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Volume VI · Page 1172
| upon Christian ideologies, namely to the words of St. Augustine, which I quote: | |
"What matter under whose government mortal man lives, as long as those who govern do not compel him to commit impious and iniquitous acts." |
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| The defendants lived in the Third Reich under a government which
forced those they governed to do impious and iniquitous acts. It was their
tragedy, but not their guilt, not even their tragic guilt. I therefore ask that the defendant Flick be declared not guilty. |
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| G. Rebuttal Statement of the Prosecution to the Closing Statements of the Defense* |
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| PRESIDING JUDGE SEARS: General Taylor, you have the attention of the
Court. GENERAL TAYLOR: Your Honors, I will not take the Court's attention for more than an hour — and probably about 45 minutes. Having read or heard the closing arguments for the defense, it seems to me clearer than ever that, as stated in the prosecution's closing, there are relatively few important issues of fact to be resolved in this case, and that for the most part we are confronted with pleas by way of confession and avoidance or demurrer. I do not at all mean to suggest that prosecution agrees with the statements of facts in the several closing statements for the defense. Once again we have heard it argued that Flick, Steinbrinck, and Kaletsch were really acting as attorneys or agents for the Petscheks; and once again it has been urged that the defendants were all appallingly ignorant of the most elementary factors in the labor situation at their plants. On such matters, we will rely on our briefs. It has become quite clear, we think, that other arguments than these constitute the main hope and reliance of the defendants. There is a well-known figure of speech in the English language about being led up the garden path. It is just such a path that we are invited to tread by the defense counsel; it winds back and forth through a pleasant grove of trees, and behind each tree that we approach waits a defense counsel with a ready answer to assuage our doubts, pointing the way to the next tree along the way. We set off down this path with some misgivings but many initial doubts are set at rest behind the very first tree, where Dr. Kranzbuehler awaits us with a series of highly in- […teresting] |
* Tr. pp. 10952-10970, 29 November 1947.
