. NMT05-T0168
Volume V · Page 168
| X. CONCURRING AND DISSENTING
OPINION BY JUDGE DANIEL T. O'CONNELL |
| Dissent by O'Connell, Judge,
Military Tribunal I from Such Part of Judgment as Fixes Periods of Imprisonment Applicable to the Defendants, Greifelt, Creutz, Lorenz, Brueckner, Hofmann, and Hildebrandt |
| With all findings of the Tribunal and
disposition of indictments as applicable to all defendants, I concur, except in
respect to sentences of imprisonment imposed upon the defendants Greifelt,
Creutz, Lorenz, Brueckner, Hofmann, and Hildebrandt. I dissent from the
majority of the Tribunal in the extent of terms of imprisonment as applicable
to the aforesaid defendants and for reasons hereinafter stated. It is my reasoned judgment, based upon nineteen years of judicial service, related in large measure to imposition of prison sentences, that in respect to each of the above-named defendants, the sentence imposed is too extreme in fixed duration of time when consideration is given to the character and scope of the duties each performed. Severity of sentence is erroneously believed by many to be a preventive of future crime by others. I do not subscribe to such a belief. These six defendants, associated with other defendants, some of whom have been found not guilty of the crimes alleged in counts one and two, were essentially employed in civilian capacities. Their duties related almost exclusively to direction, or aiding in direction, of bureaus subordinate to governmental control, springing from the power Himmler exercised as delegated by Hitler, and accompanied with all its ruthlessness as disclosed by the evidence before us. Their guilt is fixed by the findings heretofore set forth, is entwined with military mandates and superiority of direction. Grave difficulty exists in effecting separation of dominant governmental and military superiority of direction from civilian association and support. All governments engaging in war, of necessity, must have the aid of civilian bureaus operating under governmental direction, and functioning closely with the armed forces. It is difficult to draw a line fixing to what extent punishment can be inflicted upon those associated with civilian bureaus, also how far down the line of authority in the direction of bureau activities, responsibility is to be fixed in decreeing punishment and |
