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U.S. Prosecutor Links Alfred Rosenberg with Mass-killing of Jews in Europe

April 18, 1946
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Alfred Rosenberg, the chief exponent of the Nazi racial theories, today again denied before the International Military Tribunal, that he knew of or participated in the extermination of millions of Jews in Europe.

When U.S. Prosecutor John H. Amen confronted him with documents proving that a advocated extermination of European Jewry, Rosenberg attempted to enter into a debate as to whether the German word “ausrotten,” used by him in several of his addresses, meant extermination.

Amen submitted to the court several documents prepared by Rosenberg and his subordinates when he was “Reichscomissaf for the East,” indicating that they pursued a methodical policy of wiping out all Jews in the territory under his rule, regardless, the one document said, “of the effect upon the general economy.”

Turning to Rosenberg, who continued to deny his responsibility for anti-Jewish atrocities, Amen said in conclusion: “Do you know that (Rudolph) Hoess who murdered 2,500,000 people, mostly Jews, was a reader of your books?” On Monday, Rosenberg had insisted that he was only the Nazi Party philosopher and had steered clear of participation in material things.

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