Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was exposed as one of the major cogs in the German anti-Semitic propaganda machine abroad, as he opened his defense today before the International Military Tribunal.
The first witness introduced by Von Ribbentrop’s counsel was a former official of the Foreign Ministry named Straussmact who attempted to picture his one-time chief as an opponent of anti-Jewish measures. He wilted quickly, however, when on cross-examination British prosecutors confronted him with several documents linking Von Ribbentrop to anti-Jewish activities.
One was an order dated Oct, 28, 1944, in which Von Ribbentrop instructed German ambassadors abroad to consider the creation of anti-Jewish offices within their embassies, to bolster the anti-Semitic activities being conducted by the Nazis in those countries.
The second was an order sent by Von Ribbentrop to Nazi Ambassador Otto Abetz in Paris, instructing him to cooperate with the Gestapo in confiscating Jewish art treasures and other property.
The third exposed the cooperation between the Foreign Office and the Gestapo’s expert in extermination of Jews, Adolf Eichman, concerning the deportation of Rumanian Jews to Transnistria. The last, dated Oct. 12, 1943, was a ruling by Von Ribbentrop that Jews of foreign citizenship residing in countries under German occupation were to be shipped to concentration camps.
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