Bidspirit auction | The Opening Address of the

The Opening Address of the Chief Prosecutor for the Soviet Union, Comrade R. A. Rudenko, at the Trial of the Major German War Criminals at Nuremberg. Moscow, 1946 - First Edition - Вступительная речь главного обвинителя от СССР тов. Р. А. Руденко на процессе главных немецких военных преступников в Нюрнберге - Complete transcript of the opening address delivered by the Chief Prosecutor for the Soviet Union, Comrade Roman Andreyevich Rudenko, at the Trial of the Major German War Criminals at Nuremberg on February 8, 1946. Published by the Legal Publishing House of the Ministry of Justice of the USSR (Юридическое издательство Министерства юстиции СССР). Moscow, 1946 - First edition. ”Ladies and Gentlemen, I begin my opening address, which concludes the initial arguments of the chief prosecutors in this trial, with full awareness of its immense historical significance. For the first time in human history, justice is confronting crimes on such a scale and with such grave consequences. For the first time, criminals who seized control of an entire state and transformed the state itself into an instrument of their monstrous crimes have appeared before a court of law. For the first time, at last, we are judging, in the persons of the defendants, not only the accused themselves, but also the criminal institutions and organizations they created, and the misanthropic 'theories' and 'ideas' they propagated in order to carry out long-planned crimes against peace and humanity.” from the opening words of Rudenko's address as they appear at the beginning of the booklet. Roman Rudenko, who served as Deputy Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR, was appointed to represent the Soviet Union at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (IMT). His opening address on February 8, 1946, was a key moment in the proceedings, during which the Soviet prosecution presented evidence of the devastation, mass murder, and war crimes committed in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. His speech inaugurated the Soviet phase of the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials and constituted a sweeping and severe indictment of the Nazi leadership. Rudenko began by emphasizing the unprecedented legal and historical significance of the Tribunal, arguing that, for the first time in human history, military aggression was being defined as the supreme international crime and that it was not merely individuals who stood accused, but an entire state apparatus that had transformed terror into official policy. In the course of his address, Rudenko presented evidence and documents demonstrating that the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) had not been a preventive action but rather a carefully planned conspiracy of aggression, conceived years in advance with the aim of destroying the Soviet state, enslaving its peoples, and plundering its resources for the benefit of the Third Reich. He described in detail the brutal treatment and systematic murder of millions of Soviet prisoners of war, citing official German orders that directed the execution of Soviet officers and political personnel in blatant violation of international law. The most significant portion of the speech was devoted to crimes against humanity and the extermination of the civilian population in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. Rudenko described the mass murders perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppen against Jews and civilians, the complete destruction of thousands of towns and villages, and the horrors of the extermination camps liberated by the Red Army, such as Majdanek and Auschwitz, presenting evidence concerning the gas chambers and crematoria. Alongside the murder of millions, he accused the Germans of the deliberate looting and destruction of cultural property, museums, churches, and historical heritage sites, with the aim of erasing the national identity of the Slavic peoples. Rudenko concluded his address with a forceful demand, in the name of all humanity and in the name of the victims, for the severe and uncompromising punishment of the criminals standing trial. 47, [1] pages. Light staining to the cover. Good condition.