. NMT04-T0472
Volume IV · Page 472
[sub...] ordinate shall be punished as accomplice (1) if he went beyond the order given to him, or (2) if he knew that the order of the superior concerned an act which aimed at a civil or military crime or offense." |
| This law was never changed, except to broaden its scope by changing the word "civil" to "general", and as late as 1940 one of the leading commentators of the Nazi period, Professor Schwinge wrote — |
"Hence, in military life, just as in other fields, the principle of absolute, i.e., blind obedience, does not exist." |
| Yet, one of the most generally quoted
statements on this subject is that a German soldier must obey orders though the
heavens fall. The statement has become legendary. The facts prove that it is a
myth. When defendant Seibert was on the stand, his attorney asked him — |
"Witness, do you remember a proverb said by a German Kaiser concerning the carrying out of orders by soldiers?" |
| And the defendant replied — |
"I do not know whether it was William I or William II, but certainly one Kaiser emperor used the expression, ‘If the military situation or the entire situation makes it necessary a soldier has to carry out an order, even if he has to shoot his own parents’." |
| The defendant was then asked whether, in the event he received such an order, he would execute it. To the surprise of everybody he replied that he did not know. He declined to answer until he should have time to consider the problem. The Tribunal allowed him until the next morning to deliberate, and then the following ensued: |
"Q. Now, if in accordance with this declaration by the Chief of State of the German empire at the time, the military situation made it necessary for you — after receiving an order — to shoot your own parents, would you do so? |
