DR. THOMA: Mr. President, I shall mention some more quotations, more detailed scientific quotations concerning this problem. I have already quoted in that regard. I have repeatedly quoted Heyland’s Handbuch des Völkerrechts, published by Stier-Somlo, and I shall give more quotations.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you tell me what language that book is in?
DR. THOMA: In German, Mr. President; it is the Handbuch des Völkerrechts, published by Stier-Somlo, 1923.
Present-day warfare is no longer what it was in 1907. War has developed into total war, a life-and-death struggle of annihilation, in which the very last physical and moral forces of the nation are mobilized, and the loss of which, as is shown by the example of Germany, means unconditional surrender and the total destruction of her existence as a State.
Can one maintain, in view of this fact, that Germany, in this struggle of life and death, should not have been granted the basic right of self-preservation recognized by international law?
I refer to Strupp, Handbuch des Völkerrechts, published by Stier-Somlo, Stuttgart 1920, Part III, “Violations of International Law,” Page 128 et sequentes.
There is no doubt that the very existence of the State was at stake; that is, it was an emergency which justified the compulsory employment of labor, even if it had not been permissible according to international law. It is inherent in that great anomaly called war that, as soon as the state of war has been proclaimed, international law is in a large measure set aside in the interest of the objective of the war, the overpowering of the enemy.
I quote Strupp, as above, Page 172.
“The development of civilization has seen a progressive moderation of the conception according to which everything is permissible in war until the enemy is destroyed; nevertheless the rules of warfare constitute even today a compromise between the demands of unrestrained military necessity and progressive humanitarian and civilized views.
“One thing, at any rate, is certain, namely, that the existence of a genuine emergency may be pleaded, even under the stipulations of the Hague Rules of Land Warfare. During the negotiations preceding the formulation of Article 46 of the Hague Rules, the following was stated literally and without opposition in the plenary session of the Conference: