 |
be ashamed. But, thanks to the
statesmen and the lawyers, a public yearning for revenge was converted into a
real demonstration of the majesty of right and the power of
law." |
Today, the danger of passion and prejudice trying to dim the eyes of
the judge in his search for truth and justice is greater still. Things too
horrible have been done! Too much has human dignity been insulted. The natural
and justifiable outcry of human dignity insulted, however, is joined by its
ugly companions, such as the voice of the calumniator who tries to stir up the
troubled waters of passion for his own advantage; of the man incriminated
politically, criminally, or morally, who tries to shift his guilt to the
shoulders of others and is on the lookout for scapegoats; of the political
opportunist who is not concerned with truth and justice, nor with the welfare
of humanity, or of his own country, but who is only concerned with his
political objective, no matter by what means he thinks he can attain it —
even if those means do violence to one of the most valued protected interests
of his fellow-men; namely, their honor. These ugly companions are further
joined by one of the strongest and most dangerous powers, i.e., prejudice. All
these powers inimical to the light of truth, are sources of public opinion,
which is not only not infallible, but, in a given case, may be a very dangerous
and ruthless dictator. This dictator can not only destroy the independent
administration of justice but, as we have learned, whole democracies.
Democratic Germany of the Weimar Republic was destroyed by the ballot of an
electoral system that was democratic to the core — for up to 30 January
1933, elections were undoubtedly free. Misguided public opinion is thus a
sinister dictator, and it is one of the noblest and most important tasks of
independent justice, also from the point of view of national policy, to stop
this poisoning of wells in order to find the straight path of truth which leads
to justice.
Your Honors, you have been called upon to pronounce
judgment in the greatest economic trial of all times, and that at a time when
the picture of the defendants' characters is distorted by biased feelings of
love or hatred. The prayer is offered from the bottom of our hearts that Heaven
may bless your verdict.
I appear in this trial of the members of the
Farben Vorstand for their primus inter pares, the chairman of the Farben
Vorstand, Schmitz.
As the previous speaker has announced, defense
counsel have split the defense material into a number of different
subject-matters, each to be presented by a special counsel, without however,
depriving any individual counsel of his right to add, as his duty |
217 |
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