. NMT05-T0279
Volume V · Page 279
| Georg Loerner then you will enter the simple,
bourgeois, German atmosphere. Georg Loerner was nineteen years old when he
fought in the First World War. He was severely injured, and it took a few years
in order to learn how to walk again. He had a severe injury in the joint of his
knees. His father was a locksmith. The business, however, turned into a small
factory. That is the picture of his German life at that time, suddenly again
slowed down through the time after the war, the inflation. Georg Loerner and
his brother, Hans, were unable to carry on their business as a result of the
inflation and the deflation, and they became bankrupt. Then they had certain
bourgeois demands, and it was impossible for them to carry on in their
business, and there was one thing left for them: the SS — the SS which was
increasing its membership at that time, and which tried to obtain organizers in
its ranks. It used people who appeared reliable and efficient, and it tried to
get such people into its administrative organization in order to put them to a
good use. That is how Georg Loerner began, and he went along, and he grew along, and he rose along in the ever increasing Waffen SS, and finally an organizational genius like Pohl gave him a position and a future in the newly created WVHA as office head (Amtschef). We shall have to explain that a man like Loerner did not know anything about the things which took place within the inflationally built up structure of the WVHA, this main office which had been newly organized, and that he only knew of the things that happened to a very small extent. The organization which had been established was organized in such a way that no one could see further than the particular task he was assigned to. When we think quietly about all these things, we shall always think of the criminal concepts of Hitler's with horror. However, his organizational ability cannot be doubted. This art of organizing had its effects on the men who were working under him, of whom Pohl is one. We have to discuss a number of detailed points on the subject. My colleagues have already, for their individual clients, given a resume of the various 521 documents which have been submitted by the prosecution with reference to these defendants. Now, I, on my part also, want to make another statement. That is, I want to give an approximate idea of the monstrous amount of work which was being carried out within this giant complex of the WVHA. We would not only have to present the 21 volumes which we have here, but one thousand volumes in order to give an average of the working time there; we could see then, that the conditions which prevailed in the concentration camps could not come to the knowledge of an active office head |
