14 Dec.
45
apparently the real source of this discussion.
According to our legal system it 'is the duty of the Prosecution to
produce not only the incriminating evidence but also evidence for the
defense of the accused. I can well understand that my colleague, Dr.
Kauffmann, protests the Prosecution's failure to mention a very
important point, namely, that the German authorities indicted this
inhuman. SS leader and his wife and condemned them to death. It is
highly probable that the Prosecution knew of this and that these
horrible exhibits of perverted human nature, which were presented to us,
were found in the files of the German Court.
I believe the whale discussion would not have arisen if the Prosecution
had mentioned, as part of the ghastly evidence, the fact that the German
authorities themselves passed judgment on this inhuman man and condemned
him to death.
We find ourselves in difficulties because, in contrast to our own
procedure, the Prosecution for the most part simply presents
incriminating evidence but omits to present the exculpating evidence
which may form part of any document or part of the testimony of a
witness. If the German procedure had been followed in the present case
and if the Prosecution had stated that this man was condemned to death,
then in the first place, the evidence against the Defendant
Kaltenbrunner would not have appeared so weighty and secondly, public
opinion would, on the whole, have been left with a different impression.
My colleague Kauffmann could then have limited himself to proving at a
later stage of the Trial that Kaltenbrunner had, in fact, nothing at all
to do with this affair; and the inhuman character of the proceedings and
the dreadful impression which it made on us would have been avoided.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you explain the part of the German law to which you
were referring, where you say it is the duty of the Prosecution not only
to produce evidence for the Prosecution but also to produce evidence for
the Defense.
DR. BERGOLD: That is a general principle of German jurisprudence,
established in Paragraph 160 of the Reich Code of Penal Procedure. It is
one of the basic principles of law in Germany to . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Give me that reference again.
DR. BERGOLD: Paragraph 160. German law incorporates this principle in
order to enable an accused person to . . .
THE PRESIDENT: 160 of what?
DR. BERGOLD: Of the Reich Code of Penal Procedure. The same is true of
Austria. In the Austrian Code of Penal Procedure there is a similar
paragraph with which, however, I am not quite familiar. This principle
is established to permit the whole truth of a case to be brought to
light, since a defendant in custody is frequently