Opening address for the United States for Prosecution of Axis Criminality

by Robert Houghwout Jackson

Nuremberg Trials

Defining the Trial

London Agreement

London Charter

Rules of Procedure

Defining Roles of People

Tribunal Members and Alternates

Secretariat Officials

National Prosecutors

Defendants and Counsel

Indictments

Indictments against Individuals

Indictments against Organizations

Court Activities

Interrogation of Erich Kempka

Interrogation of Wolfram Sievers

Outcomes

Principles for Human Experimentation

Judgement Sentences

OPENING ADDRESS FOR THE UNITED STATES
The following address, opening the American case under Count I of the Indictment, was delivered by Justice Robert H. Jackson, Chief of Counsel for the United States, before the Tribunal on 21 November 1945:

Contents

• 1 - Opening
• 2 - The Lawless Road to Power
• 3 - The Consolidation of Nazi Power
• 3.1 - The Battle Against the Working Class
• 3.2 - The Battle Against the Churches
• 3.3 - Crimes Against the Jews
• 4 - Terrorism and Preparation for War
• 5 - Experiments in Aggression
• 6 - War of Aggression
• 7 - Conspiracy with Japan
• 8 - Crimes in the Conduct of War
• 9 - The Law of the Case
• 10 - The Crime Against Peace
• 11 - The Law of Individual Responsibility
• 12 - The Political Police and Military Organizations
• 13 - The Responsibility of this Tribunal

Archival note

(From archival source) [In most instances, documents referred to or quoted from have been cited by number, even though some of them have not been introduced in evidence as part of the American case. Where they were not offered as evidence it was chiefly for the reason that documents subsequently discovered covered the point more adequately, and because the pressure of time required the avoidance of cumulative evidence.
In some instances, no citations are given of documents quoted from or [page 174] referred to. These are documents which for a variety of reasons were not introduced in evidence during the American case. The length of some of them was disproportionate to the value of their contents, and hence instead of full translations only summaries were prepared in English. In some cases a translation of the document referred to was made only for use in the address and was not included in the evidence which it was proposed to offer in court. In other cases the document, although translated, was turned over to the French or Russian delegations for use in the proof of Counts III and IV, and hence forms no part of the American case.

Source

• Office of the United States Chief of Counsel For Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, ("Red Series"), Volume I, pages 114-171, USGPO, Washington DC 1946