Nazi War Trials by Andrew Walker

Author:Andrew Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Published: 2011-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Von Neurath and Fritzsche

After Speer, the appearance of Konstantin von Neurath on the witness stand was an inevitable anti-climax. At seventy-four, he was the oldest defendant and, like von Papen, attempted to remain as aristocratically aloof from the proceedings as possible. His defense counsel, von Lüdinghausen, made much of his client’s lineage, and the rambling account of how Neurath’s grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather had all been selfless public servants attracted regular interruptions from the bench. Time and again Lawrence pointed out that the indictment only concerned von Neurath’s career, from the time he entered von Papen’s cabinet as Foreign Minister in 1932. He continued in that role when Hitler came to power, until he resigned in 1938 and was replaced by von Ribbentrop. In response to his counsel’s questions, von Neurath claimed that he tendered his resignation upon discovering Hitler’s aggressive intentions. However this apparently high-minded stance was undercut by the fact that he continued to hold the rank of Reich Minister, and was diplomatically active during the Anschluss, even promising the Czechs that the Führer held no aggressive intentions towards them.Whilst not necessarily at the centre of Hitler’s coterie, he provided his regime with a reassuring, patrician gloss.

Von Neurath also faced charges arising from his role as Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. He claimed that he had been given this role precisely because Hitler wanted moderate and restrained government of the region. Whilst not in the same brutal league as his co-defendant Hans Frank, von Neurath nevertheless oversaw the introduction of the Nuremberg Laws, the shackling of the local economy to the demands of the Reich, and the round-up of forced labour. Like many of his colleagues he sought to limit his own responsibility for these actions by claiming that it was Heinrich Himmler who wielded the real power behind the throne.

Conducting the cross-examination, Maxwell-Fyfe attacked von Neurath’s moral stance, quoting from a letter the defendant had written in 1940, suggesting that, in Bohemia and Moravia, the regime should keep ‘those suitable for Germanisation by individual selective breeding… while expelling those who are not useful from a racial standpoint and are enemies of the Reich’. Von Neurath was clearly flustered by this attack, but clung to his defence that he had remained in power to exercise a moderating influence. ‘Did you ever hear that every cabinet minister must leave the cabinet if he does not agree with one particular thing?’ he asked. Maxwell-Fyfe’s reply was withering: ‘Yes, every cabinet minister for whom I have any respect left a cabinet if it did something of which he morally disapproved’.

Von Neurath’s case was then followed by that of the last defendant in the dock, Hans Fritzsche. Although indicted on Counts One, Three, and Four, he was the lowest ranking Nazi on trial, and there was a healthy suspicion amongst many present that the case against him had been hastily cobbled together, because the suicide of Joseph Goebbels had deprived the court of the chance to try the leading propagandist in the Third Reich.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.