The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.2). International Military Tribunal
its purposes, activities and the means it used, it participated in and is responsible for the commission of the crimes set forth in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment.
“Die Sturmabteilungen der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (commonly known as the SA).” That organization referred to in the Indictment was a formation of the Nazi Party under the immediate jurisdiction of the Führer, organized on military lines, whose membership was composed of volunteers serving as political soldiers of the Party. It was one of the earliest formations of the Nazi Party and the original guardian of the National Socialist movement. Founded in 1921 as a voluntary military formation, it was developed by the Nazi conspirators before their accession to power into a vast private army and utilized for the purpose of creating disorder, and terrorizing and eliminating political opponents. It continued to serve as an instrument for the physical, ideological, and military training of Party members and as a reserve for the German Armed Forces. After the launching of the wars of aggression, referred to in Counts One and Two of the Indictment, the SA not only operated as an organization for military training but provided auxiliary police and security forces in occupied territories, guarded prisoner-of-war camps and concentration camps and supervised and controlled persons forced to labor in Germany and occupied territories.
Through its purposes and activities and the means it used it participated in and is responsible for the commission of the crimes set forth in Counts One, Two, Three, and Four of the Indictment.
The “General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces” referred to in the Indictment consists of those individuals who between February 1938 and May 1945 were the highest commanders of the Wehrmacht, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Forces. The individuals comprising this group are the persons who held the following appointments:
Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine (Commander in Chief of the Navy); Chef (and, formerly, Chef des Stabes) der Seekriegsleitung (Chief of Naval War Staff); Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Commander in Chief of the Army); Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres (Chief of the General Staff of the Army); Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Commander in Chief of the Air Force); Chef des Generalstabes der Luftwaffe (Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force); Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces); Chef des Führungsstabes des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Chief of the Operations Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces); Stellvertretender Chef des Führungsstabes des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Deputy Chief of the Operations Staff of the High Command of the Armed Forces); Commanders-in-Chief in the field, with the status of Oberbefehlshaber, of the Wehrmacht, Navy, Army, Air Force.
Functioning in such capacities and in association as a group at the highest level in the German Armed Forces organization, these persons had a major responsibility for the planning, preparation, initiation, and waging of illegal war as set forth in Counts One and Two of the Indictment and for the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity involved in the execution of the Common Plan or Conspiracy set forth in Counts Three and Four of the Indictment.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE (Continuing the reading of the Indictment):
APPENDIX C—CHARGES AND PARTICULARS OF VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES, AGREEMENTS, AND ASSURANCES CAUSED BY THE DEFENDANTS IN THE COURSE OF PLANNING, PREPARING AND INITIATING THE WARS.
I. Charge:
Violation of the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes signed at The Hague, 29 July 1899.
Particulars: In that Germany did, by force and arms, on the dates specified in Column 1, invade the territory of the Sovereigns specified in Column 2, respectively, without first having attempted to settle its disputes with the said Sovereigns by pacific means.
| (Column 1) | (Column 2) | |
| 6 | April 1941 | Kingdom of Greece |
| 6 | April 1941 | Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
II. Charge:
Violation of the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes signed at The Hague, 18 October 1907.
Particulars: In that Germany did, on or about the dates specified in Column 1, by force of arms invade the territory of the Sovereigns specified in Column 2, respectively, without having first attempted to settle its disputes with the said Sovereigns by pacific means.
| (Column 1) | (Column 2) | |
| 1 | September 1939 | Republic of Poland |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Norway |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Denmark |
| 10 | May 1940 | Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of Belgium |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| 22 | June 1941 | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
III. Charge:
Violation of Hague Convention III, Relative to the Opening of Hostilities, signed 18 October 1907.
Particulars: In that Germany did, on or about the dates specified in Column 1, commence hostilities against the countries specified in Column 2, respectively, without previous warning in the form of a reasoned declaration of war or an ultimatum with conditional declaration of war.
| (Column 1) | (Column 2) | |
| 1 | September 1939 | Republic of Poland |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Norway |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Denmark |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of Belgium |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| 10 | May 1940 | Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg |
| 22 | June 1941 | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
IV. Charge:
Violation of Hague Convention V, Respecting the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in Case of War on Land, signed 18 October 1907.
Particulars:
In that Germany did, on or about the dates specified in Column 1, by force and arms of its military forces, cross into, invade, and occupy the territories of the Sovereigns specified in Column 2, respectively, then and thereby violating the neutrality of said Sovereigns.
| (Column 1) | (Column 2) | |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Norway |
| 9 | April 1940 | Kingdom of Denmark |
| 10 | May 1940 | Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of Belgium |
| 10 | May 1940 | Kingdom of the Netherlands |
| 22 | June 1941 | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics |
V. Charge:
Violation of the Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany, signed at Versailles, 28 June 1919, known as the Versailles Treaty.
Particulars:
(1) In that Germany did, on and after 7 March 1936, maintain and assemble armed forces and maintain and construct military fortifications in the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland in violation of the provisions of Articles 42 to 44 of the Treaty of Versailles.
(2) In that Germany did, on or about 13 March 1938, annex Austria into the German Reich in violation of the provisions of Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles.
(3) In that Germany did, on or about 22 March 1939, incorporate the District of Memel into the German Reich in violation of the provisions of Article 99 of the Treaty of Versailles.
(4) In that Germany did, on or about 1 September 1939, incorporate the Free City of Danzig into the German Reich in violation of the provisions of Article 100 of the Treaty of Versailles.
(5) In that Germany did, on or about 16 March 1939, incorporate the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, formerly part of Czechoslovakia, into the German Reich in violation of the provisions of Article 81 of the Treaty of Versailles.
(6) In that Germany did, at various times in March 1935 and thereafter, repudiate various parts of Part V, Military, Naval, and Air Clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, by