THE COMING DAY
Konvits, Milton R.
THE COMING DAY A Monthly Column By Milton R. Konvits The Trial of War Criminals IN anticipation of the day of victory, much thought is being given te the question how Nasi "and Fascist war...
...8. Msrgoshes, editor of The Jewish Day, a leading Jewish daily newspaper, expressed approval of the proposal of Dr...
...In the long run justice can be done only where permanent courts are functioning, where judges are independent and have tenure, and are not appointed merely to do a certain job...
...The Supreme Court set aside the conviction procured under such circumstances...
...For a public trial does not mesn a trisl by the public, or a «rial in which the public makes itself felt as an influence...
...There can be no difference of opinion on the question, should war criminals be punished...
...Did the Nazis violate the laws of Poland—which oaased to exist when the Nazis took over...
...I do not see how we ran provide suck a trial...
...Furthermore, what law will be enforced by the tribunal...
...it's plain, good, common sense...
...What is and what is not "permitted" in warfare today is a nutter ¦ of technological development and military strategy...
...it ¦lis no page of the history of peace...
...that it is a denial of all law and order, and a destruction of cultural and moral values...
...Yet here Dr...
...No court is In existence that could try the accused...
...which will lead US WHERE the treaties made by dicker sad trade have si waya led...
...Msrgoshes, should be brought bark to the scene of their crimes and tried by a court consisting of the nationals of the country they ravaged...
...The Peace of Gold IN a speech before the Ameriros) Academy ef Arts and l e t t e r s , Archibald MscLeleh, Librarian of Congress, voiced intense diesstisfsctleu with the wsy Allied war elms ere being defined...
...that the atmosphere was tense...
...What they do ir recorded in the history ef the war...
...Joseph Tenenbaum that Polish Jews compose the tribunsls that will try the Nan war criminals on the charge ef massacring the Jews of Poland...
...it might be argued that the killings by the Nazis were in violation of international law...
...They certainly did not violate the law* of Germany, for did they not act by order of their government...
...Realistically, a "public" trial in the heart of the Warsaw ghetto means chiefly that the court room would be filled to capacity with Warsaw Jews: men and women who had suffered at the hands of Nazis, and who are related to other victims, for whose murder the defendants are called to trial...
...that is, at a time When peep!* * thoughts and feelings should ba directed to reconstruction...
...But modern warfare means tha complete abrogation of international conventions...
...at a time when people will feel a great need for a rebirth of values rooted in a desire foi an enduring peace, justice, loving kindness...
...MscLelsh who was one of the most vocal In advocating Amerleen participation In tha war snd denouncing as "the Irresponsible*," the man who created Inter-war cynicism, now ITS ted t h a t : "The peace we will make, "the peace we seem to be making, "ill be . pe.re of oil, . peace of gold, a peace at SHIPPING . peace, in brief, ef factual situations, a peace with out moral purpose or hamm Intent, a peace of dicker and trade •bout the facta of commerce, the facta of banking, the facta ef TR.N.PORT.TION...
...the president of the American Federation of Polish Jews are sincere >n their protestations that they would give the accused Nazis a fair trial but their seal has lead them, a* well as many others, to overlook the fact that a trial is intended to serve as a rational instrumentality whereby guilt or innocence is determined...
...that there pervaded the feeling that if the jury were to acquit the defendant, he, and possibly the jury as well, would be lynched by the crowd...
...This is more than poetic justice...
...at the same time he is entitled to a trial free from public pressure...
...This would be a violation of one of the most elementary requirements of "due process" in any system of civilized law...
...In Warsaw I would hold the court in the very heart of the Warsaw ghetto...
...Trial of the war criminals before military In •-•* nals will, at least, keep our civil courts dean...
...The appearance of a fair trial must be pro Tided, otherwise the hillings will look like lynching...
...But making the world a better place in which .o live will make future Nazis impossible...
...Every opportunity would be given the defendant to prove his innocence...
...Tenenbaum would bring the persons suspected of war crimes into Warsaw, Cracow and Lodz...
...One word more: I think It a grave mistake <> concentrate on the concept of punishment The c: it ion of a million Nazis after the war will not in ftaeli necessarily make the world a better place in which to live...
...When a court is set up expressly for the purpose* of trying certain persons, and it is known that after the trial the court will be disestablished, the psychological effect on the Judges is to be prejudiced against the defendants: the court it created not to try the defendant but to eanvtet them...
...If punishment la to be meted oat to the war criminals, let it be done by the armed foreee of the United Nations, through military tribunals sach aa the one provided for the Nasi saboteur* who landed on our shores aeversl yeara ago...
...that outside the courthouse crowds milled about...
...that armed guards kept order...
...The surviving Jews of Warsaw, of Cracow, of Tarnow, of Lodz ami Lwow are entitled to sit in judgment over those who sent their nearest and dearest to the concentration camp, the gas chamber, the extermination points, there to give up the ghost amidst unspeakable torture...
...Margoshes would set up court in the very heart of the Warsaw ghetto...
...s special court would need to be created...
...It will mean preservaiion of our halls of justice snd of our concepts of justice and due process, w i 'tout which life would not be worth living...
...I would conduct the trial with marked fairness to the accused...
...A conviction procured from a court or jury so constituted would be set aside by an appellate court instantly...
...And the trial would tie public, with the press especially invited to witness the proceedings...
...The editor of The Jewish Day and...
...but what seems to be desired is the mere appearance, not the reality...
...It must be bom* h mind that the war criminal*, or, rather, personi accused ef war crimes, will Be tried after peace is declared...
...Similarly, in sny civilized country, when it is shown that the community is aroused over the commission of the crime snd is crying for vengeance,' so that the atmosphere is extremely tense, the eourt that has jurisdiction over the csuse will order a change of venue, that is, will order that the defendant be taken into another designated part of the state,-where there is assurance that a fair trial will be afforded the accused...
...In any civilized community, no person who is related to the victim is permitted to sit as judge or juryman in the trial of the accused...
...The Poles cannot lie expected to handle the cases of anti-Jewish atrocities...
...A change in venue for such cause is frequently ordered, even in the South in cases involving Negroes accused of crimes that nave aroused the community in which they were alleged to have been committed...
...trials that will violate the fundamental prerepts of due process, will mean to miss a dramatic opportunity in tha history of humanity: it will mean wining anoiner page or nisiory in blood: a page that should be the first pajre of the history of a new epoch Written In Ink...
...War is an outlaw sphere which rejects all concept* of law...
...Under what law will the accused be tried...
...Even citizens of Switzerland or Sweden could not qualify to serve, for only, an amoral moron could honestly claim that he was not, in {he course of the war, for or against the Nazis and Fascists...
...My own thought is that it is absurd to speak of a fair civil trial for Nazis and Fascists accused of war crime...
...Yet here responsible persons urge that the war criminals he tried by courts and juries consisting of persons to whom the victims were "their nearest and dearest...
...Hi* far better to recognize the fact that war is the dirtiest and meaneat ef undertakings...
...Who can sit as an unprejudiced judge or juror in such a case...
...A court trial it not a mero substitute for a lynching...
...THE COMING DAY A Monthly Column By Milton R. Konvits The Trial of War Criminals IN anticipation of the day of victory, much thought is being given te the question how Nasi "and Fascist war criminals should be tried...
...If seems that, with bat rare exception, tha only concern is that no guilty person shall escape punishment Little, if any, concern is shown that a fair trial be assured to the accused, or that the innocent shall not be convicted...
...it it an institution of an entirely diffeicut order...
...Is killing by robots "permitted...
...The driving motive seems to be vengeance, rather than, righteousnes...
...No service is rendered humanity by in* sitting that war can be "clean," that there ia a belt below which one may not hit...
...The war criminals, said Dr...
...If I hsd my way, all cases of war crimes committed against Jews in Polsnd would lie tried before Jews of the locality where the crimes took place...
...it is not a matter of international law...
...But the problem remains: by what means can we determine who the criminals are ? How ran we determine who is guilty ? Recently Dr...
...An accused is entitled (o a public trial so that he may not be Star-Chambered to a conviction...
...Such tribunals are part of the machinery of war: their judgments are written in blood, not ink...
...At such a time to stage trials that will offer only the appearance, but not the reality, of fairness...
...In a rase before the United States Supreme Court some years sgo it was shown that the defendant wss tried in s court room thst ws* filled to capacity with people who appeared to be inimical to him...
...Margoshes and Dr...
Vol. 27 • August 1944 • No. 35
