![]() ![]() It involves the problem of how far the soldier can go in preparation of war without inciting the very war against which he claims to be preparing. The political charge is especially interesting. During the last weeks of the war, as Hitler’s successor, he stands charged with ordering the continuation of hopeless war. On the military level, first in the position of flag officer submarines, and after 30 January 1943 as commander in chief of the German Navy, he stands charged with authorizing, directing, and participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially against persons and property on the high seas. On the political level he stands charged with promoting the preparation for aggressive war and participating in the planning of war of aggression in violation of treaties. The charges against Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz fall into two categories. While Raeder and Doenitz are generally charged with the same offenses, the specific acts to which they have to answer are for the most part different. It is submitted in this procedure, however, that Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, and Colonel General Alfred Jodl are not being tried for what they did as soldiers in representing their country in battle, but for what they did in precipitating an unnecessary war, and for the manner in which they ordered, directed, and conducted that war. No soldier has ever been called before an international tribunal to give an account of his military deeds on a battlefield. The profession of arms is an honorable one and is recognized by all nations. There exists one distinct anomaly in the Nuremberg trials and that is the prosecution of military persons.
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