limit the number of witnesses to be called, in order to have an expeditious hearing, inaccordance with Article 18 (c) of the Charter. The Tribunal, after examination,GRANTED all those applications which in its opinion were relevant to the defence of anydefendant or named group or organization, and were not cumulative. Facilities wereprovided for obtaining those witnesses and documents granted, through the office ofthe General Secretary established by the Tribunal.Much of the evidence presented to the Tribunal on behalf of the prosecution wasdocumentary evidence, captured by the Allied armies in German Army headquarters,Government buildings, and elsewhere. Some of the documents were found in saltmines, buried in the ground, hidden behind false walls and in other places thought tobe secure from discovery. The case, therefore, against the defendants rests in alarge measure on documents of their own making, the authenticity of which has notbeen challenged except in one or two cases.THE CHARTER PROVISIONSThe individual defendants are indicted under Article 6 of the Charter, which is asfollows:{413}"Article 6. The Tribunal established by the Agreement referred to in Article 1 hereof for the trialand punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries shall have thepower to try and punish persons who, acting in the interests of the European Axis countries,whether as individuals or as members of organizations, committed any of the following crimes:The following acts, or any of them, are crimes COMING within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal forwhich there shall be individual responsibility:(a) Crimes Against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war ofaggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, orparticipation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing:(b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include,but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labour or for any otherpurpose of civilian population of or in OCCUPIED territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners ofwar or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wantondestruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity:(c) Crimes Against Humanity: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, andother inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war, orpersecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with anycrime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law ofthe country where perpetrated.Leaders, organizers, instigators and accomplices participating in the formulation or executionof a common plan or conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for allacts performed by any persons in execution of such plan."These provisions are binding upon the Tribunal as the law to be applied to the case.The Tribunal will later discuss them in more detail; but, before doing so, it isnecessary to review the facts. For the purpose of showing the background of theaggressive war and war crimes charged in the Indictment, the Tribunal will begin byreviewing some of the events that followed the First World War, and in particular, bytracing the growth of the Nazi Party under Hitler's leadership to a position of supremeExplanation: