurably by conscientious typists and editors. I appreciate greatly the labors of Mrs. Sue Killian and Mrs. Muriel Dyer, whose careful typing forestalled many technical errors. Mr. Leslie Phillabaum and the staff at the University of North Carolina Press receive my gratitude for their constant efforts and care during publication. Professor Cornelius Novelli of LeMoyne College supplied a helpful critical editing of the entire manuscript.

Mr. Bertrand Jarvis, Mrs. Eva Higgins, and Misses Jewel Williams, Betty Brandon, and Evelyn Shakir generously provided proofreading and constant interest and encouragement.

Research and publication were assisted by grants from the Smith Fund of the University of North Carolina, the LeMoyne Faculty Research Fund, a LeMoyne Community Grant, and the Jesuit Writers Fund.

None of these considerate and helpful people share my responsibility for shortcomings in this book.

Contents

Judgment on Nuremberg

1
The Road to Nuremberg

Bold headlines August 9, 1945 announced: Soviet Declares War on Japan; Attacks Manchuria, Tokyo Says: Atom Bomb Loosed on Nagasaki. At the bottom of this first page was the headline: 4 Powers Call Aggression Crime In Accord Covering War Trials.

Ironically, mans vast potential for destruction overshadowed the efforts which he was making at that moment to bridle the evils of aggression. The Allied nations signing of the London Charter, which provided the law and procedures for the Nuremberg war-crime trials, hardly competed with the news of weapons that would be able to destroy the human race.

Although the search for safeguards for the rights of men and nations began centuries ago, never before has success in this seeking been so imperative. Modern communications and transportation have brought men closer in their destinies. Apart from the potency of new weapons, this closeness would be less disturbing if the future were not so imperiled by the emergence of modern totalitarianism with its tendency to violate the rights of its citizens and of neighboring states.

Opponents of totalitarianism have tried desperately to devise defenses against aggression and atrocities. Leaders have sought safeguards in several ways: politically, through collective security; militarily, through intimidating destructive might; and economically, through sanctions or elimination of frustrating poverty.

Another major effort to stop unjust wars and violations of human rights has been the development of an international legal code. Many hope that as individual states have curbed internal unrest and made men secure in their rights to life, liberty, and property, so the law of the nations might check international outlawry. Peace through law has been a vision which has especially captivated America. Proud of the freedom and security provided by its legal tradition, the United States frequently has attempted through law to solve the nations and the worlds problems.

Perhaps the most striking illustration of this policy was the International Military Tribunal which tried Nazi Germanys leaders after the Second World War. The court which judged Hitlers warlords was significant not only because of the defendants rank and the depravity and magnitude of their crimes, but also because the Allies sought to create a new international law through the Tribunals decisions. Aggressive war was declared the supreme crime; national leaders who plotted unjust belligerency were held personally accountable; pleas of head of state and order of superior no longer bestowed legal immunity; and those who abetted aggressive war by their diplomatic, financial or industrial support were liable for the injustices perpetrated by their nation. In addition, an indictment for crimes against humanity was formulated.

The Nuremberg trials were not an impulsive decision by the Allied governments. They were the culmination of twenty-five years of legal development and psychological preparation. Twentieth-century men started on the road to Nuremberg immediately after World War I.

Hang the Kaiser!a cry created out of wartime passion and the desire to mobilize national moraleexpressed the Allies determination to indict enemy leaders for war crimes at the end of World War I. Implementation of this policy began November 28, 1918 when the British Imperial War Cabinet decided to punish German leaders by legal tribunals rather than by executive action.

When the triumphant Allied and Associated powers assembled in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles to plan Europes future, they assumed the former German government would be discredited by the trial of the kaiser. Mr. Robert Lansing, American secretary of state and president of the Committee on Breaches of Laws of War, informed them, however, that the committee had neither drawn up a list of criminals nor prepared for trials. The reason for the committees inaction was that their judicial experts had decided that the accused could not be brought before any legal tribunal, since they were only guilty of a moral responsibility.

Because of this conclusion only the kaiser was indicted for starting the war. All other German leaders were charged with violations of the traditional rules and customs of war. These decisions were embodied in articles 227, 228, and 229 of the final draft of the Versailles treaty.

The first of these articles declared the victors intention to bring the former German emperor to trial for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties. A special tribunal was to be created, and the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan would each supply one judge for the court.

Article 228 demanded German recognition of the victors right to bring before its military tribunals enemy nationals accused of violations of the laws of war. Article 229 specified that the alleged criminal would be handed over to the aggrieved nations military courts or, if he was charged with crimes by a number of nations, he would be brought before a military court composed of judges from the accusing nations.

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