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Cover of episode 03

Nuremberg Files · 032:08 min

Nuremberg trial: the four counts

20 November 1945: the Indictment is read. Four counts: common plan, crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity.

Count two was contested. Defence counsel said aggressive war as a crime was not yet valid international law. The judgment says the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 bound 63 nations, and those who plan and wage such a war commit a crime. Both sides verbatim, with source.

7 documented0 open11 Sources

StatementsSources

Episode 03

Statements

Every on-screen statement of the episode, in order. Red only when the source carries it word for word; open when a check is missing.

  1. 01
    documented

    Nuremberg, 20 November 1945: the Indictment is read.

    IMT Vol. 2, p. 30IMT Vol. 2, p. 29IMT Vol. 2

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  2. 02
    documented

    Count One: the common plan or conspiracy.

    IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  3. 03
    documented

    Crimes against peace: planning, preparing, initiating, waging wars of aggression.

    IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  4. 04
    documented

    War crimes: murder, ill-treatment, deportation for slave labor, killing hostages, plunder, devastation not justified by military necessity.

    IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  5. 05
    documented

    Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation.

    IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  6. 06
    documented

    Defence counsel, 19 Nov 1945: aggressive war as a crime is not as yet valid international law.

    IMT Vol. 1, p. 168

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  7. 07
    documented

    Judgment: the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 bound 63 nations. Those who plan and wage such a war are committing a crime.

    IMT Vol. 1, p. 219IMT Vol. 1, p. 220

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  8. 08
    question

    And how did the defendants answer? Episode 4.

Episode 03

Sources

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT, “Blue Series”), English edition. Page = printed page.

  1. IMT Vol. 2, p. 30

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (transcript 20.11.1945)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    30 (PDF page 42)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    It only remains for me to direct, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, that the Indictment shall now be read.

  2. IMT Vol. 2, p. 29

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (transcript 20.11.1945, Eröffnung)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    29 (PDF page 41)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    FIRST DAY Tuesday, 20 November 1945 Morning Session THE PRESIDENT: Before the defendants in this case are called upon to make their pleas

  3. IMT Vol. 2

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (title page)
    Volume
    2
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    TRIAL OF THE MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL NUREMBERG

  4. IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (Anklageschrift, verlesen 20.11.1945)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    31 (PDF page 43)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    COUNT ONE—THE COMMON PLAN OR CONSPIRACY

  5. IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (Anklageschrift, verlesen 20.11.1945)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    31 (PDF page 43)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    The Common Plan or Conspiracy embraced the commission of Crimes against Peace, in that the defendants planned, prepared, initiated, and waged wars of aggression

  6. IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (Anklageschrift, verlesen 20.11.1945)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    31 (PDF page 43)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    it came to embrace the commission of War Crimes, in that it contemplated, and the defendants determined upon and carried out, ruthless wars against countries and populations, in violation of the rules and customs of war, including as typical and systematic means by which the wars were prosecuted, murder, ill-treatment, deportation for slave labor and for other purposes of civilian populations of occupied territories, murder and ill-treatment of prisoners of war and of persons on the High Seas, the taking and killing of hostages, the plunder of public and private property, the wanton destruction of cities, towns, and villages, and devastation not justified by military necessity

  7. IMT Vol. 2, p. 31

    Document
    IMT Vol. 2 (Anklageschrift, verlesen 20.11.1945)
    Volume
    2
    Page
    31 (PDF page 43)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Crimes against Humanity, both within Germany and within occupied territories, including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts

  8. IMT Vol. 1, p. 168

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Antrag aller Verteidiger, 19.11.1945)
    Volume
    1
    Page
    168 (PDF page 184)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    MOTION ADOPTED BY ALL DEFENSE COUNSEL 19 November 1945

  9. IMT Vol. 1, p. 168

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Antrag aller Verteidiger, 19.11.1945)
    Volume
    1
    Page
    168 (PDF page 184)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    This thought is at the basis of the first three counts of the Indictment which have been put forward in this Trial, to wit. the Indictment for Crimes against Peace. Humanity insists that this idea should in the future be more than a demand, that it should be valid international law. However, today it is not as yet valid international law.

  10. IMT Vol. 1, p. 219

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Urteil)
    Volume
    1
    Page
    219 (PDF page 235)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    The General Treatv for the Renunciation of War of 27 August 1928, more generally known as the Pact of Paris or the Kellogg-Briand Pact, was binding on 63 nations, including Germanv, Italy, and Japan at the outbreak of war in 1939.

  11. IMT Vol. 1, p. 220

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Urteil)
    Volume
    1
    Page
    220 (PDF page 236)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    In the opinion of the Tribunal, the solemn renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy necessarily involves the proposition that such a war is illegal in international law; and that those who p]an and wage such a war. with its inevitable and terrible consequences, are committing a crime in so doing.

Further sources of the episode

audio NARA 238.1B, 238.2B (20 Nov 1945) · IMT Vol. 2, pp. 30/31 · Vol. 1, p. 168 (defence motion), pp. 219/220 (judgment) · Film NARA 111-ADC-5547, 5562, 5585

How to cite this episode

FUNDSTELLE: „Nuremberg trial: the four counts“, Nuremberg Files 03. https://fundstelle.online/en/f/03/

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