Later on, it says:

In the report of the Special Staff for Creative Arts (report on work carried out between October 1940 and 1944, Document Number 1015(b)-PS) it is stated that in the Occupied Eastern Territories the activities of the Special Staff for Creative Arts were restricted to the scientific and photographic registration of official collections, and that the safeguarding and protection of these was carried out in co-operation with the military and civilian agencies. It says further that in the course of vacating the territories, several hundred valuable icons and paintings, et cetera, were saved and, with the co-operation of the individual army groups, were brought to a place of safekeeping in the Reich. Finally, on 12 June 1942 Rosenberg sent out the following decree in a circular letter to the highest Reich authorities, which reads:

Thus Rosenberg, as can be proved, proceeded from the point of view that objects of cultural value had to remain in the country and only through the retreat of the German troops were a few hundred valuable icons and paintings brought into Germany.

In time of war, objects of cultural value, both mobile and immobile, are as exposed to the danger of destruction as are any other objects of value. Rosenberg stopped all unnecessary destruction, theft, and removal; he centralized the safeguarding of objects of cultural value and had all necessary actions taken through his operational staff in the East and the West (for example, see Abel’s report on the library at Minsk, Document Number 076-PS). It is quite in accordance with the conception of international law (I quote Scholz, Privateigentum im besetzten und unbesetzten Feindesland, Berlin 1919, Page 36) that care should be taken on the part of the occupying powers not only to protect, but to safeguard and salvage protected objects of art as far as the war situation permits. It is even considered a cultural duty for the occupying power to remove particularly valuable objects of art from the combat zone and place them in safety as far as possible. Under certain circumstances the concept of international law may render it the cultural duty of the occupying power to bring into his own country for reasons of salvage objects of special scientific and artistic value. This is not an inadmissible “seizure” (Article 56, Paragraph 2, Rules of Land Warfare), because this term could only apply to acts which are anti-cultural, not to acts which are procultural. (See Scholz, as above, Page 37).

Finally, I want to refer to Document Number 1109-PS, a report according to which scientific institutes that had been saved were ready to be taken back to the Ukraine immediately after the hoped-for re-entry of the troops. I consider it completely impossible to read anything about looting into this clear text.

Certainly, in the East great quantities of cultural objects of considerable value were destroyed by direct military actions, or by wanton destruction, or looting. It would be a fundamental misconstruction of the true facts of the case, and a great injustice, if these losses should be charged to the account of the Einsatzstab and its chief, for his efforts went exactly in the opposite direction.

In the West (I refer to the testimony of the witness Robert Scholz of 19 June 1946, Document Number Rosenberg-41), the case was different but, in my opinion, here also the defendant cannot be charged with looting and robbing objects of art. When in the summer of 1940 the inhabitants of Paris, with the exception of the Jews, had once more returned, somebody conceived the idea of searching the now ownerless apartments, houses, and palaces for books and libraries and of taking to Germany whatever of this scientific material was of interest. From various branches of the Armed Forces came the report that especially in Jewish-owned palaces there were collections of objects of art which one could not guarantee to remain intact in case of a long occupation. Thereupon, Rosenberg made the proposal that his Einsatzstab be allowed to direct its attention to objects of art and to take them into its custody, which was then ordered by Hitler. What did the Einsatzstab do with these objects of art? It set up an accurate card index containing the names of the particular owner of each picture, photographed the art objects, scientifically appraised them, repaired them expertly insofar as was necessary, packed them carefully and shipped them to the Bavarian castles of Neuschwanstein and Chiemsee. Because of the danger of air raids, they were then stored in an old Austrian mine. Rosenberg attached great importance to keeping separate the objects cared for by the Einsatzstab, and not to have them mixed with the large-scale purchases which Hitler made for the proposed gallery in Linz.

Was that looting, robbery, theft? Looting is the indiscriminate and wanton carrying-off of objects in situations involving general distress and danger. Robbery is carrying off by force. Theft is carrying off without force. In all cases intent must exist to appropriate the object illegally for oneself or somebody else. What intent did Rosenberg have? He never denied that he and his co-workers had hopes of the pictures remaining in Germany. Perhaps as compensation or as a security for the peace negotiations, but in any case his intent was only directed at confiscating and safeguarding the objects and it has been proved that the question of what should be done with the confiscated items was left open until the end and that no decision was made on it. It is absolutely certain that Rosenberg did not have the intention of appropriating the things for himself or anybody else. If Rosenberg had been a plunderer of objects of art, he certainly would not have had exact notations made concerning dates and place of confiscation and names of the owners. As a precaution, however, I should also like to point out that because of the flight of their owners the objects were virtually ownerless, and that the question of the lack of a possessor and of the legality of their acquisition by Rosenberg cannot be judged by normal circumstances, but must be judged according to the extraordinary circumstances of the war. If the Prosecution claims that public and private objects of art were stolen at random, I should like to reply to the statement that only Jewish possessions, and indeed the specified ownerless objects were confiscated. Above all it is not true that state-owned property was also touched. Finally he did not act on his own responsibility but in carrying out a governmental order, and I want to ask that the fact be not overlooked that Rosenberg acted without any egotistical motive. Not a single picture passed into his private possession; he did not gain a single Reichsmark from this transaction involving millions, and after all, all the artistic and cultural property has been found again. I would like to thank the French Prosecution for having acknowledged this fact here publicly.

Göring supported the work of the Einsatzstab and, as he admits, “diverted” some objects for his own use, with the Führer’s approval. This disturbed Rosenberg because the Einsatzstab was in his name, and he declared that as a matter of principle he did not want to give anything even to the museums, that his task was purely one of registration and safeguarding. The Führer should have the final decision on these works of art. Rosenberg could not undertake anything against Göring, but he ordered his deputy Robert Scholz at least to make an accurate inventory of what was given to Göring, and to have the latter sign a receipt, which he did. Thus, most certainly it cannot be proved that Rosenberg had the intention of illegally appropriating the objects of art for himself or for somebody else. Furthermore, Robert Scholz confirmed that Rosenberg also forbade all his assistants to acquire any objects of art or culture even by virtue of an official appraisal (Document Number Rosenberg-41).

The Prosecution says that with the Rosenberg Einsatzstab a gang of vandals broke into the European House of Art in order to plunder in a barbarous way. If one contemplates the tremendous work of drawing up an inventory, of cataloging, of restoration, and of scientific appraisal, and if one finally bears in mind that all these treasures were most carefully stored away, and certainly came through the war better than would have been the case if the German authorities had not taken care of them, then I believe that, objectively speaking, one can use any term but that of “vandalism.”

THE PRESIDENT: I think this would be a good time to break off.

[A recess was taken.]

DR. THOMA: Rosenberg is also especially charged with looting furniture. He allegedly ransacked the contents of 79,000 Jewish-owned homes, among them 38,000 in Paris, and took the loot to Germany. Unquestionably, these measures were taken for the benefit of air-raid victims; in the cities which had been destroyed by air warfare new homes were set up for the homeless. It was in line with National Socialist mentality and it must certainly be morally condemned that the confiscation was limited to Jewish property. The essential question, however, is whether the confiscation was at all legal. In all my statements I have avoided trying to excuse a weak legal position with a state of military emergency, and I do not wish to do it at this point either, for, as an expert on international law states, “The state of emergency is the lever by means of which the entire body of martial law can be torn from its hinges.” In this case, does not the justification of national and military necessity exist, did not air warfare bring intense and general distress to Germany?

One might object that such distress could have been ended by unconditional surrender. In my opinion, however, the above-mentioned justification cannot be denied to the defendant by this reference to unconditional surrender, entailing the Reich’s abandonment of its own existence, its independence, and its own vital interests. The appropriation of enemy private property took place in application of a right of requisitioning, which was extended beyond the legal terms of martial law and justified by the state of emergency. I venture to assert that his procedure of confiscating furniture, in view of the devastating effects of air warfare against Germany, was not contradictory to “the customs among civilized peoples,” “the laws of humanity,” and “the demands of the public conscience” (Marten’s clause in the preamble to the agreement concerning the Laws and Customs of Land Warfare; see Scholz, in the afore-mentioned book, Page 173).

May it please the High Tribunal, I shall now pass on to the Norway operation. The Prosecution characterizes Rosenberg and Raeder as the most energetic conspirators in the Norway operation, and later in the same matter calls Rosenberg a “dealer in high treason.” The opinion of the Prosecution and also the assumption of the present Norwegian Government (Norwegian Report of 13 October 1945, Document Number TC-56) are obviously to the effect that the Party’s Foreign Political Office, of which Rosenberg was the head, and Quisling had plotted the war against Norway in mutual conspiracy. I believe that of all the charges against Rosenberg hitherto dealt with, none has less foundation than this one. On the basis of the few documents which have been submitted to the Court, in my opinion the case could doubtlessly be cleared up in favor of the defendant.

There existed a Foreign Political Office of the Party, which had the task of informing foreign visitors about the National Socialist movement, of referring any suggestions to the official offices, and otherwise of functioning as a central office of the Party for questions of foreign policy. The special interest, and I may say the special sympathy, of the leading men of the Party and the State was directed toward the Scandinavian countries. It was specifically in this direction that the Foreign Political Office placed the main emphasis on the field of cultural policy. The already existing “Nordic Society” was expanded, the birthdays of great Scandinavian scientists and artists were observed in Germany, a great Nordic music festival was held, and so forth. The relations took on a really political note only with the appearance of Quisling, whom Rosenberg had seen for the first time in 1933 and who then, in 1939, 6 years later, looked up Rosenberg again after the convention of the Nordic Society in Lübeck; the former spoke of the danger of European entanglements and expressed the fear that Norway was in danger of being drawn into them. He then feared above all a partitioning of his country in such a manner that the Soviet Union would occupy the northern and England the southern part of Norway.

Quisling again came to see Rosenberg in Berlin in December 1939. The latter arranged for a conference with the Führer. Hitler declared that he would by far prefer to have Norway remain completely neutral and that he did not intend to extend the theater of war and involve more nations in the conflict, but he would know how to defend himself against a further isolation of Germany and further threats against her. In order to counteract the increasing activity of enemy propaganda, Quisling was promised financial support of his movement, which was based on the pan-Germanic idea. The military treatment of the questions now taken up was assigned to a special military staff; Rosenberg was to deal with the political aspect, and he appointed his assistant Scheidt to maintain liaison. Hagelin, a Norwegian confidential agent of Quisling’s, in January 1940 gave Rosenberg some more disturbing reports on the feared violation of neutrality by the Norwegian Government, and Rosenberg passed them on to Hitler. After the Altmark incident, Hagelin, who moved in Norwegian Government circles, intensified his warnings to the effect that the Allies had already begun to examine the Norwegian seaports for disembarkation and transportation possibilities; in any case, the Norwegian Government would be satisfied with protests on paper, and Quisling was indicating that any delay in undertaking a counteraction would mean an exceptional risk. Rosenberg again handed the reports immediately to Hitler. If he had not done so that would have been downright treason to his country. The German counterblow followed on 9 April 1940, and Rosenberg learned about it from the radio and the newspapers like any ordinary citizen. After his above-mentioned report, which he made in the line of duty, Rosenberg, did not participate in either diplomatic or military preparations.

Should there still be any doubt that in the Norwegian case Rosenberg was only an agent who forwarded information to Hitler, and not an instigator, conspirator, or traitor, I should like to refer to two documents. First, to Document Number C-65, Rosenberg’s file note concerning Quisling’s visit. Obviously, it is the information on Quisling which Hitler had requested from Rosenberg. If Rosenberg had been on closer terms with Quisling, he certainly would have been only too glad to inform Hitler about it. Rosenberg had only heard of a fantastic and impracticable plan of Quisling’s for a coup d’état (occupation of important central offices in Oslo by sudden action, supported by specially selected Norwegians who had been trained in Germany, afterward having the German fleet called in by a newly formed Norwegian Government). However, an earlier report of Quisling appeared less fantastic to Rosenberg; according to this—names being given—officers of the Western Powers traveled through Norway as consular officials, ascertained the depth of the water in ports of disembarkation, and made inquiries into the cross-sections and clearances of railway tunnels. This was the true and only reason for everything Rosenberg did in the Norwegian matter.

The second document is the report concerning “The Political Preparation of the Norway Operation” (Document Number 004-PS, Exhibit Number GB-140), a report from Rosenberg to Hess of 17 June 1940. In this interdepartmental report there is also nothing which deviates from Rosenberg’s own trustworthy statement and which would allow him to appear as an instigator of war and of high treason. Rosenberg was not called into any political or military discussion concerning Norway. Thus, what criminal act did Rosenberg commit? Was it criminal that he tried “to gain influence in Norway” (Document Number TC-56), or that with his knowledge the Foreign Office gave subsidies to Quisling? Finally, I should also like to point out that later on, after the operation had succeeded, Rosenberg was in no way entrusted with an office or function with regard to Norway; that even the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for Norway was carried out without consulting him.

I shall not deal with the case of Minister Goga, which I have set forth in detail, but I ask the High Tribunal to consider it as having been dealt with. Now I turn to the topic: Persecution of the Church.

The Prosecution maintains that Rosenberg, together with Bormann, issued the orders for religious persecutions and induced others to participate in these persecutions. However, not a single order of that kind is known. There were presented only letters by Bormann, partly to Rosenberg, partly to others, from which no charges against Rosenberg can be drawn. On the contrary Rosenberg was repeatedly reproached, as on one occasion when in the presence of Hitler he praised a book by Reich Bishop Müller (Document Number 100-PS); another time when Rosenberg gave Reich Bishop Müller instructions to work out directives for thoughts regarding religious instruction in schools (Document Number 098-PS); once again when Rosenberg sponsored a strictly Christian work by General Von Rabenau.

As a witness Rosenberg himself declared (Volume XI, Page 461) that he had opposed propaganda advocating withdrawal from the Church and had never called for state and police measures against his opponents in the fields of theology and research, and particularly that he had never used the Police for suppressing those who were opponents of his book The Myth of the 20th Century. In December 1941, as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, he issued an edict for Church toleration (Documents Number 1517-PS and 294-PS). Rosenberg had nothing to do with arrests, the deportation of priests, and persecution of the Church. He had no part either in the negotiations with the Vatican over the Concordat or in the assignment of the Protestant Reich Bishop; neither did he take any part in measures which were hostile to the Church, and which were later carried out by the Police. He never participated in any other administrative or legislative anticlerical measures.

In my opinion it is quite impossible, for lack of documentary evidence, to construe from what Rosenberg thought and said about religious and philosophical matters—which I will quote presently—that he conspired toward a political suppression of religion by force. The only document (Number 130-PS) pointing in this direction was withdrawn by the American Prosecution itself before I was obliged to draw attention to its being a pamphlet directed against Rosenberg.

His book The Myth of the 20th Century, which is allegedly written for the reshaping of the denominations in the direction of a Germanic Christianity, is moreover chiefly addressed to those who had already broken with the Church. “No consciously responsible German,” says Rosenberg at one place in it, “should suggest withdrawal from the Churches to those who are still believing members thereof” (Document Number Rosenberg-7, Document Book 1, Page 122), and once again: “Science would never have the power to dethrone true religion” (see as above, Page 125). His writings are not addressed to the faithful churchgoers of today in order to hinder them in the course of their chosen spiritual life, but to those who have already discarded their religious faith (Document Number Rosenberg-7, Document Book 1, Page 125). In his speeches he upheld the view that the Party is not entitled to establish norms in metaphysical matters which contest immortality, et cetera. After he had been assigned to supervise ideological education, he said explicitly in his Berlin speech of 22 February 1934: “No National Socialist is allowed to engage in religious discussions while wearing the uniform of his Movement,” and he declared at the same time that “all well-disposed persons should strive for the pacification of the entire political and spiritual life in Germany” (Document Number Rosenberg-7(a), Document Book 1, Page 130). That in this respect, too, things developed along different lines is not due to the desire or influence of Rosenberg.

Moreover, I need make only brief allusion to the fact that it is a question of the 1000-year-old problem of relations between the clerical and so-called temporal powers. The struggle of emperors, kings, and popes in the Middle Ages; the French Revolution with the shooting of priests; Bismarck’s clerical controversies; the secular legislation of the French Republic under Combes; all those were things, which from the standpoint of the Churches ...

Mr. President, may I make a brief statement by way of explanation? I wanted to say that I have concluded this topic, that I do not wish to concern myself with the problem of Church persecutions any further. I have finished with it. I am coming to the topic of ideology and general politics.

Ideology and education have been nothing but a means of obtaining power and consolidating that power; uniformity of thinking has played an important part in the program of the conspiracy; the formation of the Armed Forces has only been possible in conjunction with the ideological education of the nation and Party—so says the Prosecution (Brudno, on 9 January 1946). And continuing its attacks against Rosenberg, the Prosecution proceeds by saying that Rosenberg’s ideas formed the foundation of the National Socialist movement, and that Rosenberg’s contribution in formulating and spreading the National Socialist ideology gave foundation to the conspiracy by shaping its “philosophical technique.”

I think that one will have to take care, in judging Rosenberg’s case, not to yield to certain primitive ways of thinking and become a victim of them: First of all an exaggeration of the conception of ideology and the inexact use of that concept. At best it was a political philosophy which was hand in glove with Hitler’s political measures and which Hitler himself preached in his book Mein Kampf, but it was not an ideology in an all-embracing sense. It is true that National Socialism endeavored to create a spiritual philosophy and an ideology of its own, but it had not reached that stage yet by far. Rosenberg’s book The Myth of the 20th Century is an attempt in that direction, being a personal confession, without any suggestion of political measures. Therefore, his philosophy cannot have formed the ideological basis of National Socialism. In addition there is a total lack of proof that a straight spiritual line, a clear spiritual causal connection, exists between the conceptions of Rosenberg and the alleged and actual crimes.

If one goes to the trouble of looking through the book, The Myth of the 20th Century, one will immediately observe that though there is some philosophizing in the National Socialist way, it would be, however, pure fiction to affirm that there is any dogmatic formulation of a tangible program in this book, or that it is a foundation for the activities of the responsible leaders of the Reich in this World War. Another mistake of National Socialism was perhaps the boundless unification and simplification: people were made uniform; thinking was made uniform; only one uniform type of German was left. There was also alleged to be only one National Socialist way of thinking, and only National Socialist ideology. But in spite of this, as we see today, the leaders were frequently of different opinions on essential questions. I will recall the question of the policy in the East. Here too, there seems to be danger of accepting this way of thinking, of observing everything through the spectacles of uniformity, and of saying: One idea, one philosophy, one responsibility, one crime, one punishment. Such a simplification, apart from its primitive nature, would certainly also constitute a great injustice toward the Defendant Rosenberg.

Finally, when one hears how the Prosecution attacks “Germanic Christianity,” the “heathen blood myth,” making much of Rosenberg’s expression, “the Nordic blood is the mystery which has superseded and overpowered the old sacraments,” one feels inclined to close one’s eyes for a moment and to picture oneself attending a session of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages where they are about to sentence Rosenberg to the stake as a heretic. Yet nothing must be farther from the Tribunal’s mind than to harbor thoughts of intolerance, since here, in spite of all attempts by some of the prosecutors, it is not ideologies but crimes which are involved.

In the Defendant Rosenberg’s case it is a question of whether by his teachings he was guilty of preparing and promoting crimes. The Prosecution has brought forth arguments to this end, but have not proved it, while I can prove the opposite merely by pointing to Rosenberg’s activities in the East. Had he been the bearer and apostle of a criminal idea, he would have had an opportunity, such as no criminal has ever yet had in world history, to indulge in criminal activities. I have stated explicitly that in his case it was just the opposite. So when the bearer and apostle of an idea himself has the greatest of opportunities and yet in practice himself behaves morally, then his teachings cannot be criminal and immoral either. Above all, he cannot then be punished as a criminal on the basis of his teachings. What criminally degenerate persons practiced as alleged National Socialism cannot be laid to the charge of Rosenberg. Moreover, Rosenberg’s speeches in three volumes, which express what he taught in the course of 8 years, bear witness to the honorable nature of his endeavors.

Thus, if we relinquish the false conception of uniformity: One party, one philosophy, one ideology, one crime—and we will have to, in view of the indisputable fact that Rosenberg himself never pursued a policy of extermination, destruction, and enslavement in the East—we shall have to admit that the facts of the terrible central executive orders and of Rosenberg’s philosophy are not identical, and on these grounds alone the conclusions of the Prosecution are invalid.

Karl Marx teaches that historical events and political social reality are conditioned by the mere casual play of materialistic forces. Whether Marx in addition acknowledges the independent influence of man and ideas on history is at least doubtful. On the other hand, Rosenberg stresses emphatically the influence and the necessity of the highest ideas in the history of peoples. But Rosenberg does not overlook the fact that every event in history is the result of a totality of acting forces. The will, the passions and the intelligence of the people involved work together to form a historical process which cannot be calculated in human terms. It has already been pointed out that, just as little as Voltaire’s and Rousseau’s ideas can be recognized as the causes of the French Revolution, and the slogans of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity” be taken as the cause of the Jacobinic terror, as little as one can say that Mirabeau and Sièze had wanted or plotted such a blood bath, so little can one ascribe to Rosenberg as his moral or even criminal guilt that which National Socialism became during its development through the decades. In other words, I believe it is as unjust as it is unhistorical to ascribe today, in retrospect, the negative aspects of National Socialism, which were connected with the terrible collapse, to a plan desired from the outset and emanating from Rosenberg’s ideas.

Therefore, in considering Rosenberg’s work the mistake of a standardization which does not correspond to reality is added to the further mistake of mechanization; there is neither a mechanical man nor mechanical history. And, finally, the construction of the Indictment is also an absolutely negative one; it views the defendant from the standpoint of political polemics and is impressed by the excitement of people in these excited times. I must briefly take exception to this distortion of the defendant’s mental traits.

The spiritual state of the period after the first World War and even of the preceding period, which gave birth to the defendant’s ideas, are known to all of us only too well: The turmoil in the spirit and soul of man brought about by the technical age, his hunger and thirst for a new spirit and a new soul; liberty was the slogan and a “new beginning” the impulse which directed the will of youth. Its longing and enthusiasm were aimed at nature. The thoughts and wishes of this generation were led into political paths by the contrast between rich and poor, which youth considered unjust and sought to bridge through socialism and the fellowship of the people. In Germany the development along political lines was given further impetus by the national misfortune of 1918-19 and the Treaty of Versailles, which was likewise felt to be unjust. The idea of building German history through the union of nationalism and socialism glowed unconsciously in the hearts of millions, as the undisputed tremendous success of National Socialism proves. The spiritual foundation was the desire for external and internal self-assertion and love for one’s fellow countrymen and for the people themselves, who had had to suffer so much torment and misery in history.

The desire for self-assertion and love for one’s own people, together with the whole system of National Socialist ideas, then developed in an inexplicable manner into a furious conflagration. The most primitive considerations of common sense were eliminated just as in a delirium; in complete delusion everything was risked and everything was lost.

The searching questions which present themselves to Rosenberg time and time again are whether he could have done more for what he thought and upheld as just and worthy; where he neglected essential things; where he fell short of requirements; what negative symptoms, insofar as he had knowledge of them, he should have paid more attention to. Can such questions, which every person asks when he is crushed by disaster, be considered as evidence for his objective guilt? I do not think so. On 17 January 1946 the French Chief Prosecutor, M. de Menthon, stated the following, which I quote (Volume V, Pages 378, 379):

To refute this assertion I must briefly present this doctrine. I have classified the National Socialist ideology—in accord, I believe, with scientific opinions—under the so-called new romanticism. This trend, which was grounded in fate and the necessities of history, had gone through the whole civilized world since the turn of the century as a reaction against rationalism and the technical age. It differs from the old romanticism in that it adopts the naturalistic and biological consideration of man and history. It is borne up by a confident faith in the value and meaning of life and the whole of reality. It does not glorify sentiment or intellect, but the innermost motives of man—heart, will, and faith. This philosophy receives its National Socialist stamp through the emphasis which is placed upon the mysterious importance of peoples and races for all human experience and activity. It is in the people, in the common possession of blood, history, and culture, that the real roots of strength are thought to be found. Only by participating in the movements of a people and its strength does the individual serve himself and his generation.

Rosenberg’s scientific contribution to the racial ideology consists in his description of the rise and fall of great historical figures, who sprang from races and peoples and set up definite standards in all spheres: language, custom, art, religion, philosophy, and politics. According to Rosenberg the efforts of the twentieth century to establish a form for itself are a struggle for the independence of the human personality. In Rosenberg’s opinion, its essence is the consciousness of honor. The myth of national honor is at the same time the myth of blood and race, which produce and support honor in its highest form. Therefore, the struggle for honor in its highest form is also a spiritual struggle with other systems and their maximum values. Thus, intuition stands against intuition, will against will.

Rosenberg expresses this thought in the following manner (The Myth of the 20th Century, Introduction, Pages 1 and 2):

Consequently, Rosenberg had, in any case, no ideas of genocide as Raphael Lemkin expounds in Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Page 81, where he ends the above quotation after the words “race and race, people and people,” but he believed in a struggle between psychologies, in other words, spiritual controversy.

I mention this spiritual trend in order to explain the peculiar fact in National Socialism that political considerations born of the intellect often gave way before the pathos of will and faith. In Rosenberg’s case this danger did not appear so much since in making everything revolve around the “soil,” that is, the fatherland, and its history and peasantry as the force from which springs the essence of a race, he remains in the sphere of life’s realities. Perhaps unaware of it himself, he was nevertheless borne upward by this current. The question arises as to what effects this ideology had on political life.

It is clear that the emphasis on will and faith gave special weight to political demands. After the Treaty of Versailles the political demands of Germany were aimed at recovering freedom and equality among the peoples as a still fettered great power. This had been the objective of German statesmen even before Hitler. The other great powers had certain misgivings about recognizing Germany again as such. Rosenberg fought to remove these misgivings. His weapon was his pen. The Tribunal has allowed me to present in evidence a group of excerpts from Rosenberg’s speeches and writings. I submitted it in my Document Book 1, Volume II. In view of the quantity of material and of my intention to submit only the most important matter, I depend on the Court’s being familiar with my document book.

In the first place I wish to call attention to the effect which these works had on German youth. I may recall the witness Von Schirach’s testimony. I repeat verbally:

The attitude of youth was actually better than before the taking over of power. Idleness, the root of all evil, had ceased and had been replaced by work, the fulfillment of duty, the aiming at ideals, patriotism, and the will to get ahead. It was a fatality here too, that through Hitler’s policy these values were directed in the wrong manner.

The charges by the Prosecution that Rosenberg was the advocate of a conspiracy against peace, of racial hatred, of the elimination of human rights, of tyranny, of a rule of horror, violence, and illegality, of unbridled nationalism and militarism, of a German master race, I could already refute by pointing to the excerpts from The Myth of the 20th Century, which the Prosecution itself has submitted as evidence for the truth of its assertions. In reply to this, in order to refute this assertion by the Prosecution, I want to point in particular to the following facts: To prove Rosenberg’s honest struggle for the peaceful existence of nations side by side I wish to refer to his speech in Rome in November 1932 before the Royal Academy of Rome (reproduced in Blood and Honor, Document Book 1, Page 150). In his speech in Rome Rosenberg pointed to the fateful significance of the four great powers and proclaimed—I quote his words:

To this line of thought Rosenberg, as Chief of the Foreign Political Office of the Party, remained true. Unfortunately, he could only work for it through his words. No witness could confirm in this courtroom that Rosenberg had any influence on actual foreign policy, whether it was directed by Neurath, Ribbentrop, Göring, or Hitler himself. Neither in the Austrian, nor in the Czech, nor in the Polish, nor in the Russian subject matter has his name been mentioned in connection with the charge of participation in aggressive wars. Everywhere he was placed before accomplished facts. In the war against the Soviet Union he received his orders only when the war against Russia had already been established as an acute possibility. He did not stir up the Norwegian campaign, but passed on personal information in accordance with his duty.

Now, as regards Rosenberg’s speeches and writings on the problems of general foreign policy, he advocated the Anschluss of the Austrians, who had been forcibly excluded from the Reich, as a demand born of the right to self-determination which had been proclaimed by the Allies themselves. The revision of Versailles was a postulate of justice against a violation of the Treaty of 11 November 1918. To advocate the German Armed Forces was, in view of the nondisarmament of the other powers, a defense of the solemnly promised equality of rights.

I shall now take up the charge of racial hatred.

Rosenberg’s opinions in regard to the race question were the result of racial research of international scientists. Rosenberg repeatedly asserts (I refer again to the opinion stated in Document Book 1, Volume II) that the purpose of his racial political demands was not contempt of race, but respect for it. I quote Page 70:

These words embody the main theme of his demands, though their originator was not Rosenberg, but Henry Fairfield Osborn, Professor at Columbia University, who wrote them in discussion of the book by his colleague in science, Madison Grant, The Decline of the Great Race. This research, long before the existence of the Third Reich, led to eugenic legislation in other countries, in particular to the American Immigration Law of 26 May 1924, which was aimed at a strong reduction of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe while favoring those from the north and west of Europe.

I do not think I have to say that I am not hereby defending the murders of those mentally diseased in Germany as an alleged eugenic measure. With this measure, too, Rosenberg did not have the slightest connection.

For Rosenberg it was a question of the spiritual strengthening and consolidation of the German nation, indeed of the Aryan race. He would like to have his ideology considered in that light, above all The Myth of the 20th Century. His preaching of the significance of race in history did not call—I stress this again—for race contempt, but for consideration and respect of race, and demanded the acknowledgment of the racial idea only by the German people, not by other nations. He considered the Aryan nations as the leading ones in history. And if in doing so he underestimated the significance of other races, as for instance the Semitic ones, he, in his praise of Aryan races, did not think of the German nation alone, but of the European nations in general. I refer to his speech in Rome of November 1932.

I am keeping within the framework of historical truth in pointing to the fact that anti-Judaism is not an invention of National Socialism. For thousands of years the Jewish question has been the minority problem of the world. It has an irrational character which can be understood to some extent only in connection with the Bible. Rosenberg was a convinced anti-Semite, who in writing and speech gave expression to his convictions and their foundations. I have already emphasized that even such different personalities as Von Papen, Von Neurath, and Raeder are still of the opinion that the predominance of the Jewish element in the entire public life had reached such proportions that a change had to come about in this respect. The concrete result of that predominance, the fact that the Jews in Germany when attacked knew how to repay in kind, sharpened the anti-Semitic fight before the accession to power.

I wanted to present to the Tribunal a selection of Jewish literary attacks on the national feeling at that time, but the Tribunal ruled that my application was irrelevant; as these writings were not introduced as evidence I cannot speak about them. It is, however, an injustice to Rosenberg to assert that blind hatred of the Jewish race had goaded him into that controversy. He had before his eyes concrete factual evidence of the disintegrating activities of Jews.

It appeared as if the Party program of placing Jews under a generous law of aliens would be realized. It is true that Goebbels at that time arranged a one-day boycotting of Jewish stores. Rosenberg, however, in his speech of 28 June 1933, the anniversary of the Versailles Treaty, in the assembly hall of the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House, declared that it was no longer necessary that in the capital of the Reich 74 percent of all lawyers should be Jews, and that 80 to 90 percent of the physicians in Berlin hospitals should be Jewish; about 30 percent of Jewish lawyers in Berlin would suffice amply. In his speech at the Party Rally in September 1933 Rosenberg stated in addition, and I quote:

In his speech at the Kroll Opera House Rosenberg gave the reason for this measure, saying that there was no intention thereby to discriminate against a whole people, but that it was necessary for our younger German generation, who for years had had to starve or beg, now to be able to obtain bread and work too. But despite his strong opposition to the Jews he did not want the “extermination” of Jewry, but advocated as the nearest aim the political expatriation of Jews, that is, through classifying them by law as aliens and giving them protection as such. In addition, he granted to the Jews a percentage access to nonpolitical professions, which still by far exceeded the actual percentage of Jews in the German population. Of course, his final aim was the total emigration of the Jews from Aryan nations. He had no understanding and appreciation of how great a loss to the Aryan nations themselves such an emigration would be in cultural, economic, and political respects. But one will have to admit that he believed that such an emigration would prove useful for the Jews themselves, first, because they would be set free from all anti-Semitic attacks, and also, because in their own settlement area they might live unhampered and according to their own ways.

The dreadful development which the Jewish question took under Hitler, which he justified as being a reaction against the policy pursued by emigrants, was never more regretted by anyone than by Rosenberg himself, who blames himself for not having protested against the attitude of Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels as firmly as he protested against Koch’s actions in the Ukraine. Nor does Rosenberg hesitate to admit that his suggestion to Hitler to shoot 100 Jews instead of 100 Frenchmen after the recurring murders of German soldiers was an injustice born of a momentary feeling—despite his belief in its formal admissibility—because, from the purely human standpoint, the real basis for such a suggestion was lacking, namely, the active participation of those Jews.

I have returned to this case again, as in my opinion it is the only instance where Rosenberg desired retribution by the death of Jews. On the other hand, one must insist with the greatest emphasis that there is no proof of Rosenberg’s having been aware of the extermination of five million Jews. The Prosecution accuses him of making preparations for an anti-Semitic congress as late as 1944, which did not take place only because of the course of the war. What point could such a congress have had, had Rosenberg known that the majority of the Jews in Europe had been exterminated already?

Rosenberg had no faith in democracy, because in Germany it led to a splitting up into numerous parties and a constant change of government, and finally made the formation of an efficient government impossible. Another reason for his not having faith in democracy was that non-German democratic powers did not stand by their democratic principles in certain cases where they might have been of benefit to Germany, for instance in 1919, when Austria was willing to be incorporated in Germany, and later on at the plebiscite in Upper Silesia. But Rosenberg did not for that reason turn toward tyranny. In connection with Paragraph 25 of the Party Program he said in his comments, on Page 46: