We still will go marching on
For today Germany belongs to us
And tomorrow the whole world.”
The German fascist ideology set loose the wildest and lowest instincts. The fascists made a principle of arbitrary actions, violence, and debasement of the people. They declared as dangerous for the “master races” the ideas of freedom, the ideas of enlightenment, and the demands of humanity. Said Hitler:
“I am freeing men from the wearisome restrictions of the mind, from the dirty and degrading self-mortifications of a chimera called conscience and morality, and from the demands of a freedom and personal independence which a very few enjoy.” (Rauschning, Hermann, The Voice of Destruction, New York, 1940, Page 225.)
In the spirit of such principles the entire German fascist system of education was built up with a view to adapting and preparing them to a blind obedience in the execution of all predatory plans and aims put before Germany by the Hitlerite rulers. As a result of fascist propaganda and the whole system of measures cultivated by the German State, the German mind was systematically poisoned by the fumes of chauvinism and hatred of mankind. The aggressive plans of German fascism ripened more and more with every year since the Hitlerites’ seizure of power until at last they led to war. This war was planned, worked out and started by the Hitlerites’ Germany as Blitzkrieg and should, according to the schemes of the conspirators, have resulted in a rapid and easy victory for the gang of Hitlerite cut-throats and in their domination over all the countries in Europe.
The criminal conspiracy aimed at the establishment of a predatory New Order in Europe. This New Order was a regime of terror by which, in the countries seized by the Hitlerites, all democratic institutions were abolished and all civil rights of the population were abrogated, while the countries themselves were plundered and rapaciously exploited. The population of these countries, and of the Slav countries above all others—especially Russians, Ukrainians, Bielorussians, Poles, Czechs, Serbians, Slovenes, Jews—were subjected to merciless persecution and mass extermination.
The conspirators failed to achieve their objective. The valiant struggle of the peoples of the democratic countries, led by a coalition of the three great powers—the Soviet Union, the United States of America, and Great Britain—resulted in the liberation of the European countries from the Hitlerite yoke. The victory of the Soviet and Allied armies wrecked the criminal plans of the fascist conspirators and liberated the peoples of Europe from the terrible threat of Hitlerite domination.
We, the Prosecutors, are obliged by law and duty before the peoples of the democratic countries and all mankind to formulate and present to the International Military Tribunal evidence proving the guilt of the defendants in committing the most grievous crimes.
Permit me to perform my duty, jointly with my colleagues, by presenting to the International Military Tribunal the evidence which, together with the materials already presented by the Prosecution on behalf of the United States of America, Great Britain, and France, will give a complete and exhaustive body of proof in this case.