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Volume VI · Page 134
| question which also must be reserved for
discussion in the final plea. After having thus outlined my program, and having
stated my fundamental attitude towards the general allegations of the
indictment, I ask Your Honors’ permission to begin my presentation of
evidence. I believe that it will help the Tribunal in its legal findings and in
its search for the truth, if, right at the beginning, the entire facts are
presented to the Court by a witness who can give information about the whole
complex, and not just parts of it. The defendant Flick himself is the witness
to be called for that. Of course I realize that many tactical aspects of the
defense speak against calling the defendant to the witness stand as first
witness, if only for the reason that he will then no longer, or only in an
exceptional case, be in a position to express his point of view concerning
subsequent testimonies of witnesses. I however subordinate these tactical
considerations to the greater need of making it easy for the Tribunal to get at
the truth. Flick himself also has only this aim in mind, and no tactical
considerations. I therefore conclude my statements with the request that Your
Honors notify me whether, after the interval, I may call the defendant Flick as
first witness to the witness stand. PRESIDING JUDGE SEARS: The Tribunal will recess for 15 minutes, and after the recess, of course, Dr. Dix, you may call your client to the stand. |
| C. Opening Statement For The Defendant Steinbrinck* |
| DR. FLAECHSNER: May it please the Tribunal:
Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur achivi. In English this means "The
people have to suffer for the madness of their rulers." This definition could
also be applied as a motto for the present indictment. The men sitting here in
the prisoners’ dock do not belong to the group characterized by the poet
as kings or rulers. They have been indicted for acts which are essentially
connected with, or were even actually caused by measures taken by the State.
Defendants Flick and Steinbrinck especially have been charged by the
prosecution with having, by their acts, which the prosecution is now submitting
for judicial examination, made use of the State or collaborated with State
organizations. We shall show the Tribunal, which comes from a country which has kept the economic activity of its citizens free from intervention by the State, how conditions developed in Germany and how it comes about that the facts being dealt with here can be understood only in the light of this development. This will be shown by the following: |
* Transcript pages 3916-3936, 18 July 1947.
