December 1, 1945

energy must be freed from mllitary trammels and kept out of

the hands of prlvate monopolles. Since the prlmary objectwe
of the May-Johnson blll is security, it IS a falr assumption
that the control commlssion it sets up would be domlnated
by the army. Further, the loglc of securlty would call for the
stlfllng of Independent sclentlfic mvestlgatlons and encourage
concentratlon of research In the more easily controlled laboratorles of the blg corporations, which always enjoy an inside
track to the Pentagon. The result would be that declsions on
thelndustrlal appllcatlon of dlscoverles In the atomic field
would be left largely 111 the hands of those whose interests
are often best served by the suppression or restrlctlon of Inventlons whlch threaten exlstlng captal values.

The conclusion is inescapable. Oak Ridge, Hanford, and

Los Alamos andtheknow-how
they mcorporateare the
frult of an investment of publlcfundsandmust
remain
publicproperty. The government need not monopollze the
preparatlonand utlllzatlon of fisslonable matenals,but it
should make sure that no one else does so, by contlnulng to
finance research and by undertaking whateveryardstlck
mdustrlal operatlons the results of that research ~ustify.

[Thrs 1s the lajt of a series of edztorzals O H certailz aspects

o f a~onzrcrotzf101w h ~ r h~ ~ be1 drscussed
1
at the conference
railed by T h e N a t ; 3 ~Assoczates at the Hotel A t o r in New
Y o i R oiz Decetub=r 1-3.1

BY PETER DE MENDELSSQHN
Nzhnberg, Notiember 21 ( b y cable)
HERE are two Nurnbergs in thlstown, enshrouded
In wmtry mlsts and drizzling ram: one, a!l but forgotten by the world, I S a stark, fearful reallty to the
citlzens, who gaze on I t wlthuncomprehendmg eyes; the
other, now in the worlds lmellght, means little or nothmg
to the people. There IS more than outward slgnlficance in
the fact that two miles separate the medlevalwalled city,
reduced to a heap of rubble by Allied alr attacks, from the
vast, rambling courthouse on the outskirts of the town,
where under the majestic flags of four vlctorlous powers the
Allled Mllltary Trlbunal nowhears an overwhelmlng array
of evldenceagalnsttwenty
Nazicrminals.Toonewho
vlsits both, their distance apart seems not onlyamatter of
r n k s but of centurles; the difference 1s that of two of the
worlds ages. Indeed, loohng down from the press gallery
on JullusStrelcher,square-jawed,short,bald-headed,
and
insignlficant, rescmbllng a suburban grocer, one finds I t
hard to believe that thls IS the man who only a short while
ago ruled thls town wlth a ridlng whip In hls hand and a
revolver m hls belt
and who reduced anclent and populous
Jewlsh communltles to a fewpltlful souls now cared for,
oddlyenough, by thefrlendly Dr. Nurnberger.Hereslde
by sldeare thebeginnlngandtheend
of the story. The
overcrowded tram cars whlchtake one from the old town
to the courthouse seem torumble purposelessly through a
strange,oppresswehlstorlcal
vacuum.
The old town lles qulet, as If I t had dled a hundred years
ago,seemlngly forgetful of its former splendor, no longer
caring what flattened it to ash and rubble. I have seen most
of the destroyed cltles of Germany, and Nurnberg is dlfferent
from all the others. I shall never forget my first view of it
as 1 wandered through Its abandoned rums on a cold, only
occasionally sunllt Sunday morning.Thlstown
breathed
history whde it Ilved, and I t stdl manages Heetlngly to suggest-in
an occaslonal wondrous flash-the
fact ofIts antlqnlty. It IS perhaps a callous thmgto say, but there IS
charm and even beauty in its ravaged face. Destroyed Ndm-

berg somehow Isnthldeous, llkeother bombed cities; one

doesnt assoclate Its death w t h the war. It looks like a
med~eval walledtown
razed by a glgantlc catastrophe, a
great fire or an earthquake.
Agalnst the lmmeajurable agonythey caused, the twenq
shabby men who slt on hard wooden .benches In the courthouse faclng the elght j u s t men of the trlbunal seem almost
out of proport~on. (They face also In the press gallery old
friends l d e Shlrer, Howard Smlth,LOUISLochner,
and
Fred Oechsner, whom GorlngandRibbentfop
recognized
wlth an uncomfortable look.) Clearly, they do not measure
up to the tremendous sqy-dicance of thetnal.One
cant
helpfeellngonewould
have llkedto see blgger menblgger in every sense--answer for the calamity which wlll
be unfolded by the evldence lald before the tribunal. These
are very llttlemen,andthat
IS perhapswhat makes their
consplracy the outrageous thlng it was.
Hltler, of course, ~ s n there.
t
Thosewho are there are a
ragged, spintless, motley crew of second-rate characters. The
llght, If ever I t shone In them, has certainly gcne out. What
was that light? Was It Hltler? Somethq undoubtedly held
the group together. What the trlal would have been like if
HltIer had been taken allve It IS dlfficult to imagine. I n trying
twenty of hls closest frlendsand assoclates IS the trtbunal
also trylng him' It doesnt seem so. H e seems far removed
from I t all. One cant help feeling that in a way the trlbunal
is trylng the bulb and not the Ilght, an empty cartridge and
not the exploslve that fired It. But the course of thetrial
may change that Imprewon. It may or may not place Hitler
finally In hlstory, reveal htm as he really was.
Looklngatthemnow
In theharshglare of big searchlight lamps suspended fromthe ceillng, one percelves not
even thedull reflectloll of hls dynamlsm in the faces of
these gray, tlred, u r m s p r e d men. On the first day, when
thelong lndlctrnent WJS read, they apparentlytookthlngs
rather caslly. Theychatted, smlled, exchanged superc~l~ous
and facetlous looks On the second day, mhlch began wlth
the tnbunals reJecllon of an absurd and mpertlnent mo-

570
tion offered by defense counsel andendedwith
Jacksons
hard-hitting, closely argued, and masterfully dellvered address,
thelr faces grew long and sermEs. Buteven In thelr Ilttleness they arenot a homogeneous group. Frlcksits In the
dock lrke a dismlssed school teacher, Funk suggests a traveling salesman fallenon hard times. Schacht IS clearly ina
class byhimself. He keeps a demonstratlvedistance from
the others, sitting stlffly ~n a corner as I f to andmte he is
there by mistake and If the court doesnt realae that, so
much the worse for the court.Papen andNeurath,whitehairedapd
bronzed, endsntlyconcave of themselves as
thegentlemen
of the
party;
Seyss-Inquart, looklng the
second-ratesuburban
lawyer thathe was, obviously Isnt
admitted to thelr select circle Doenltz and Raeder,the two
admirals, lookhke acouple of dischargedstreet-carconductors on the dole-one cmt belleve that these two mlserable tramps knew the first t h n g about naval strategy.
Rlbbentrop, Hess, and Goring slt together, both Rlbbentrop
and Goring apparently take a.frrendly Interest In the haggard, hollow-eyed erstwhile Deputy Fuhrer, who most of the
time has his arms crossed squlrely over his chest, as one remembers him slttlng m the front row of the big party rallies.
Hess makes the utterly lonely and God-forsaken lmpresslon of
a complete apher, but the prtson psychlatrlst says he is intelkgent, alert, and logical ~n conversatlon. Onewouldnt
be surprised suddenly to f i d he was dead and nobody had

The NATION
noticed it. The once flaskicg RLbbentrop has aged considerably, he looks frail, hls hair LS thin and gray; he has a loose
stooplng g u t whlch accentuates h ~ srundown appearance.
It is Gonng, In a strdnge light-gay umform wlth shlning
brass buttons that looks Lke a c m m u ~ s h e r coat,
s
who is the
star of the performance He h a s the stxs seat at the begintung of the front row, where he is c l e d y vislble from all
sdes-except when an American guardplants hlmself In
front of hlm and stares hrm intentty In the face; this does
notbother Gormg at all-he shres back Interestedly at the
soldlers unlform. He is composed, sure of hlmself, behaves
as if he were at home. Yet he is never superclllous or facetlous Ilke, for Instance, Frank, who 13 far and away the mpleasantest of thelot. G Q ~ Ufollows
I~
the proceedings Intently. To hlm the t r d obvmusiy i s n t a good proposltlon,
buthe seems determined t o see a h a t he can make of it
throqh clvhty, manners, and add! behavior. Judge Law.
rences sharp rebuff onthesecon~l day, whenhetried
to
read the statement Instead of answering gullty or not guilty,
did not upset him. If glven a chance, he will try again.
Wandering back to the duk, dead town at the close of
the sesslon, one stiIl finds I t hard to convmce oneself of the
reallty of thewhole affafr. Eut I t IS true. Twentylittle
wretches who mean nothing dnd terafy nobody are sithng
in the dock. This is ths h t m t d m e n t of a serial that has run
twelve years too long