. NMT06-T0133
Volume VI · Page 133
| in which the eastern state enterprises should be given special legal consideration from the point of view of the usufruct of the occupying power, Germany. |
| COUNT THREE — ARYANIZATION |
| I will undertake to prove the claim that the State was the responsible agent in the legal sense with regard to the Aryanization of the Hochofenwerk Luebeck, the Rawack-Gruenfeld A.G., and the possessions of the Julius and Ignaz Petschek families; that no action by the defendant Flick could have prevented this Aryanization from taking place; that his cooperation, like that of a lawyer, on the contrary, served to protect the rights and interests of the Petscheks, and that the economic results of this Aryanization process, which was unavoidable at that time, would have been incomparably worse if Flick had not intervened; and that it is particularly incorrect to say that a third party and others, especially the Wintershall-Gesellschaft or I.G. Farben, were in a position to bring about a better economic outcome for the Petscheks. This evidence, presuming it already presented, excludes the legal possibility of a criminally responsible guilt for want of a motive, and for want of the necessary causal connection. I will reserve for the final plea legal arguments concerning the question whether and to what extent Aryanizations may be in principle regarded as criminal acts. Formulating briefly the evidence thus anticipated, it would run — of course, with all the shortcomings of brevity — as follows: Flick was not the responsible person for the Aryanization of the Petschek concern, but an advocate representing their interests in this desperate economic situation. The fact that he hereby also tried to gain, at least in some respects, a personal economic advantage and that he also succeeded in doing so, is of no legal importance. The same thing happens in the case of lawyers as in the case of other professions, and justifiably so. |
| COUNT FOUR — CIRCLE OF FRIENDS |
| I am of the opinion that the defense could close the files on this count after Lindemann's interrogation.* It will however, as a matter of precaution, continue collecting evidence from witnesses and documents concerning the nature of this circle, the purpose of the contributions made, and the knowledge of the defendant Flick of the criminal actions committed by the SS, from evidence both by witnesses and through documents. How far membership in such a circle could at all be considered as a criminal fact is a legal |
* Extracts from Lindemann's testimony are reproduced below in section V D 4.
