 |
entering with the troops found nothing objectionable, that the
foreign workers had no complaints to make to the Americans in reply to their
pressing questions, and that, in some works, the foreigners handed in letters
of thanks before their departure.
Before I conclude these statements, I
should like to draw the attention of the Court to the following point:
As I emphasized in the beginning, the Bitterfeld Works lies now in the
Zone of Germany occupied by the Soviet Union. It has become evident, not only
in my own defense presentation, but also in that of my colleagues, whose
clients were directors of works [now] in the Soviet Zone, that the obtaining of
defense material from this zone meets with extraordinary difficulties. It is
not only true that the witnesses concerned are afraid of getting into political
difficulties if they give their former works managers a truthful affidavit
concerning events of the war and prewar period — which fears, according to
experience, do not beset the witnesses in the Western Zones; but it is also a
fact that documentary material cannot (or only with the greatest difficulty and
to the most limited extent), be obtained from the works of the Eastern Zone,
which — like Bitterfeld — in every respect have become Soviet
government plants. I beg the High Tribunal, in the assessment of the evidence
of the defense, to take this point of view into consideration — and not to
let the defendants who directed plants in the Eastern Zone suffer for these
excessive difficulties in the procurement of evidence. |
| |
| R. Opening Statement for Defendant Ilgner* |
| |
DR. NATH (counsel for defendant Ilgner) : May it please the Court.
The prosecution has endeavored to prove to the Court that my client, Dr. Max
Ilgner, is allegedly guilty of count one of the indictment; namely the
planning, preparation, and waging of a war of aggression, because allegedly he
carried on espionage and propaganda activities in preparation of war, as head
of the IG office which was in Berlin and is known by the name of "Berlin NW 7."
In this connection, the prosecution names the Economic Research
Department (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung), the Political-Economic Policy
Department (Wirtschaftspolitische Abteilung) both of which functioned in the
office Berlin NW 7; it points to the IG liaison men [Verbindungsmaenner] who
were |
__________
* Tr. [pages 4866-4877 19
December 1947. The final statement of defendant Ilgner to the Tribunal appears
in section XI 8, volume VIII, this series.
318 |
. 
