Chương 301: 301
Episode 301 War Crimes Trial (3)
Having been guaranteed a luxurious life by Germany in exchange for information and testimony, he willingly agreed to appear as a witness at the trial.
Soviet war criminals were excited when they saw him appear at the trial as a witness.
Why is the author here?
I heard Kulik is definitely in China?
Unlike Stalin, who had become emaciated, Kulik still looked good-natured, as if his life had been going well.
His bald head was shiny and his saggy chin indicated that he had been eating well at every meal.
"What was the defendant's role during the war?"
"My role during the war is-"
Just looking at Kulik's face made Stalin almost lose his breath.
In fact, Kulik began his testimony calmly, as if it was none of his business about Stalin, who was sitting in the defendant's seat.
"During the war, the Soviet military committed war crimes by abusing and massacring captured German soldiers. "Have there been any official instructions on this?"
"I did not give such instructions. However, I remember that the war leadership at the time mentioned something about it."
"Please tell me what it is."
"It was said that since all Germans were fascists, it would be for the peace and prosperity of the Soviet Union to stop them."
"In other words, there was no official order to abuse or massacre prisoners, but you encouraged abuse and massacre of prisoners in that way?"
"I think you can look at it that way."
"Who was it that said those things?"
"It was Secretary General Stalin."
"You disgusting traitor! "You traitor who will sell out the country!!"
Unable to bear it anymore, Stalin exploded and screamed, and everyone's attention focused on him.
"Defendant, be quiet!"
Despite the judge's restraint, Stalin's swearing continued.
Kulik wasn't just angry because he lied.
The reality that he could not do anything even though the traitor who had betrayed him and the Soviet Union shamelessly appeared as a witness and repeatedly gave false testimony against him made him angry.
"You look like a guy who would sell his soul just to avoid getting that disgusting head cut off!"
While Stalin was pounding his fists and shouting, Kulik kept his mouth shut.
It wasn't because I felt remorse. It was just that I couldn't speak while Stalin was screaming.
"You pig! I want to live like that, becoming the dog of those fascist bastards! "Shame on the Russians, you bastard!"
"Shut up!"
"You bastard like a dog and a pig, you bastard like a bastard!"
"Guard! "Get it out!"
Stalin, who did not stop swearing, was eventually grabbed by the back of the neck by guards and sent out.
***
November 22, 1944
New Fuhrer's Residence in Berlin, Germany
The war crimes trial taking place in Moscow was proceeding well according to the pre-written script.
As expected, war criminals such as Churchill, Stalin, and Harris denied their crimes and claimed innocence.
They brought their own logic and appealed that they were not guilty, but since the outcome of the trial was already decided anyway, there was no way for the verdict to change.
In fact, right now, this trial is just a show to show to future generations.
A show aimed at informing future generations that Germany and the Axis powers are the right side, and Britain and the Soviet Union, which started the war, are the evil axis.
One case worth noting is that Leni Riefenstahl and her staff went to film the trial while the judges in Denmark, Norway, and Finland, who were in charge of the trial, were more furious than Freisler, spewing out all kinds of profanity and shouting. It is said that they had a hard time recording so that the sound would not be muffled.
In fact, Freisler is said to have been aware of my warning, so he approached the trial in a calmer manner than usual, but as expected, his temper never went away, and he started swearing about once every 30 minutes.
They say this is at least moderate, but I have no idea how much it actually is.
"Wouldn't it have the opposite effect if I revealed this to people?"
What Goering said after seeing the recording sent from Moscow.
Unlike the usually solemn atmosphere of a trial, there are all kinds of vulgar swear words and insults, making it feel like watching a black comedy movie.
If this is shown as is, it may backfire as Goering worried.
"It would be okay if only the profanity scenes were edited and shown. Anyway, wasn't it Britain and the Soviet Union that started the war? And Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Finland are the victims. "The public would feel even greater anger at Churchill and Stalin for their shameless attitudes."
"Yes, it would be a shame to just film it and then bury it."
As Goebbels insisted, we used the most expensive equipment to film the film, but since there was no point in not making it public, we decided to edit out only the cursing scenes and release them to the public.
The edited film will be produced as a newsreel and screened throughout Europe. The title is simply 'Judgment of Justice'.
At first, it was going to be called the Moscow International Military Tribunal, but Goebbels said the title was too stiff and suggested that it be something like, so we changed it.
The British and Soviets would say this is nonsense, but we won the war, so if we are justice, we are justice. Anyway.
The presidential election held in the United States two weeks ago ended with the Republican Party winning, as expected.
Wallace and the Democratic Party worked hard in the election, claiming victory, but despite this, they failed to change the public's mind and were defeated by a dismal score of 432 electoral votes for the Republican Party and 99 electoral votes for the Democratic Party.
Thomas Dewey, the Republican presidential candidate who won the presidential election, was a prosecutor who gained fame for arresting Lucky Luciano, a legendary mafia boss in the United States in 1936. Thanks to his popularity, he entered the political world and became governor of New York.
In actual history, he ran as a Republican candidate for the presidential election in 1944 and 1948, but lost to Roosevelt and Truman, ultimately failing to become the president he dreamed of.
The Roosevelt hated him so much that he was swearing at the stone, and Robert Taft, the same party, called Dewey a stupid dwarf, but Dewey's actual character itself was a great and justice character.
The problem was that my pride was so great that others saw me as arrogant.
Unless something goes wrong, Dewey is scheduled to be inaugurated as President of the United States in March next year.
Although it still cooperated at the end of the war, as Wallace, who had previously shown an overtly anti-German stance like Roosevelt, resigned from the presidency and Dewey, his opponent, became president, expectations were expressed here and there that there would be a change in America's stance.
"What do you think, Mr. President?"
"well… … He may be better than Wallace, but in the end, Dewey is an American and will not hesitate to defend his country's interests. Still, unless we give them an excuse first, the United States is unlikely to pick a fight with Germany first."
If Dewey had defeated Roosevelt in the 1944 presidential election and become president, we might have known something about him, but unfortunately, Dewey never became president.
Because of this, I don't know what policy he will implement. Still, I can only hope that he might be a little more friendly to Germany than Wallace.
***
While British and Soviet war criminals were being tried in Europe, the same thing was happening in the Far East.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
As the emperor's recorded broadcast echoed throughout Japan, some warmongers who could not accept the reality ended their lives by committing suicide.
There were many different ways to die, whether it was disembowelment, shooting the head with a gun, or drinking poison, but the end result was death.
As Germany held trials for war criminals in Moscow, the United States also quickly held trials in Tokyo.
With the U.S. military's arrival in the archipelago, war criminals who were naturally secured as new recruits were transported to the trial hall one after another.
Twelve judges selected from the United States, the British government in exile, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Free France, the Netherlands government in exile, and the Philippines were in charge of judging the war criminals.
There was an argument that judges should be appointed in the British Indian Empire that fought against Japan, but the argument was not adopted due to the situation in India.
Even now in India, anti-British guerrillas claiming immediate independence were waging a guerrilla war against the British army, and now that the war was over, the argument that India should become independent from Britain gained even more strength, and the political situation was very unstable.
In this situation, the British government-in-exile resolutely opposed it, saying that having an Indian judge participate in the trial could be interpreted as a signal of acceptance of India's independence, and he received a lot of criticism from the British government-in-exile over the issue of peace with Germany and Germany's participation in the war against Japan. The United States also accepted this argument and excluded India from the trial in order to appease Britain.
The defendants who were brought to the trial seemed greatly shocked by the fact that the empire had fallen, and looked around with bleary eyes at the judge, the prosecutor, and the U.S. Army military police who were watching them with eagle eyes.
People who had once ruled the world with power so powerful that even a Japanese bird could fall were now prisoners, sitting in the defendant's box awaiting judgment.
Compared to actual history, Japan did not fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which would have been devastated by the heat of nuclear weapons, Kwantung Army soldiers captured by the Soviet Army did not spend 10 years working hard in Siberia, and the Kuril Islands were maintained. The war ended under surprisingly good conditions, but as if something was gained, there was also something to be lost, so considering the subsequent process, I cannot express myself as fortunate.
Japan's ability to avoid punishment by the Allied Forces after the war was a preparation for the Cold War with the Soviet Union, but it was different here.
The advent of the Cold War was no different, except that the Soviet Union was replaced by Germany, but there was a big difference in that the Far East was pushed far back on the main stage of the Cold War.
The story would have been different if Germany had continued to remain stationed in the Central Plains and focused on expanding its influence in the Far East, but Germany accepted America's request and was prepared to withdraw its troops from China without hesitation.
Thanks to this, the possibility of the Far East becoming the center of the Cold War was greatly reduced, and naturally there was no reason to worry about the Cold War in the trials of Japanese war criminals.
The United States, which was trying hard to cover up its defeat in Europe with its victory in the war against Japan, needed to make this war crimes trial larger and more thorough than Germany's to relieve public anger and secure world attention.
Since Germany held the trial on grounds of justice and morality, the United States must impose stricter standards on Japan.
Only then will the world know that the United States is a fairer and more just country than Germany.
At the same time, there was no need for the United States to use Japan as a hunting dog to keep the Soviet Union in check, so there was nothing to regret from the U.S. perspective.
Japan was geopolitically very important in stopping the communist advance into the Asia-Pacific, but Japan was of no particular use in dealing with Germany in Europe.
Therefore, the United States' judgment on Japan had to be more thorough.
The death sentence was handed down to dozens of practitioners who planned and executed the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, including Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, the main culprit of the Pacific War and the de facto ruler of Japan during the war.
"Does the defendant admit that he planned and carried out a war of aggression?"
"I admit it."
Isoroku Yamamoto, who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet and planned and succeeded in the attack on Pearl Harbor, was also brought to trial as a defendant.
Yamamoto, who was on an inspection trip to the Bougainville base, was attacked by a U.S. P-38 Lightning squadron.
The Type 1 land attack aircraft he was on was attacked by the enemy and made an emergency landing, but Yamamoto miraculously survived.
Severely injured, he was evacuated, underwent surgery, and was sent to Japan to recuperate before the end of the war.
Unlike those who actively protested their innocence, Yamamoto seemed to have resigned himself to everything and answered the prosecutor's questions in a calm manner.
"Why did you change your position after first actively expressing your opposition to war with the United States?"
"This is because we are concerned that if we continue to oppose war against the United States, the dissatisfied army may stage a coup and cause civil war throughout Japan."
"Hey, that guy-!"
"You dirty traitor!"
Army personnel who were enraged by Yamamoto's remarks stood up and cursed, but quickly quieted down after being stopped by military police. Yamamoto's remarks continued.
"I am solely responsible for planning and executing the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Americans. However, I have since advocated for the conclusion of a peace treaty between Japan and the United States, and I have no doubt that a quick end to the war is the only answer."
Shigenori Togo, who had been detained in Germany, was also repatriated to Japan at the request of the United States and stood trial. Of course, Germany did not give up Dogo obediently.
"Strictly speaking, Dogo is also a prisoner of Germany, so we are going to try him here... … ."
"Well, are you coming all the way here and doing this?"
"Let's take it easy and easy. "How much will it cost?"
The United States quickly figured out what Germany wanted and paid Germany additional fees as additional compensation for its participation in the war against Japan.
The United States, which took over Dogo, immediately put him on trial. Like Yamamoto, Dogo also answered the questions with sincerity.
However, he did not give up defending himself.
"Does the defendant admit that he deceived the United States by conducting false negotiations right before the attack on Pearl Harbor?"
"The reason I negotiated with the United States was not to deceive the United States, but to prevent war until the end. This is because he firmly believed that waging war against the United States, whose national power was overwhelmingly different, would be Japan's destruction. How can we just watch our country go down the road to destruction? "I deplored then and now that a peace agreement with the United States could not be concluded."
People like Hideki Tojo, whose crimes were so clear that there was no answer other than the death penalty, and cases like Yamamoto and Dogo were embarrassing even for the Allied Powers.
It would seem like a one-sided retaliation to impose the death penalty, but to lower the punishment was too great. However, there were other cases that were truly difficult to treat.
Japan's living god
It was the emperor.
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