But even if this form of complicity is assumed as a basis for legal findings according to the Charter, neither the official position as Reich Foreign Minister held by Herr Von Ribbentrop nor the individual acts committed by him in this capacity can make him appear as a member of a conspiracy.
The case of Von Ribbentrop shows in particular how, through the introduction of the concept of a conspiracy, responsibilities become interlocked which, taking into account the official position and authority as well as the personal attitude of the individual conspirators, have nothing whatever to do with each other.
The Prosecution, however, in order to achieve its aim, compresses into a subsequently fabricated unity a number of actions and individuals, chosen at random, which have nothing at all to do with one another. If one followed the Charter and the Indictment, the result—wholly alien to any actual and legal thought—would be that Herr Von Ribbentrop, while personally and actually completely eliminated from any influence over the Occupied Eastern Territories, as thoroughly proved by the evidence, would have to bear the responsibility for all War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity committed there, whereas, for instance, the Defendant Streicher, although he headed his own special department, would be answerable for the foreign policy.
If one confirms the existence of a conspiracy to commit War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity it would practically result in making, for example, Herr Von Ribbentrop and the Foreign Office responsible for such crimes, whereas evidence has shown that this very office always tried to observe the rules of warfare according to international law and to adhere to the Geneva Convention even when this involved a severe struggle with Hitler.
The conspiracy to commit War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity can refer only to actual offenses against rules of war, either individual actions, as, for example, the execution of escaped British Air Force officers or certain measures incompatible with the accepted rules of war. In any case, the unity of conspirators must relate to a specific act or to specific groups of acts of the same nature. It is impossible to hold a defendant responsible for actions not approved by him or which he has tried to prevent.
I think the Prosecution will agree that there simply cannot exist any conspiracy to commit crimes against the usages and customs of war. This concept is so controversial and is so undetermined in the practice of the states and in the theory of international law that individual acts, which in the course of a war may be considered as war crimes, could not form a part of the plans of the conspirators. It must also be considered that the development of means and methods of war modified also the contents of the concept of war crimes. Therefore there can be only a conspiracy to commit specific or similar war crimes. Not every one of the so-called conspirators can be held responsible for each and every action which an objective judgment must define afterwards as a war crime. Particularly, it would not meet the purpose of chastising the guilty if the defendants were to be punished according to the general and artificial concept of conspiracy even for such war crimes which they tried to prevent with all their efforts.
PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will recess now.
[A recess was taken.]
DR. HORN: With permission of the Tribunal, I shall continue on Page 79 of my final plea.
The point of view just mentioned applies particularly to Herr Von Ribbentrop. Not only did the military conduct of war have nothing to do with his department; but he was, as was proved by evidence, expressly excluded from it by repeated orders of Hitler. His department was only affected by War Crimes insofar as they led to negotiations with foreign powers. Moreover the fact, for instance, that after the terrible air raid on Dresden the execution of over 10,000 Allied prisoners of war was prevented through Herr Von Ribbentrop’s intervention with Hitler proves that, when informed of imminent War Crimes, he did what was in his power to do within his sphere of influence. These arguments and the result of evidence show how unjust it would be to share the point of view held by the Prosecution, that is, to hold a Foreign Minister with limited authority responsible for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, the more so as it has been conclusively proved that he was excluded from any influence on the conduct of war.