. NMT06-T0153
Volume VI · Page 153
| fear of reprisals. An unscrupulous hate
campaign against the "hyenas of monopolistic capitalism," paralyzes any attempt
in the eastern zone to support the defense. I beg the Tribunal to take these
abnormal circumstances into consideration if the evidence on this point should
not turn out to be as complete as might be desirable and possible if conditions
were normal. It may seem strange that the person of the accused does not appear until almost at the end of my statements. But in this, I only follow the methods of the prosecution which characterize this kind of trial. The prosecution has taken the greatest pains to prove, on the basis of documents, the decisive participation of the Berlin administrative office of the Konzern in the procurement of foreign labor, as well as the knowledge of the defendants who were active there, of abuses or criminal methods in the procurement, use, or treatment of foreign labor. Dr. Nath has undertaken to elaborate in greater detail the duties and responsibilities of the Berlin administrative office. My evidence on this count will therefore mainly confine itself to the question of knowledge of and participation in the problems of the foreign workers by the Berlin administrative office. I hope that this knowledge and participation will completely remove the charge of criminal complicity. Regarding the second count of the indictment, namely, the spoliation of occupied territories, I shall, on the basis of the work distribution, deal with two cases. The first is Rombach. Although I find it difficult to refute the evidence of the indictment, which I did not quite understand, I shall, however, endeavor to prove that the activity of the defendants had in no way anything to do with the traditional concepts of spoliation. Neither can there be any questions of exploitation, inasmuch as one sees in it an unsound, excessive strain. The Rombach blast furnace Plants have been returned to the French administration in a better condition, without doubt, than they were in when they were placed under the trusteeship of the Flick Konzern in 1941. In judging conditions of Dnepr Steel it is even more difficult to discern what should really constitute the criminal action of the defendants. The legal argumentation on this subject will belong to a later phase of the proceedings; but in point of view of fact it must be stated that the activity of the Dnepr Steel Company was not in the nature of exploitation, but on the contrary, a constructive one. In this, however, the defendants can be apportioned neither praise nor blame, for the Flick Konzern had to furnish the personnel for Dnepr Steel exclusively, but exercised no material influence on its management. This was the responsibility rather of the Berghuette Ost of which Mr. Pleiger was in charge. I shall prove, through introducing wit- [...nesses] |
