Trials Fact Sheet: Trial of Adolf Hitler

The following information should be included on your fact sheet:

1. Trial Name: Crown vs. Adolf Hitler

2. Trial Date: June 13, 2007

3. a)Your Name: Rebecca Chee

b) Prosecution Lawyers: Diana, Allison, Brendon

c) Defense Lawyers: Stacey, Jessie, and I

4. Your Opening Statement

Honorable Judge and Members of the Jury,

Politics is synonymous with lies and deception. Yet was Adolf Hitler guilty of deceiving the German public? The answer is very simple. He was not. In fact, he is entirely innocent of the matter. In addition to making clear his views on Jews and their elimination through his book, Mein Kampf, many of his early speeches were violently anti-Semitic. Mr. Hitler actually called for the “complete removal of the Jews” during the early 1920s, along with other leading Nazis[1]. Furthermore, the German public was thoroughly aware of what was occurring, especially during the Holocaust. They just decided not to do anything about it. As you will see through Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, the German public was well aware of whom they were voting in, and what he stood for, as well as what was occurring while Mr. Hitler was in office.

5. Your Defense

Adolf Hitler is not guilty of deceiving the German public.

6. Arguments / Evidence proving the charge:

1. Goebbels controlled the Nazi propaganda, and therefore was responsible for any deception, IF it took place (which it didn’t)

- “[Goebbels] wielded total control over all German media. Which meant pretty much all of German life.”[2]

- “Nothing happened in radio, print, film, overt propaganda or theatre without [Goebbels’] approval.” [3]

2. Anti-Semitism was prominent before Hitler came into power, and so Hitler cannot be held responsible for stigmatizing “the Jew”

- “Long before the Nazis, the Jews were the most potent and hated collective ‘other’ against which Christian Europe could define itself.”[4]

- “Germans…were emotionally resistant to accepting Jews as their equals and given to scapegoating them for every crisis, setback or defeat.”[5]

- Hitler was influenced by Theodor Fritsch’s Handbook on the Jewish Question before 1914, he was also influenced by Paul de Lagarde, Eugen Dühring, Karl Lueger, Georg von Schönerer, Richard Wagner, Arthur Dinter, and Julius Streicher, all who were blatantly anti-Semitic[6]

3. Hitler had made it clear his plans for Germany through Mein Kampf and his speeches prior to being elected into office

- Mein Kampf, written before he was elected into power, and his early speeches of the 1920s clearly laid out Hitler’s plans for Germany and the Holocaust, as well as why he thought it was necessary[7]

4. The German public knew what was occurring, especially during the Holocaust.

- “The mass of ordinary Germans did know about the evolving terror of Hitler’s Holocaust...They knew concentration camps were full of Jewish people who were stigmatised as sub human and race defilers. They knew that these, like other groups and minorities, were being killed out of hand. They knew that Adolf Hitler had repeatedly forecast the extermination of every Jew on German soil. They knew these details because they had read about them. They knew because camps and the measures which led up to them, had been prominently and proudly reported step by step in thousands of officially inspired German media articles and posters.”[8]

- “Yesterday, Oxford University Press exposed ‘once and for all the substantial consent and active participation of large numbers of ordinary Germans.’”[9]

- “I asked at one point if [Frau Dr. Blersch] knew before the end of the war about full scale annihilation. ‘Ja, we knew’ she said. ‘That we knew exactly. We saw it here. There was a Jewish settlement. We saw the Jews in rows, sent away, to a house in the Aps, and then sent farther.’ She insisted it happened in 1940 or 1941, early in terms of the ‘final solution’…[Frau Dr. Blersch continues] ‘We did know of concentration camps. We knew of terrible circumstances.’”[10]

7. a) Your Witness: Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels (character’s name) played by Hemal (student’s name)

b) Information / Arguments/ Evidence / Questions for witness

1. Please state your name and relation to Mr. Hitler for the benefit of the court.

- Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels

- Chief of Propaganda for the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi party from January 30, 1933 – April 30, 1945.

2. As the Chief of Propaganda, what were your duties?

- I was responsible for presenting information in the best light to the public.

3. Thank you. Did you report to Mr. Hitler?

- At the beginning

- Loose guidelines

- Early on I was given “total control over all German media. Which meant pretty much all of German life”[11]

4. What can you tell the court about Mein Kampf?

- Hitler wrote it at Landsberg Fortress

- It was a “must” on ever German bookshelf

- Sold over 900 000 copies in 1938 alone, the year Hitler was declared Time’s Man of the Year

- Central to all Nazi policies[12]

- Clearly discussed plans both to rebuild Germany and eliminate the Jews as seen through this excerpt “Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”[13] and other minorities: plans were set out to accomplish all this once Mr. Hitler came to power in 1933 as Chancellor

5. Do you believe that the German public was deceived?

- No. “The mass of ordinary Germans did know about the evolving terror of Hitler’s Holocaust...They knew concentration camps were full of Jewish people who were stigmatizes as sub-human and race defilers. They knew that these, like other groups and minorities, were being killed out of hand. They knew that Adolf Hitler had repeatedly forecast the extermination of every Jew on German soil. They knew these details because they had read about them. They knew because camps and the measures which led up to them, had been prominently and proudly reported step by step in thousands of officially inspired German media articles and posters.”[14] In fact, there was “substantial consent and active participation of large numbers of ordinary Germans.”[15]

6. Please restate your name, and position for the court in addition to your duties.

- Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, Chief of Propaganda for the Nazi Party

- I was responsible for presenting information in the best light to the public.

Redirect

1. Please read this quote and tell us if it is accurate.
“Nothing happened in radio, print, film, overt propaganda or theatre without [Goebbels’] approval.” [16]

It is very accurate.

8. a) Cross Examination of witness for opposition: Albert Speer (character’s name) played by Courtney (student’s name)

b) Information / Arguments/ Evidence / Questions for witness

1. Please State your name and relation to Mr. Hitler for the benefit of the court.

2. Thank you, were you aware of the Holocaust while working with Hitler? Please remember your testimony in the Nuremberg trials.

3. Please read the following quotes, one after another.

4. Mr. Speer, if you were willing to lie under oath during the Nuremberg trials, as well as in your books Inside the Third Reich and Spandau: Secret Diaries, do we have any reason to trust your testimony today? A simple yes or no will do.

“I knew that the Nationalist Socialist Party was anti-Semitic.” Said by Albert Speer during the Nuremberg Trials [17]

“Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect and munitions minister, was fully aware of and involved in the mass murder of Jews, despite his lifelong claims to the contrary, new documents have shown.”[18]

“A Third Reich report from May 1943...refers to a ‘Prof Speer Special Programme’ to expand the Auschwitz camp so that it could serve as a death camp. The report, on which Speer made copious handwritten notes in the margins and over the text, refers to the fact that Auschwitz’s role as a work camp had ‘recently been expanded to include the solution to the Jewish question.’” [19]

“On September 15, 1942, a meeting was held in Berlin between Reich minister Speer and SS Obergruppenführer Pohl... On the ‘enlargement of barrack camp Auschwitz due to eastern migration.’

On this topic, Pohl notes:

‘Reich minister Speer has fully approved the enlargement of the barrack camp at Auschwitz and has set aside an additional building volume of 13.7 million Reichsmark.…Reich minister Speer, in this way, wants to assure the supply of an initial number of 50,000 able-bodied Jews ...’ ” [20]

“Speer was more than just the ‘cog in the works.’ He was not only entangled in the works, he was the terror itself.”[21]

9. Examination of Historical Figure: Information / Arguments / Evidence / Questions for Prime Minister

…umm… I don’t think this is relevant for us? If it is, tell me and I’ll fill it out =D Sry!

10. Closing Statement

Honorable Judge and Members of the Jury,

As demonstrated by the evidence provided, Mr. Hitler can, in no way, be held accountable for whatever deception of the German public the prosecution claims occurred. He had clearly laid out his plans for Germany both in his book Mein Kampf and his speeches before being elected into office. Once in office, Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels, his Chief of Propaganda, ensured that the public was aware of what was taking place, particularly during the Holocaust. I plead with you now, to take into account how Mr. Hitler’s life would be ruined, should he be unjustly convicted of such a preposterous charge. Mr. Hitler, is an honest man, and would never lie to the German people who had entrusted with the leadership of Germany. Dr. Goebbels, on the other hand, is another matter.

11. Works Cited List

Allis, Sam. “A Nazi Leader, in his own Words.” Boston Globe. P. B6. May 22, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com

Connolly, Kate. “Wartime Reports debunk Speer as the Good Nazi.” The Telegraph. November 5, 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Ezard, John. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about Death Camps.” Guardian. Saturday February 17, 2001. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007.

Mattogno, Carlo. “The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents.” The Revisionist: Journal for Critical Historical Inquiry. Volume 2, Issue 3. August 2004. http://www.vho.org/tr/2004/3/Mattogno271-278.html. June 13. 2007.

O’Linder, Douglas. “Cross Examination of Albert Speer: Nuremberg Trials 1945-1949.” University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Law. 2007. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/Speer.html. June 13. 2007.

Owings, Alison. Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich. United States of America: Rutgers University Press, 2005.

Wistrich, Robert S.. Hitler and the Holocaust. Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.

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[1] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 40.

[2] Sam Allis. “A Nazi Leader, in his own Words.” Boston Globe. P. B6. May 22, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com

[3] Sam Allis. “A Nazi Leader, in his own Words.” Boston Globe. P. B6. May 22, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com

[4] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 13.

[5] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 7.

[6] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 17, 35-37, 42.

[7] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 38-40.

[8] John Ezard. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about Death Camps.” Guardian. Saturday February 17, 2001. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007.

[9] John Ezard. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about Death Camps.” Guardian. Saturday February 17, 2001. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007.

[10] Alison, Owings. Frauen: German Women Recall the Third Reich.(United States of America: Rutgers University Press, 2005.) 374.

[11] Sam Allis. “A Nazi Leader, in his own Words.” Boston Globe. P. B6. May 22, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com

[12] “Adolf Hitler” Time Magazine. Jan 2, 1939. http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1938.html. June 13, 2007.

[13] Robert S. Wistrich. Hitler and the Holocaust. (Toronto, Canada: Random House Inc., 2001.) 40.

[14] John Ezard. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about Death Camps.” Guardian. Saturday February 17, 2001. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007.

[15] John Ezard. “Germans knew of Holocaust horror about Death Camps.” Guardian. Saturday February 17, 2001. http://wwww.guardian.co.uk. June 13, 2007.

[16] Sam Allis. “A Nazi Leader, in his own Words.” Boston Globe. P. B6. May 22, 2006. http://proquest.umi.com

[17] Douglas O’Linder. “Cross Examination of Albert Speer: Nuremberg Trials 1945-1949.” University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Law. 2007. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/nuremberg/Speer.html. June 13. 2007.

[18] Kate Connolly. “Wartime Reports debunk Speer as the Good Nazi.” The Telegraph. November 5, 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk

[19] Kate Connolly. “Wartime Reports debunk Speer as the Good Nazi.” The Telegraph. November 5, 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk

[20] Carlo, Mattogno. “The Morgues of the Crematoria at Birkenau in the Light of Documents.” The Revisionist: Journal for Critical Historical Inquiry. Volume 2, Issue 3. August 2004. http://www.vho.org/tr/2004/3/Mattogno271-278.html. June 13. 2007.

[21] Kate Connolly. “Wartime Reports debunk Speer as the Good Nazi.” The Telegraph. November 5, 2005. http://www.telegraph.co.uk