. NMT05-T1018
Volume V · Page 1018
| [respon…] sibilities assumed by him, the connections and influence that he had with other Amtsgruppen, and the knowledge that he had, if any, as to the activities and duties of the other Amtsgruppen, was furnished solely by the defendant himself and other defendants, who testified in corroboration of the defendant. Therefore, the Tribunal finds the defendant Rudolf Scheide not guilty of the charges contained in counts two and three of the indictment. |
| COUNT FOUR |
| The defendant admits that he joined the NSDAP in 1928, and that he was a member of the SS from 1930 until the end of the war. In regard to membership in certain organizations declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal, the following was said: |
"A criminal organization is analogous to a criminal conspiracy in that the essence of both is cooperation for criminal purposes. There must be a group bound together and organized for a common purpose. The group must be formed or used in connection with the 'commission of crimes denounced by the Charter. Since the declaration with respect to the organizations and groups will, as has been pointed out, fix the criminality of its members, that definition should exclude persons who had no knowledge of the criminal purposes or acts of the organization and those who were drafted by the State for membership, unless they were personally implicated in the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the Charter as members of the organization. Membership alone is not enough to come within the scope of these declarations." |
| The defendant admits membership in the SS, an
organization declared to be criminal by the judgment of the International
Military Tribunal, but the prosecution has offered no evidence that the
defendant had knowledge of the criminal activities of the SS, or that he
remained in said organization after September 1939 with such knowledge, or that
he engaged in criminal activities while a member of such organization.
Therefore, the Tribunal finds and adjudges that the defendant Rudolf Scheide is not guilty as charged in count four of the indictment, and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when this Tribunal presently adjourns. |
| MAX KIEFER |
| The defendant Max Kiefer was born on 15 September 1889, in Kempen on the Lower Rhine. He graduated from public schools in 1909. Thereafter, he studied architecture at Munich and Aachen. |
