. NMT04-T0410
Volume IV · Page 410
| life. I know that these men decided to do
their duty to a great extent because they realized that the defense against
bolshevism was the question — "to be or not to be" for their people, their
wives, and their children. I do not believe that anyone has the right to charge
these men with contempt for human life without having been in the same position
himself at some time, since these men, as soldiers could only choose between
obedience and the dishonorable death of a mutineer. There is neither time nor space here to discuss all the tasks which were given to us in the Einsatz, but I wish that the ones who accuse us today would have once had the opportunity to witness the joy of liberation of the ethnic groups oppressed until that time by bolshevism and to see the Einsatzgruppen looking after the cultural interests of such ethnic groups and other peaceful tasks. The prosecution has presented against me as sole incriminating material my own statements in the preliminary proceedings in the form of affidavits. I did not at any time keep anything secret about my activity from the first day of my captivity, since I was and still am of the opinion that I can be justly judged only if I give a clear picture of myself to the persons who are to pass judgment on me. I did not give any cause to the prosecution to make any further charges against me beyond my truthful and exhaustive statements. I especially request the Tribunal not to judge the happenings of that time from the perspective of the present time, with the knowledge of connections gained in the meantime, but to imagine themselves in the area and in the situation into which we were placed at that time. Then it will become clear to the Tribunal that we did our duty not in contempt of human life, but in constant struggle between duty and personal feelings. Then I have the hope that the Tribunal will arrive at a just verdict. |
| GRAF |
| Mr. President, Your Honors, it was not my
wish that led me to join the SD in 1940. It was fate that I was ordered to the
East. In exactly the same way it was fate that I am the only one of
approximately 5,000 noncommissioned officers and men in the Einsatzgruppen who
came to this defendant's dock. Surely, however, it was a benevolent destiny which did not involve me in the things which have been the object of the indictment here. I have confidence that a similarly benevolent destiny will restore my honor and my freedom to me, thanks to the objective and righteous judges. |
