. NMT05-T0784
Volume V · Page 784
| A. Yes. I was faced with the situation that the highest war lord and commander of the SS and the Wehrmacht, that is, Hitler and Reich Leader SS Heinrich Himmler, had disappeared in a, mysterious manner. After the surrender, we who were not guilty personally and who were not conspirators were faced by the startling fact that from one day to the next we had changed from members of an elite organization to members of a criminal organization. In order to have the possibility to clear up questions of guilt and innocence and to state the pure truth about that, I regarded it as my duty to jump into that gap, although I was not the deputy Reich Leader SS, in order by sacrificing my own person to give a comprehensive picture to the IMT, to establish legal evidence, and to help in finding out guilt and innocence in a manner which would be acceptable to history, the person of General Wolff is without any interest in this case; the principle, however, is important, which also appears in combat — if the man before you is killed, you jump into the gap. |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| Q. Then you didn't really intend to become
the alter ego of Himmler. You merely wanted to explain the SS organization as
you had lived it? A. Yes, and I was prepared, if necessary, to give my life for it, just as during the entire war. Q. Very well. Thank you very much. |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| EXTRACT FROM TESTIMONY OF
DEFENSE WITNESS BICKEL* |
| DIRECT EXAMINATION |
| * * * * * * * * * * |
| DR. FROESCHMANN (counsel for defendant
Mummenthey) Witness, I have now reached the end of my direct examination, but I
would like you to clarify one more point, for us. When you spoke about the SS
in your detailed statements, did you refer to the SS circles you were in
contact with, that is to say the circles in the concentration camp and whatever
goes along with it, or did you refer to the SS circles who were fighting in the
front lines as members of the Waffen SS and who sacrificed their lives for
their Fatherland? WITNESS BICKEL: Even these SS murderers who murdered my comrades and mistreated me also used the fulfillment of their duty as their basic motto. To what extent their duty in murdering and mistreating concentration camp inmates varied from what was |
* Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 31 July, 4 August 1947, pp. 5381-5512. For personal data of this witness, and further excerpts from his testimony, see pp. 459-475, 685-687, and 812-821.
