NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

Evening Star, Issue 25566, 20 August 1945, Page 5

NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

TRIALS IN SEPTEMBER ’

LEADERS TRANSFERRED TO NUREMBERG

LONDON, August 19. Leading Nazi war criminals have arrived at Nuremberg for the trials, which are expected to begin about the end of September, states the Associated Press. Nuremberg is one of the worst-bombed centres in Germany, but the military authorities hope to have all buildings that can be repaired , completed by September 15 for the' accommodation of legal staffs. Judge Jackson, the chief prosecutor

for the United States, has just concluded a • two-days’ conference with his British, Russian, and French colleagues on the War Crimes Commission on the procedure of the trials, one rule of which lays down that those. accused must, 30 days before the trial, receive a copy of the indictment from which they can prepare their defence. Goering is reported to have recovered « his health-, and. is more cheerful. During the flight .from Luxemburg to Nuremberg he pointed down to the Rhine and said to his comrades : “ Taka a good look. It’s the last you will see of it.”

. Von Ribbentrop, on the other hand, is so depressed' that he has been removed to a ground floor cell, where warders watch him even while lie eats. ..Professor Eger, the Czech member of the International Commission on War Crimes, said that 250,000 Germans provisionally listed as war criminals included German financial and industrial leaders who promoted the war. Professor Eger said he asked von Ribbentrop what would have happened had he refused to establish the machinery for, the Government of the protectorates of Bohemia and Moravia. Von Ribbentrop . replied: “I would have gone to a concentration camp the same as the rest.”

Professor Eger quoted Field-Marshal Keitel as saying that Germany was not prepared for a world war in 1938, and the Munich agreement from the German viewpoint was a manoeuvre to create big differences between Russia and the Western Powers.