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Volume V · Page 1212
| statement that he was entirely
ignorant of the illegal and criminal deeds of WVHA. It was well established at
the trial that OSTI was listed under the heading staff W as one of its
activities. The functioning of staff W as described in the judgment herein on
Hohberg was equally as effective under Baier as it was under Hohberg who
preceded Baier as chief of staff W. Defense counsel says that Baier's participation in the Litzmannstadt affair reacts to his credit. The sad and tragic end of the Litzmannstadt operation is discussed in the case of Volk. There it will be seen how much credit either Volk or Baier is entitled to for the frightful treatment accorded the inmates of the Lodz ghetto. Defense counsel disclaims for his client any responsibility for obtaining barracks at the Auschwitz concentration camp for prisoners being used by Getwent G.m.b.H., by saying that Pohl ordered Baier "to requisition the huts in his name" from the commander of the camp. Here again we have Pohl being advanced as the universal scapegoat and here again it must be asserted that Baier was not a mere "messenger," as suggested by defense counsel, nor was he a mere lance corporal in the SS. He held high position and rank. With them went not only objective rewards and preferential treatment but also responsibility. That responsibility he has had to meet at this trial. After considering the briefs and arguments submitted by defense counsel in this proceeding and reviewing the entire record, the Tribunal finds no reason to disturb the judgment rendered on 3 November as to Baier, and accordingly confirms the judgment and sentence imposed. |
| HANS HOHBERG |
| Defense counsel has gone through the forced process of comparing statements in the judgment with assertions in the prosecution's briefs, as if a paraphrase or similar clause would in itself establish innocence of his client. As a matter of fact, this enumeration only emphasizes all the more the guilt of the defendant because in each instance where the judgment has been quoted, the record reveals the emphatic and conclusive evidence of Hohberg's culpability. We will take up the various sentences in the judgment which defense counsel has quoted and then immediately thereafter quote the record in authentication and substantiation of the Tribunal's finding: |
