“Any organized association, whatever its structure or the number of its members, any understanding made with the object of preparing or committing crimes against persons or against property, constitutes a crime against public peace.”
But I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to this fact, that in the course of the last few years France has had occasion to apply this general principle to organizations which greatly resemble those which we are asking you to declare criminal.
It is known indeed, Gentlemen, that Nazism is a contagious disease, the ravages of which threaten to go beyond the borders of the countries which it has definitely contaminated. Thus, during the years 1934 to 1936 diverse groups had been formed in France which, following the example of their German and Italian models, were organized with the intention of substituting themselves for the legal government in order to impose in the country what they called “order” but which was in reality only disorder.
The French Republic in 1936 did what the Weimar Republic ought to have done. The law of 10 January 1936, promulgated on 12 January in the Official Gazette, which I submit to the Tribunal, and a translation of which was given to the Defense, decreed the dissolution of these groups and enacted severe penalties against their members. With the Tribunal’s permission, I shall read the first two clauses of this law:
“Article I. By decree of the President of the Republic in session with the Cabinet all associations or de facto groups shall be dissolved which:
“1. Might provoke armed demonstrations in public thoroughfares;
“2. Or which, with the exception of societies for military preparation sanctioned by the Government and societies for physical education and sport, might by their structure and their military organization have the character of a fighting group or a private militia;
“3. Or which might aim at jeopardizing the integrity of the national territory or at attempting to alter by force the republican form of government.
“Article II. Any person who has taken part in the maintenance or the reconstitution, direct or indirect, of the association or group as defined in Article I, will be punished by a term of 6 months’ to 2 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 16 to 5,000 francs.”
The Tribunal will observe, in the first place, that by imposing severe penalties on members of these associations for the mere fact of having taken part “in the maintenance or the reconstitution, direct or indirect, of the association,” the law of 10 January 1936 has recognized and proclaimed the criminal character of the association.