Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume IIIVarious
History
Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume III
Various
Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946; War crime trials -- Germany -- Nuremberg
When, last year, in the courtroom of the big trial I listened to
the witness, Hoess, of Auschwitz, when he answered the question of
the prosecutor as to how many people he had killed, if I remember
correctly, he answered he didn’t remember exactly whether two and a
half or three million. At that time it was quite obvious to me that
neither positively nor negatively this had anything to do anymore with
legal considerations because, Mr. Prosecutor, no matter what a state
regulates concerning the question of review of a law the state has to
think of normal conditions. These occurrences and matters cannot be
measured by any order of the world at all. Therefore, I believe that
these things that happened in Germany behind a complicated system of
secrecy, a system of mutual delimitation, and if then one adds the
pressure of conscience of millions of people who felt themselves hemmed
in between patriotism and hatred of the system, then the question which
you put to me attains a very bitter human weight, and I can only say I
don’t know any way out.
* * * * * * *
PRESIDING JUDGE BRAND: In order to better understand your
views which you have ably expressed, I would like to ask you a few
questions. I understand your view to be that judges were obliged
to obey the law of their State of Germany even though in doing so
they violated a principle of international law. That is a fair brief
statement, is it not, of the matter?
WITNESS JAHRREISS: Yes. During the Weimar republic this was
already uncontestedly applicable, and with the permission of the
Tribunal, I read the commentary of Anschuetz to article 102.
Q. And you would apply the same principle after 1933, would you not?
A. After 1933? There was much less the question whether this was
different than before.
Q. What court or tribunal ordinarily enforced the rule that judges must
obey the law of their State under such circumstances? I assume the
answer is obvious.
A. Excuse me. I didn’t understand your question, sir.
Q. What tribunal ordinarily enforced against the judges or upon the
judges this obligation to obey the law of the State even though they in
doing so, violated international law?
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