SEPTEMBER 30,1946
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
PAGE FIVE
the names blard. Mi ll be shakers
Nuernberg War Crimes Trial Set Up Law for Warmakers
By DUDLEY ANN HARMON
(United Press Staff Correspondent)
Nucnberg. (UF)—The Nuernberg verdict marks the end of the greatest trial in history and, it is hoped by the victors in World War II, the beginning of a new era of international law under which "crimes against humanity" will be punished by humanity itself, sitting in solemn judgment.
Twenty-four Nazis were indicted
as the chief criminals, and along with them, seven Nazi organizations. Only 21 of the individuals were brought to the bar of justice. The missing Martin Bormann, Hitler's confidant, was tried in absentia. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the aged munitions czar, was exempted from trial because of senile insanity. Robert Ley, labor front leader, committed suicide during the proceedings.
The convictions of those tried set a precedent, intended to deter future makers of aggressive war, or to ensure that they will be dealt with if they violate the new code.
The trial itself set a precedent. The aggrieved nations assumed to themselves a jurisdiction which had not existed legally hitherto, and they established a new crime not previously codified.
Under the charter which set up
the tribunal of eight judges, "crimes against humanity" include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and "inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before or during war." The charter is directed specifically against aggressive war.
The trial, which lasted more than nine months, involved the introduction of a mass of testimony which disclosed in its full horror the humanities of the Nazi conspiracy against civilization.
The defendants alternately blustered, cried or whined. In the main, instead of denying the fact of the crimes, they tried to alibi their part in them, chiefly by throwing the real guilt on Adolf Hitler.
The evidence was factual and sickening. It ranged from incredible mass murders, tortures and deportations to such specific details as using the hair shorn from murdered
Army Rescue Mission Prepares For Trip To Ransom Fliers Held By Tibetan Tribe
Shanghai. (UP)—A U.S. army rescue mission today rounded up silver, foodstuffs, and blankets with which it hoped to ransom five or more American airmen enslaved by head-hunting Lolo tribesmen in the wilds near Tibet.
An official label of accuracy finally was put on reports that a number of Americans downed while flying over the hump from India to China during the war were in bondage of the savage tribesmen.
Lt. Col. Herbert W. Wurtzier of Minnesota headed the rescue mission which swung into action. It hoped to lure the Lolos into a relatively easy surrender of the Americans with ransom materials which for the savages would amount to treasure trove.
The mission also was gathering winter gear for a possible trek into the mountain fastnesses if developing plans should call for a meeting with the primitive savages somewhere in Lololand.
Already the word had come out over the "bamboo telegraph" in the Lolo wilds that the "Meikuo" (Americans) were willing to pay a rich ransom in silver bullion, blankets, salt and the like for the safe delivery of the enslaved airmen.
The first move in the delicate attempt to rescue the men, who presumably have been captives of the aborigines for more than two years, was made by a Chinese Catholic priest. Familiar with the customs of the Lolos, the priest set out afoot from a Catholic mission at Hsichang on the border of Loland, 230 miles southwest of Chungking.
Whether the American team will have to make the long, arduous journey into the region where mountains tower to 28,000 feet will depend on the success of the priest's mission. If he can get in touch with the "owners" of the American "slaves" through the bamboo wireless and convince them that the rewards will be handsome and the
The priest intended to feel out the Lolos, find out their terms of ransom if such could be aranged, and to assure them that the Americans had nothing but friendly intentions.
dangers slight if they deliver the captives, the deal may be made at some village not more than five days walk from Hsichang.
Otherwise the rescuers may take months of wearying search and painstaking negotiations.
Colonel Wurtzler expected to take off by air tomorrow with supplies, including radio equipment, for a base to be established at the mission of Bishop Francis Baudry at Hischang.
The Lolos are fierce, nomadic people with a bitter, centuries-old hatred of the Chinese. Few white
men ever have visited their animal skin tents. Their slaves comprise the greatest single item of their wealth. They are guarded zealously and frequently kept in chains.
Authorities feared that if the Lolos were not convinced that the Americans did not intend to punish them, or if they feared the Chinese might take punitive measures, they might withdraw with their captives far into the mountains or possibly even kill the captives.
Additional concern was raised by the submission to the U.S. army in Shanghai of some of the few pictures of Lolo villages extant. They showed shriveled human heads hanging from trees before the tents and huts—the unmistakable trademark of head hunters.
Hospital Releases Accident Patients
The American graves registration service, under whose direction the rescue was being attempted, messaged Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek asking for intercession with the Lolos, asking them to give the Americans all possible assistance.
Frank Gage and John Ballard, Jr., students in the University, who were hospitalized in Watkins Memorial hospital Saturday for injuries received in an automobile accident about 1 a.m. that morning, have been discharged, Mrs. Orpha Kiesow, secretary of the health service, reported today.
Gordon McCune and Rayburn Ocamb, also students here, received minor brusses but were released from Watkins Memorial hospital after treatment, Mrs. Kiesew said. Larry Hawkinson, driver of the car, was uninjured.
Gage received a hand sprain and Ballard received face lacerations when the car in which they were riding overturned on a highway north of Lawrence.
Two Announcers Needed For KFKU
women to stuff sofas in the Nazi homeland, or converting gold teeth wrenched from butchered Jews into money for the German war effort.
The need for an announcer and a sporteaster for radio station KFKU was announced today by Miss Mildred Seaman, program director.
Speaking of the Nazi mass extermination of Jews, Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief United States prosecutor, said in his opening speech: "History does not record a crime ever perpetrated against so many victims or carried out with such calculated cruelty."
"Auditions will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. tomorrow in 117 Fraser hall, and anyone interested in either position is invited to tryout," Miss Seaman said. Plans will be completed for fall sports and news parade programs when the two vacancies are filled.
Murder by the Germans of 60 per
cent of 9,600,000 Jews in the countries they dominated was only one of the crimes against humanity with which Nuernberg defendants were charged.
When Sir Hartley Shawcross, chief British prosecutor, began his five-hour closing speech, the defendants at first paid little attention. But when Sir Hartley began to recount their crimes against humanity, the atmosphere changed.
The prosecutor was not indulging
in mere damning oratory. He was reading in a calm British voice from a collection of the Nazis' own reports and orders. They are among thousands of documents captured by the allies which formed the basis for the trial.
Among these was an eyewitness report of mass shootings of Jews in White Ruthenia. "Persons shot" the writer said, "have wormed themselves out of graves some time after they had been covered."
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