Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Print

Robert Jackson, US Prosecutor, at Nuremberg Trial

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 2001.358.1 | RG Number: RG-60.2844 | Film ID: 2351

Search this record's additional resources, such as finding aids, documents, or transcripts.

No results match this search term.
Check spelling and try again.

results are loading

0 results found for “keyward”

    Robert Jackson, US Prosecutor, at Nuremberg Trial
    Transcript
    This is not the time to review the evidence
    against each particular organization which
    we take it should be reserved for summation
    after the evidence is all presented.
    But it is timely to say that the selection of the six
    organizations named in the indictment
    was not a matter of chance.
    The chief reasons they were chosen are these.
    Collectively, they were the ultimate repositories
    of all power in the Nazi regime.
    They were not only the most powerful, but the most
    vicious organizations in the regime.
    And they were organizations in which membership
    was generally voluntary.
    The Nazi leadership core consisted
    of the directors and principal executors of the Nazi Party.
    And the Nazi Party was the force lying behind and dominating
    the whole German state.
    The Reich cabinet was the facade through which the Nazi Party
    translated its will into legislative, administrative and
    executive acts.
    The two pillars on which the security of the regime rested
    were the armed forces, directed and controlled
    but the general staff of the high command,
    and the police forces, the Gestapo the SA, the SD,
    and the SS.
    These organizations exemplify all of the evil forces
    of the Nazi regime.
    These organizations were also selected
    because while representative they
    were not so large or extensive as to make it probable
    that innocent, passive, or indifferent Germans might
    be caught up in the same net with the guilty.
    State officialdom is represented,
    but not all the administrative officials or department
    heads or civil servants.
    Only the Reichs cabinet, the very heart
    of not Nazidom within the government, is named.
    The armed forces are accused, but not the average soldier
    or officer, no matter how high ranking.
    Only the top policymakers.
    The general staff of the high command are named.
    The police forces are accused, but not every policeman,
    not the ordinary police which performed only
    the normal police functions.
    Only the most terroristic and repressive police elements,
    the Gestapo and the SD are named.
    The Nazi Party is accused, but not every Nazi voter, not even
    every member, only the leaders.
    And not even every party official or worker is included.
    Only the bearers of sovereignty and the metaphysical jargon
    of the Party who were the actual commanding officers
    and their staff officers on the highest levels.
    I think it's important that we observe, in reference
    to the Nazi Party just what it is that we are doing here
    and compare it with the denazification
    program in effect without any declaration of criminality
    in order to see in it's true perspective
    the indictment which we bring against the Nazi Party.
    Some charges have been prepared by Mr.--
    First column are the 79 million German citizens.
    We make no accusation against the citizenry of Germany.
    The next is the 48 million voters who at one time
    voted to put, or keep rather, the Nazi Party in power.
    They voted in response to the referendum.
    We make no charge against those who supported the Nazi Party,
    although in some aspects of the denazification program
    the supporters are included.
    Then comes the 5 million Nazi members,
    persons who definitely join the Nazi Party
    by an act of affiliation, by an oath of fealty.
    We don't attempt to reach that entire 5 million persons,
    although I have no hesitation in saying that there would
    be good grounds for doing so.
    But as a mere matter of the practicalities
    of this situation, it is not possible to reach
    all of those who are technically and perhaps morally well
    within the confines of this conspiracy.
    So the voters are just disregarded.
    We don't accuse Nazi organizations
    which have some legitimate purpose,
    like welfare organizations.
    Only two of these Party formations
    are named, the SA and the SS, the oldest
    of the Nazi organizations.
    Groups which had no purpose other than carrying out
    the Nazi schemes and which actively
    participated in every crime denounced by the charter.
    --and punish the manpower for most of the crimes
    which we proved.
    In administering preventive justice,
    with a view to forestalling repetition of these crimes
    against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes,
    it would be a greater catastrophe
    to acquit these organizations than it
    would be to acquit the entire 22 individual defendants
    in the box.
    These defendants' power for harm is past.
    They are discredited men.
    That of these organizations goes on.
    If these organizations are exonerated here,
    the German people will infer that they did no wrong
    and they will easily be regimented and reconstituted
    organizations under new names behind the same program.
    In administering retributive justice,
    it would be possible to exonerate these organizations
    only by concluding that no crimes have been committed
    by the Nazi regime.
    For these organizations' sponsorship
    of every Nazi purpose and their confederation
    to execute every measure to attain
    these ends is beyond denial.
    A failure to condemn these organizations under the terms
    of the charter can only mean that such Nazi ends and means
    cannot be considered criminal and that the charter
    of the tribunal declaring them so is annulled.
    I think my colleagues who have somewhat different aspects
    of the case to deal with would like
    to be heard on this subject.

    Overview

    Description
    (Munich 16) War Crimes Trials, Nuremberg, Germany, February 28, 1946. MLS, front view, US Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson speaking. Jackson states in part that the six criminal organizations to be tried in these proceedings were not selected without considerable study by the prosecution. They were the most vicious and membership within them was entirely voluntary. Those to be indicted are: the Reich Cabinet; the top policy makers of the German Nazi Army; the military police elements of the Gestapo and SD; the Nazi party leaders; and their staff officers on a high level. MSs, Justices Biddle, Parker, de Vabre. MSs, Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel in the prisoners' dock. HAS, Jackson continuing his speech stating that only the organizations that were directly responsible for the crimes committed in Germany and its occupied countries will be brought to trial. "It would be a greater catastrophe to acquit these organizations than it would be to acquit the defendants in the prisoners' dock. Should these organizations be acquitted, the German people will feel they did no wrong and will continue operating with these same organizations, but under new names...Failure to condemn these organizations under the terms of the charter can only mean that such Nazi aims and means cannot be considered criminal."
    Duration
    00:08:42
    Date
    Event:  1946 February 28
    Locale
    Nuremberg, Germany
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives & Records Administration
    Contributor
    Producer: United States. Army. Signal Corps.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Genre/Form
    Unedited.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Fair
    Time Code
    04:30:59:00 to 04:39:41:00
    Film Format
    • Master
      • Master 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Master 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
    • Preservation
      • Preservation 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2351 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Public Domain
    Conditions on Use
    To the best of the Museum's knowledge, this material is in the public domain. You do not require further permission from the Museum to reproduce or use this material.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Legal Status
    Permanent Collection
    Film Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased this from the National Archives and Records Administration in September 2001.
    Note
    This is a continuation of 111 ADC 5817 - RG-60.2423, Film ID 2277 and 111 ADC 5818 - RG-60.2843, Film ID 2351.
    Copied From
    35mm DNC; b/w
    Film Source
    United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Motion Picture Reference
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 3000
    Source Archive Number: 111 ADC 5819
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:49:03
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1002256

    Additional Resources

    Time Coded Notes (English)

    Download & Licensing

    In-Person Research

    Contact Us