(a) The Secretariat of the Tribunal shall be composed of a General Secretary, four Secretaries and their Assistants. The Tribunal shall appoint the General Secretary and each Member shall appoint one Secretary. The General Secretary shall appoint such clerks, interpreters, stenographers, ushers, and all such other persons as may be authorized by the Tribunal and each Secretary may appoint such assistants as may be authorized by the Member of the Tribunal by whom he was appointed.
(b) The General Secretary, in consultation with the Secretaries, shall organize and direct the work of the Secretariat, subject to the approval of the Tribunal in the event of a disagreement by any Secretary.
(c) The Secretariat shall receive all documents addressed to the Tribunal, maintain the records of the Tribunal, provide necessary clerical services to the Tribunal and its Members, and perform such other duties as may be designated by the Tribunal.
(d) Communications addressed to the Tribunal shall be delivered to the General Secretary.
Rule 9. Record, Exhibits, and Documents.
(a) A stenographic record shall be maintained of all oral proceedings. Exhibits will be suitably identified and marked with consecutive numbers. All exhibits and transcripts of the proceedings and all documents lodged with and produced to the Tribunal will be filed with the General Secretary of the Tribunal and will constitute part of the Record.
(b) The term “official documents” as used in Article 25 of the Charter includes the Indictment, rules, written motions, orders that are reduced to writing, findings, and judgments of the Tribunal. These shall be in the English, French, Russian, and German languages. Documentary evidence or exhibits may be received in the language of the document, but a translation thereof into German shall be made available to the defendants.
(c) All exhibits and transcripts of proceedings, all documents lodged with and produced to the Tribunal and all official acts and documents of the Tribunal may be certified by the General Secretary of the Tribunal to any Government or to any other tribunal or wherever it is appropriate that copies of such documents or representations as to such acts should be supplied upon a proper request.
Rule 10. Withdrawal of Exhibits and Documents.
In cases where original documents are submitted by the Prosecution or the Defense as evidence, and upon a showing (a) that because of historical interest or for any other reason one of the Governments signatory to the Four Power Agreement of 8 August 1945, or any other Government having received the consent of said four signatory Powers, desires to withdraw from the records of the Tribunal and preserve any particular original documents and (b) that no substantial injustice will result, the Tribunal shall permit photostatic copies of said original documents, certified by the General Secretary of the Tribunal, to be substituted for the originals in the records of the Court and shall deliver said original documents to the applicants.
Rule 11. Effective Date and Powers of Amendment and Addition.
These Rules shall take effect upon their approval by the Tribunal. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the Tribunal from, at any time, in the interest of fair and expeditious trials, departing from, amending, or adding to these Rules, either by general rules or special orders for particular cases, in such form and upon such notice as may appear just to the Tribunal.
MINUTES OF THE OPENING SESSION
OF THE TRIBUNAL, AT BERLIN, 18 OCTOBER 1945
GENERAL NIKITCHENKO, President12
Present: All of the Members of the Tribunal and their Alternates.
The International Military Tribunal held its first public session in Berlin, as required by Article 22 of the Charter, in the Grand Conference Room of the Allied Control Authority Building at 10:30 a.m.
The President, General Nikitchenko, said:
“In pursuance of the Agreement by the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United States of America, and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the prosecution and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis dated at London, 8 August 1945, and of Article 22 of the Charter annexed thereto constituting this International Military Tribunal, this meeting is held at Berlin for the reception of the Indictment under the Agreement and Charter.”
This statement was translated orally in French, English, and German.
The Members of the Tribunal and their Alternates then made the following declaration, each in his own language:
“I solemnly declare that I will exercise all my powers and duties as a Member of the International Military Tribunal honorably, impartially, and conscientiously.”
The President then declared the session opened.
The Chief British Prosecutor, Mr. Shawcross, introduced in succession the Soviet Chief Prosecutor, General Rudenko; the French Deputy Chief Prosecutor, M. Dubost; and a representative of the American Prosecutor, Mr. Shea. Each on being introduced made a brief statement, which was translated orally into the other languages, and lodged a copy of the Indictment, in his own language, with the President of the Tribunal.
The President said:
“An Indictment has now been lodged with the Tribunal by the Committee of the Chief Prosecutors setting out the charges made against the following defendants:
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Robert Ley, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Walter Funk, Hjalmar Schacht, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Karl Dönitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Martin Bormann, Franz von Papen, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Albert Speer, Constantin von Neurath, and Hans Fritzsche.
“Copies of the Charter and of the Indictment and of its accompanying documents will be served upon the defendants in the German language immediately.
“Notices will also be served upon them in writing drawing their attention to Articles 16 and 23 of the Charter which provide that they may either conduct their own defense or be defended by any counsel professionally qualified to conduct cases before the courts of his own country or by any other person who may be specially authorized thereto by the Tribunal; and a special clerk of the Tribunal has been appointed to advise the defendants of their right and to take instructions from them personally as to their choice of counsel, and generally to see that their rights of defense are made known to them.
“If any defendant who desires to be represented by counsel is unable to secure the services of counsel the Tribunal will appoint counsel to defend him.
“The Tribunal has formulated Rules of Procedure, shortly to be published, relating to the production of witnesses and documents in order to see that the defendants have a fair trial with full opportunity to present their defense.
“The individual defendants in custody will be notified that they must be ready for Trial within 30 days after the service of the Indictment upon them. Promptly thereafter the Tribunal shall fix and announce the date of the Trial in Nuremberg to take place not less than 30 days after the service of the Indictment and the defendants shall be advised of such date as soon as it is fixed.
“It must be understood that the Tribunal which is directed by the Charter to secure an expeditious hearing of the issues raised by the charges will not permit any delay either in the preparation of the defense or of the Trial.
“Lord Justice Lawrence will preside at the Trial at Nuremberg.
“Notice