IMT01-T134
VolumeVolume I — Page 134
TO THE MOTION ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANT
GUSTAV KRUPP VON BOHLEN
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND and THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
HERMANN WILHELM GORING, et al.,
Defendants.
IN BEHALF OF KRUPP VON BOHLEN
The United States respectfully opposes the application on behalf of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach that his trial be "deferred until he is again fit for trial."
If the Tribunal should grant this application the practical effect would be to quash all proceedings for all time, against Krupp von Bohlen.
It appears that Krupp should not be arrested and brought to the court room for trial. But the plea is that the Tribunal also excuse him from being tried in absentia. This form of trial admittedly is authorized by Article 12 of the Charter of the Tribunal. Of course trial in absentia in circumstance of the case is an unsatisfactory proceeding either for prosecution or for defense. But the request that Krupp von Bohlen be neither brought to court nor tried in his absence is based on the contention that the "interests of justice" require that he be thus excused from any form of trial. Public interests which transcend all private consideration require that Krupp von Bohlen shall not be dismissed unless some other representative of the Krupp armament and munitions interests be substituted. These public interests are as follows:
Four generations of the Krupp family have owned and operated the great armament and munitions plants which have been the chief source of Germany's war supplies. For over 130 years this family has been the focus the symbol and the beneficiary of the most sinister forces engaged in menacing the peace of Europe. During the period between the World Wars, the management of these enterprises was chiefly in Defendant Krupp von Bohlen
