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[oppor…] tunity nor the desire to bother about the politics of
the Third Reich. Besides this, it will show that he was known to be a foe of
any policy of war and violence. In spite of this, the authorities at that time
understandably wanted to make use of the outstanding knowledge of this man, and
made him a member of the Beirat of Reichsgruppe Industrie (Advisory Council of
Reich Group Industry). However, he did not engage in any active work in this
position nor in his position as Military Economy Leader
(Wehrwirtschaftsfuehrer). This title the Reich Ministry of Economics conferred
upon him, but not until the war, when it had become merely a title and required
no preliminary examination as to political reliability. His work in the
honorary offices, according to the record, and as will be proven in detail,
always and exclusively concerned the purely technical field.
If I
compare the counts of the indictment with the points of evidence of the
defense, I may, after the statements made by the speakers before me, completely
save myself any general remarks.
Director Jaehne did not take part in
the planning and waging of wars of aggression; in any case, no more so than did
some farmer who tilled his field and, during the war, contributed the products
of his labor to feeding the soldiers. Just as this farmer, my client only did
his duty as a citizen and nothing of a criminal nature.
Jaehne's
position as chief engineer of Farben naturally resulted also in his technical
advice being sought in the field of air-raid protection which mainly involved
the construction of air-raid shelters and, hence, purely technical matters.
However, it will be established that this was a measure of a plainly defensive
nature, which had long been taken into consideration in all endangered nations.
Beyond this, the defense will show that, in keeping with his entire character
(which was completely in favor of work of a peaceful nature), Jaehne slowed up,
economized, and opposed the demands of the Wehrmacht whenever he could.
As his position required, Director Jaehne also participated in
preliminary work for the employment plans of the Hoechst plant in case of
mobilization. It will be shown that this had nothing to do with a war of
aggression either, but kept within the bounds of the measures of national
defense customary in all countries. His activity was confined to providing the
engineering section with figures on projects and raw materials which would be
needed for the scheduled production of this branch of the plant.
Besides that, I shall prove that the Hoechst plant, like the plants of
the Works Combine Main River Valley, did not supply any actual armament
products. They were definitely geared to peacetime production. The investments
also were used accord- […ingly] |
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