 |
"Hostile criticism, indeed,
criticism of any kind, was forbidden, and the severest penalties were imposed
on those who indulged in it.
"Independent judgment based on freedom
of thought was rendered quite impossible."¹ |
In connection with the defense's case in chief I request the
Tribunal always to bear in mind the extraordinary dangers and the tremendous
power of the dictator who excluded freedom of action and freedom of will, and
thus I may conclude with the words of a Greek scholar, a contemporary of Plato:
"You either stay away from the company of the tyrant or you submit to him."
PRESIDING JUDGE SHAKE: The Tribunal is about to rise for its morning
recess. At the end of fifteen minutes the marshal will have the defendants in
the dock and counsel will be in their chairs. We shall rise. |
| |
| (Recess) |
| |
| F. Opening Statement for Defendant
Gajewski² |
| |
DR. ACHENBACH (counsel for defendant Gajewski): Achenbach for Dr.
Gajewski. May it please Your Honors: Before submitting to the Court my own
opinion about the alleged crimes with which the prosecution charges these
defendants, I want to pay tribute to the extraordinary amount of energy and
subtle intelligence spent by the very able representatives of the prosecution
on trying to prove that these defendants — most of whom are well known and
held in high esteem among leading business men, industrialists and scientists
the world over, and last but not least, in Your Honors’ own country —
are in reality sinister persons, worse somehow than Hitler himself. I dare say
that, in spite of all its ability and intelligence, the prosecution did not
succeed in this impossible task, and with Your Honors’ kind permission, I
do not want to conceal my doubts about the political wisdom of their decision
to try it.
There is an irresponsible way of pinning labels on people in
which one should not indulge if one wants to build up the reign of justice and
liberty we all long for, and for the support of which many of the best citizens
of this unhappy German nation still look, with fervent hope which must not be
deceived, to that great land of liberty beyond the Atlantic so admirably and
en- […thusiastically] |
__________
¹ .Trial of the
Major War Criminals, volume I, page 182.
² Tr. pages 4746-4759. 18
December 1947.
234 |
. 
