[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            NUREMBERG TRIALS

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                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 7, 2006

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reflect on the Nuremberg 
trials.
  After the unspeakable horrors that occurred during the Holocaust, the 
United States joined the international community in upholding the rule 
of law and created the International Military Tribunal. Unique in the 
history of the world, the Nuremberg Tribunal honored our commitment to 
law and an honest, open trial process.
  I was reminded of all of this when I heard a recent NPR story that 
told the personal experience of Sergeant Clancy Segal, an American Jew, 
during the trials at Nuremberg. As Mr. Segal recounts, the members of 
the Nazi party sentenced at Nuremberg underwent a fair and objective 
trial process. Despite the atrocities they committed, they were 
afforded due process.
  Remembrances such as these emphasize the need for restraint and 
upholding the rule of law when dealing with war criminals. Regardless 
of the circumstances, we must exercise the same due process when 
investigating and prosecuting suspected terrorists and war criminals 
today.
  I ask unanimous consent that the full transcript of this story from 
National Public Radio be inserted into the Congressional Record.

       National Public Radio: Morning Edition, October 2, 2006: 
     Sixty years ago, the International Military Tribunal at 
     Nuremberg handed down its first verdict against Nazi war 
     criminals. The Nuremberg trials were structured as a 
     blueprint for something new in international law . . . 
     ``crimes against humanity'' and ``crimes against peace''.
       The evidence presented was the first account to the world 
     of the Nazis' atrocities and mass murders. Commentator Clancy 
     Segal was a sergeant in the American army of occupation in 
     Germany.
       I was the only Jew in my unit. I told no one when I put my 
     .45 automatic in my holster and sneaked away to the 
     International War Crimes trial at Nuremberg.
       I wanted to look Herman Goering in the eye and shoot him 
     dead.
       Next to Adolf Hitler, Goering was the most powerful man in 
     the Nazi Third Reich. He created the first concentration 
     camps and he was the driving force behind the decrees which 
     stripped Jews of their civil rights.
       In the foyer of the court building, Furtherstrasse 22, 
     military police made me check my weapon. At first I was 
     angry. I'd stored up a lot of hatred for the top Nazis like 
     Goering who'd operated the ``Final Solution'' to kill Jews.
       But inside the courtroom I felt something like relief. 
     Suddenly, it was unthinkable to add one more act of violence 
     to the solemn, businesslike presentation of evidence. 
     Evidence which included the shrunken heads of tortured 
     prisoners and lamp shades made of human skin. It moved me 
     beyond tears to a sort of numbness.
       The U.S. War Department was determined that Goering and the 
     other Nazis leaders would receive a fair trial. At Nuremberg, 
     there would be no secret evidence or closed proceedings. The 
     Allies believed that would betray their ideal of restoring 
     democracy in Germany.
       For three days, I couldn't take my eyes off Goering, who 
     lounged in the dock like a bored Roman emperor. Minus his 
     sashes and medals, he looked slightly naked in a white 
     uniform jacket, even emaciated down from his former huge 
     bulk.
       As concentration camp survivors testified, I sometimes 
     caught Goering's cold, unblinking stare, which was full of 
     contempt for the Tribunal and the witnesses.
       When the prosecution showed films of piled-up corpses at 
     Auschwitz, Goering kept turning his head away, sometimes in 
     my direction. I'm ashamed to say he stared me down, because 
     I'd never before felt myself in the presence of such 
     unmitigated evil.
       I returned to my unit and didn't see Goering testify on 
     cross-examination. Newspaper and radio correspondents like 
     Walter Cronkite told us of his brazen lack of repentance in 
     the witness box.
       On Oct. 1, 1946, the Allied judges handed down their 
     sentences. Most of the accused were found guilty and 
     sentenced to death. Goering swallowed a cyanide pill just 
     hours before he was to mount the gallows.
       Today, in the midst of a national debate on how to treat 
     captured terror suspects, my mind flashes back to Room 600 at 
     Furtherstrasse 22. We gave Goering and the other war 
     criminals a chance not only to defend themselves but in some 
     cases, preach hate and violence.
       In a ruined Germany, where so many corpses still lay buried 
     in the rubble, and life seemed so very fragile, we found it 
     in ourselves to give the worst of men due process.

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