Judgment at Nuremberg Page #3

The defendant does not recognize

the authority of this tribunal...

and wishes to lodge a formal protest

in lieu of pleading.

A plea of "not guilty" will be entered.

The prosecution

will begin its opening address.

Slow and easy, Junior.

The case is unusual...

in that the defendants

are charged with crimes...

committed in the name of the law.

These men, together with their deceased

or fugitive colleagues...

are the embodiment of what passed

for justice during the Third Reich.

The defendants served as judges

during the period of the Third Reich.

Therefore, you, Your Honors,

as judges on the bench...

will be sitting in judgment...

of judges in the dock.

And this is as it should be.

For only a judge knows

how much more a court is than a courtroom.

It is a process and a spirit.

It is the house of law.

The defendants knew this, too.

They knew courtrooms well.

They sat in their black robes...

and they distorted, they perverted,

they destroyed justice and law in Germany.

Will the prosecution please watch the light?

- The interpreter cannot follow you.

- I'm sorry, Your Honor.

They distorted, they perverted...

they destroyed justice and law in Germany.

Now, this in itself

is undoubtedly a great crime.

But the prosecution

is not calling the defendants...

to account for violating

constitutional guarantees...

or withholding due process of law.

The prosecution

is calling them to account...

for murder...

brutalities...

torture...

atrocities.

They share with all the leaders

of the Third Reich...

responsibility for the most malignant,

the most calculated...

the most devastating crimes

in the history of all mankind.

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