Cyr
56 Friday, June 1, 1979
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Has the Message of Nuremberg Been Forgotten?
the Swastika." It is educa-
By ERIC MOONMAN
(Editor's note: British tional and revealing. Thus,
Labor Member of Parli- through the trial and
ament Eric Moonman is Neave's visits to the prison,
chairman of the British we pursue the relationship
Zionist Federation and of between the 21 men and
Hitler. Take Hans Frank.
British Poale Zion.)
- Were the Allies right to From 1939 to 1945 he ruled
provide a public trial for the as governor general of Po-
Nazi war criminals at land. He had a menacing re-
Nuremberg? This disturb- cord. Although Hitler
ing question is again abused him he adored his
brought to the surface by master:
"He demanded 'only one
Airey Neave's astonishing
.new book, "Nuremberg" jurisdiction— the Fuhrer's.'
The truth is that after his
(Hodder).
Sir Winston Churchill, accession to power, Hitler
Anthony Eden and other had no use for Frank or in-
members of his war cabinet deed any other lawyer. De-
were inclined towards a spite his adulation, Frank
summary execution of the was never again invited to
21 top Nazis. I am glad they discuss legal matters with
were overruled by the him.
"As the years went by,
American ,and Russian
leaders. As Rebecca West Hitler's attitude to lawyers
says in the foreword: "The became increasingly violent
Nuremberg trial was con- and hysterical. Lawyers
ceived in hatred of war and were 'traitors to the nation,'
it was nurtured by those of `idiots' and 'utter fools.' On
April 26, 1942, he said to the
peace."
The trial was not a perfect Reichstag that he 'would
instrument. How could it not rest until every German
be? It had to deal with new sees it is a disgrace to be a
crimes for which there was lawyer.'
"Frank had something of
no provision in national law
or international law. The the bumptiousness and
judges were themselves not grandiloquence of a Nazi
of the same legal back- buzfuz but he must have
ground and found it hard to winced when Hitler roared,
agree and the hearings were `There is no one to whom the
lawyer is closer -than to the
often incomprehensible.
Airey Neave then was criminal.' "
Frank lived in a dream
given a remarkable
opportunity. He spoke world, pretending that
German, he had been those principles of law were
captured by the Nazis, he actually in force in Nazi
knew of their interroga- Germany which, he knew,
tion methods, he had had been abandoned in
been brought to Colditz. 1933.
And what of Julius
His incredible escape
from that fortress, just Streicher, soon to be-
prior to his being sent to come known as the Beast
an extermination center, of Nuremberg? His sex-
has already been written ual habits in prison were
about — but at the age of openly discussed by the
29 he was able to serve press and in court — "he
the Allies in the prepara- liked to expose himself
tion of the indictments like an animal in a cage at
against the top Nazis the zoo."
The Nazi war machine
awaiting trial at Nurem-
was dependent on the fac-
berg jail.
This is not a bitter, vio- tory owners as well as the
lent book in the manner of fear created by the SS. A
Lord Russell's "Scourge of fascinating chapter deals
that he did not know of the
matters they revealed al-
though his secretary admit-
ted she could hear from her
desk the screams of the
slave workers. Further-
more, Krupp said he was
expected to recruit the slave
workers. This is not true —
industrialists in Germany
were given the choice of not
employing foreign workers.
Even Hitler, says Neave,
was surprised that a com-
pany like Krupp's should
insist on slaves.
with the attempts by Neave
and his team to prepare evi-,
dence against the Krupp
family. The Krupp empire
produced guns, tanks, and
U-boats and brought vic-
tory to Hitler in the _West.
But that was not the basis
of the indictment. Krupp
had used slave labor. They
had on the premises women
and children brutally
transported from Romania
and Hungary wherd they
were penned in at night by
SS guards and barbed wire.
They were marched to the
factory in that last winter of
the war, their legs blue with
cold and scarred by
frostbite. They lived on a
slice of bread and a bowl of
watery soup. At the trial of
Alfred Krupp it was proved
that they were horse-
whipped.
Alfred Krupp was sen-
tenced to 12 years im-
prisonment of which he
only served five. The
Western Allies then re-
stored him to his inheri-
tance. Within a year, his
operations were put to-
gether again and he
achieved the equivalence
of 80 million British
pounds worth of busi-
ness. In 1960, his turn-
over was the equivalence
of 300 million British
The Krupp trial lasted
from Aug. 16, 1947, until
July 31, 1948. The prosecu-
tion provided 200 witnesses
but Alfred Krupp argued
pounds. The firm has
now survived the Kaiser,
the French occupation of
the1920s, Hitler, the RAF
and the trial at Nurem-
berg of the head of the
family.
There are major ques-
tions which this book
throws up which, frankly,
have not been faced since
1945. Have we all been so
preoccupied?
"Should there have been a
Nuremberg Trial? Was it,
as some say, merely 'victor's
justice?' One distinguished
leader said, 'I accept that
the circumstances of 1945
made a trial politically
necessary — that there are
certain rules of war — but
these war criminals of a de-
feated state should not be
tried in future.'
"If there are to be no trials
in future, how are 'war
criminals of a defeated
state' to be treated? How are
the 'rules of war' to be
enforced if there is neither a
code of international law
nor a tribunal? Those who
criticize Nuremberg with
moral fervor should answer
these questions.
"It is true that the
presence of the Russians
on the bench, sitting in
judgment on the SS, after
perpetrating the horrible
massacre of Katyn, adds
a certain strong prej-
udice against the trial.
But is it relevant?"
This is a powerful book.
The question still- persists
however: What differ ,
has the public nature oi
trial made to public think- .
ing and attitudes 30 years
later?
The National Front still
marches in London's Brick
Lane; terrorism is a
flourishing industry across
the world, from Vietnam to
Germany and Northern Ire-
land; planes are hijacked
with a callous disregard for
the arbitrary victims, and
so on. Have we forgotten so
easily, or did we ever take in
the message at all?
Anne Frank: A Symbol of Nazi Barbarism
By GLORIA CHARNES
_
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
NEW YORK — Anne
Frank would have been 50
in June. She was born An-
nelies Marie Frank on June
12, 1929, in Frankfurt am
Main. Her father, Otto
Heinrich Frank, came -from
an old, established German
Jewish family whose ances-
tors can be traced to the
17th Century in the arc-
hives of Frankfurt. During
World ,War I he was prom-
oted to the rank of lieuten-
ant, with an artillery re-
connaissance group.
Otto - Frank was a suc-
cessful banker when Hitler
came to power in 1933,
where latent anti-
Semitism, deeply rooted in
German culture, was forged
into a potent political
weapon, erupting in
threatening, humiliating
decrees. When the first
anti-Jewish measures were
passed, the Franks fled to
Amsterdam. He set up a
spice business and acquired
a partner, Van Daan, a fel-
low refugee.
But-the country in which
they sought haven was too
close. On May 10, 1939, the
Germans invaded Holland.
Anti-Jewish laws went into
effect almost immediately:
Jews were dismissed from
government positions, for-
bidden to visit public parks
and swimming pools, have
phones, or participate in
sports. They were to observe
The first three prisoners in the first row, shown at a curfew and wear a yellow
the Nuremberg trials after World War II, are Goering, star.
who committed suicide in jail; Hess, who received
Starting in July 1942,
life imprisonment and is still serving his sentence; and
about 115,000 Dutch
Ribbentrop, who was sentenced to death.
Jews were deported to
the east, mainly to the
death camps of Sobibor
and Auschwitz. Of the es-
timated 25,000 Dutch
Jews who went into hid-
ing, half were caught; the
others survived through
the courageous assis-
tance of the Dutch
people.
The Frank family- went
into hiding in a few -empty
rooms they had prepared on
the upper floors of Otto's
office building. It was clear
there was no alternative,
especially when the call-up
ANNE FRANK
came for their 16-year-old
daughter Margot to report depths as she struggled
to a work camp. On July 6, with problems of suffer-
1942, they moved into the ing and divine justice.
annex, to be joined shortly "What about' all Jews?"
by the Van Daans and their she inquires. "What pur-
son Peter, and a few months pose was there in their
later by Mr. Dussel, a de- common agony? Who has
inflicted this upon us?"
ntist.
A new existence is
Anne's first entry into her
now-famous diary describes fashioned in the annex.
her 13th birthday party, Peter is sent to bed without
with home movies; flowers, supper for defiantly reading
many gifts, among them a a book his parents disap-
small, plaid, clothbound di- proved of. Anne works hard
ary, "possibly the nicest of at French lessons, adding
all" presents. A week later, five irregular verbs for
she confides with disarming study each day. They often
insight: "It's an odd idea for discuss post-war problems
someone like me to keep a — how one should address
diary. Who will be in- servants.
She explores with sen-
terested in the unbosomings
of a 13-year-old schoolgirl?"' sitivity their condition: "I
simply can't imagine that
Four trusted employees the world--will ever be nor-
secretly provided food and mal for us again. The clouds
other supplies. The father of gather more closely about
the young typist built a us and the circle which
movable bookcase which separates us from the ap-
concealed the entrance to proaching danger closes
the hiding place. Two boys more and more tightly."
who worked in the
Just a fortnight before
warehouse had not been they were discovered by the
Nazis: "I see the world
told.
And so Anne's legacy, a gradually being turned into
personal record to an im- a wilderness. I hear the ever
aginary friend named approaching thunder,
Kitty, began. While she which will destroy us, too. I
can feel the sufferings of
occasionally sketched a
typical morning in the millions, and yet, if I look up
annex, she more fre- into the heavens, I think
quently was profound, that peace and tranquility
and infinitely perceptive, will return again."
On Aug. 4, 1944, on a
revealing remarkable
bright, clear, incredibly
sunny day, after 25
months in the secret
annex came the final des-
cent of darkness. While
Mr. Frank was giving
Peter English dictation
and scolding him for spel-
ling "double" incor-
rectly, the -police,_ one
German and four Dutch
Nazis, stormed the an-
nex. They pushed aside
the cupboard that
camouflaged the door-
way and charged up the
-
stairs.
The Franks, in the last
shipment of Jews to leave
Holland, went by cattle car
to Auschwitz. A fellow in-
mate recalls: "Anne was the
one who saw to the last what
was going on all around us.
We had long since stopped
seeing.
"On Oct. 30, there was
another 'selection.' We had
to file singly, into the bar_
racks, and inside a sear-
ch light was set up, and we
had to step into the light.
Then it was the turn of the
two girls, Anne and Margot.
There they stood for a mo-
ment, naked and shaven-
headed and Anne looked
over at us With her un-
clouded face, looked
straight and then went on.
We could not see what
on the other side. _
Frank screamed, 'The chil-
dren! Oh God.' "
In the selections, the doc-
tor sent some to theleft and
some to the right. An in-
stant determination of who
shall live and who shall die.
To the right usually indi-
cated slave labor. To the
left, the gas chambers.
Anne and Margot Were
selected for Bergen-Belsen,
near Hamburg. She died
some time in March 1945, of
malnutrition, typhus, and
despair, a few days after
Margot. Both were buried in
an unmarked, mass grave.
Of the eight, only Otto
Frank managed to survive.
'