Too many copies
Sir. Joan Bakewell (In the shadow of Nurem- berg', 18 November) appears greatly enam- oured of the legal precedent set 50 years ago. Yet a dispassionate reappraisal of that pro- cess would reveal much that was dishonest.
A foreign legal system was imposed on the vanquished, ex post facto laws were intro- duced and the defence of to quoque was only permitted in the case of Admiral Doenitz. Serious abuse of rules of evidence took place — a typical example being the finding that Germany intended to wage 'aggressive war', which was based on the 'Hossbach Protokoll'.
This document turned out to be a certi- fied photocopy of a microfilm copy of a re- typed 'certified true copy', prepared by an American, of a re-typed 'certified true copy', prepared by a German, of unauthen- ticated handwritten notes by Hossbach, written from memory five days after a dis- cussion led by Hitler on 5 November 1937. (Document 386-PS, International Military Tribunal vol XXV pp 402.413).
It was principally on the strength of this `evidence' that Hermann Goering was sen- tenced to death.
S.M. Goodson
4 Kilgetty Road, Rondebosch, South Africa
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