 |
undertaking was always of decisive importance for the outcome of the
war, and he was actually not in a position to oppose successfully the foreign
labor program. Mere criticism as such would probably have resulted in
destroying the livelihood of the person concerned and in [his] detention in a
concentration camp, which would have involved loss of freedom and perhaps even
loss of life. The judgment of the International Military Tribunal itself
confirms that, after the consolidation of power by the National Socialist
regime, all criticism was strictly prohibited, even as early as before the war,
and any free expression of opinion was absolutely out of the question.
Furthermore, a large plant would never have been able to fulfil its production
orders without the allocation of foreign labor, and its manager would, in such
case, have been convicted of sabotage and treason, in accordance with the
extremely severe regulations which I shall also submit to the Court. Yet this
would by no means have had any effect on the allocation of foreign labor.
On the other hand, not only would the livelihood of such a man and his
family have been destroyed, but, in accordance with the psychological laws of
dictatorships and their reaction to opposition, the lives of people near to him
would have been imperiled to the highest degree. Consequently, such opposition
on the part of a private business man which, at best, would have proved
useless, was not only in fact impossible, but, in accordance with the judgment
of the International Military Tribunal, could not have been justified from a
moral point of view.
Responsibility for a political program such as the
slave-labor program may, therefore, be placed only upon the political leaders,
as was done by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal. They alone,
even during a war, were in a position to obtain information about the legal and
factual aspects required for a decision on this question. For a private person,
this was made impossible by the strict control and strong influence over
sources of information exercised by law, terror, and propaganda in National
Socialist Germany. Hundreds of thousands of German industrialists and farmers,
therefore had no choice but to look after the foreign labor allocated to them,
to the best of their ability, within, and if possible, even beyond, the limits
permissible.
My colleagues and I will prove, during presentation of
evidence relating to the individual plants, that Dr. Schneider and the other
defendants, after having first (only very reluctantly) submitted to the
introduction of foreign workers, did all they could to improve the lot of the
foreigners, entrusted to them by law and the authorities, as much as possible.
I shall prove further that, in doing so, they only acted in conformity with the
spirit of out- […standing] |
265 |
. 
