Judgment at Nuremberg Page #4

And they are perhaps more guilty

than some of the others.

For they had attained maturity

long before Hitler's rise to power.

Their minds weren't warped at an early age

by Nazi teachings.

They embraced the ideologies

of the Third Reich as educated adults...

when they, most of all...

should have valued justice.

Here they'll receive the justice

they denied others.

They'll be judged according to the evidence

presented in this courtroom.

The prosecution asks nothing more.

Herr Rolfe will make the opening statement

for the defense.

May it please the tribunal...

it is not only a great honor...

but also a great challenge...

for an advocate...

to aid this tribunal in its task.

The entire civilized world...

will follow closely what we do here.

For this is not an ordinary trial...

by any means

of the accepted, parochial sense.

The avowed purpose of this tribunal...

Is broader than the visiting of retribution

on a few men.

It is dedicated to the reconsecration...

of the temple of justice.

It is dedicated to finding a code of justice...

the whole world will be responsible to.

How will this code be established?

It will be established...

in a clear...

honest evaluation...

of the responsibility for the crimes

in the indictment stated by the prosecution.

In the words of the great American jurist,

Oliver Wendell Holmes:

"This responsibility will not be found

only in documents...

"that no one contests or denies.

"It will be found in considerations

of a political or social nature.

"It will be found, most of all...

"in the character of men."

What is the character of Ernst Janning?

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