WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24742, 6 December 1945, Page 5

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Outline of British Case

AGGRESSION BY GERMANY

(N.Z- Press - Associauon— Copyright! NUREMBERG. December 4.

Outlining Britain's case for the prosecution at the war crimes trial at> Nuremberg, the British AttorneyGeneral'(Sir Hartley Shawcross, K.C.) •said it was Britain's view that the war crimes tribunal should apply to indl- ! viduals not the law of the victor, but the accepted principles of international usage, in order to promote and fortify the rule of international law and safeguard the future peace and security of a war-stricken worldHe then detailed a long series of international pacts and agreements circumscribing the right- of war, dating from The Hague Convention of 1890 and culminating with the KelloggPact of 1928—the most fundamental and most revolutionary enactment in modern international law—which expressly laid down that its violation by one signatory was an attack against all others and that they were fully entitled to treat it as such. This was important lest the defendants should maintain that it was not Germany" which, initiated the war against Britam and France. The declaration of war came from Britain -and France, but the act of war came from Germany in violation of a fundamental enactment to which she was a party After tracing the history of Germany's aggressive campaigns, Sir Hartley Shawcross said: "Hitler on July 16, 1940, issued to Jodl and Keitel a directive for the invasion of England It started off by saying—and Englishmen will for ever be proud of it—that Since England, in spite of her militarily hopeless situation, shows no .signs of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England and/ if necessary, carry it out.. Preparations must be completed by the middle of August but the first essential is that the English air force must be morally and actually so far overcome that it no longer shows any considerable aeFWSJ against the German attack. The Luftwaffe made strenuous efforts to realise that condition, but in ?u e u, i tne most s Plendid pages of British history it was decisively defeated."

a« ~ Attack on Russia B,S r^ c ft the-attack against Russia, Sir Hartley Shawcross conJhl V" 3 * mei i' is the case against defendants. . It may be said that w e +^ ere in strunients of Hitler's ™r 'S'ufe™? 1 * mstruments without which Hitler's will could not have been carried out. They are the men whose support built up Hitler into the position of power he occupied." fil ? l^ Shawcross quoted from a file on the reconstruction of the Germa * n .* navy 1 & September, 1938, which stated that Germany couid secure the colonial possessions and ocean com--1 o „ns necess ary.to constitute her ?i i r"2 and France,-which- was unlikely to be achieved peacefully-there-fore, preparations must be made ior JSShJSft B^ ainst England war S?«K 1 wi the - fin > ,ire ' against France and probably against Russia; hi fact ag lir ?t a^ ird o^"he air Hartley Shawcross described ™T a K ? ttack on Russia as= the most blatant of all the Nazi -fraud! &SS T her L ? on Ribbe-nttop ■ said thP t&S S l ep had be en taken-because ed .Army was threatening Ger! f renort d a h f h Wa s in -Possesion?* ;L5 f^;, 01 " the German AmbassaSnd Mnfc OW w «*h : stated: ''Stalfn fihlP £l**' who alone, are. responsible lor Russian foreign policv ar P r^ n -T # J ir H^rtle y Shawcross Berifn at Sh fr? + m a Terence in x>ernn at which it was stated- "Th* only be continued if all S tt^th,-S ar e fed out of Russia°h* fl"i s H^J e to <?eath when we take sary fS e S.^° Untry M«l? ir hartley Shawcross" had thp Nazis squirming-in their " ■& Protest, and complaining-I& not fair, we are not as bad as that •» M y fi•? .^ orre ?Ponde/t of thl "Daily h?}hl u Goenn S led the party in their headshakingand expostulation iub» fhe gSM a H«e statementfha tennVd hSi h^ dniade .agreements inof sefurfty" 11 th6lr Vlctlms into a «?»* to" H el?,iLn b £ said Go «ing «,-j en Sir Hartley Shaweros* said the Nazis had sought to re vert * 0 .international anarchy. One of thi

CRITICISM OP ALLIED PROSECUTION

REPLY BY MR JUSTICE JACKSON

( *<™ J t m K 4 LONDON, Dec 4 n i e President of the Allied War at critics whoa? claiming that his prosecution of ?iZ c J^i^ wh i, spering campaign 'which office« e in d th^ nfi Semor AmSSan hr^fiL m t he . ? u r°Pean theatre was ffl?W A mto , against Hitlers military leaders. The aueT tr?^c ether Ge ™an officers shouldS tried as war criminals has been widelv in the occupation Ernies At the time of Mr Justice Jack son's appointment, it was salrf -nES SSrfS lTF eit wa ? ted "&*£ Z?. Germany's leaders he-> won. e H h H fe^ d a military tribunal Srals 6 dlsmchned to convict other "Mr Justice Jackson, replyine saidpursu W minffitsfor serving their country, but for drivine aVs,wL The f men did ™t act 23y fmrneS p L ofessi ° n al soldiers; they immersed themselves, in Hitler's P° llc + ie s because the Nazis gave them what they wanted—war.'" m

HESS'S RECOVERY , f OP MEMORY

READING TASTES OF PRISONERS

(Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON Dee A "Hess's recovery of his rnemorv has cost him one of the privileges which he has most obviously en joyed ™savs t A «^ U t re i nb « erg "'respondent c-f Associated Press.. "He is no loneer permitted to read novels in Court 3EEfthW gained I for hi ™ «S2: lr hand^lL he + 1S n ° longer shackled or nandcuffed to someone else when exercising. Security officials take the view that Hess should now be able to re ££ mb that U is to escape The literary tastes of the prisoners ™c th * nllers }°, G ? ethe ' Ribbentrop SH** f ? BC I£ ated by Jules Verne; bchacht is the most voracious reader of all, with strictly classical tastes; von Schirach is also a devotee of Goethe end spent some time while imprisoned tSh ™? g Tenn y. s °n German. Jodl prefers anything concerned with mountaineering, once his favourite sport. Streicher is apparently no longer interested in anti-Semitism and has jomed the Goethe school. Rosenberg reads the least of all." ..mT he m Nurember ß correspondent of The Tunes'; says that the British c?se should be concluded by the end of the week. It is more* specific than the American, and is confined to about 200 documents.

Sir Donald Maxwell Fyfe, KC will introduce the first British documents to-morrow. Lieutenant-Colonel M. Griffiths Jones will present material relating to German attacks on Poland, Britain, and France. Major Elwyn

Jones will cover the Norwegian campaign. Mr G. D. Roberts. K.C.. will deal with the invasion of the Low Countries, and Colonel J. J. Fhillimore will table evidence on the war in Greece and Jugoslavia.