 |
| been strictly maintained in the United States since their origin.
These maxims are: |
| |
"1. Any person accused of a crime
is to be considered at first as being
innocent"
and
"2. He will be considered as such until he can be proved guilty
beyond reasonable doubt."
|
In order to enable the Court to make an examination on the basis of
these principles, it is necessary that I explain the position and standing of
my client within the Vorstand of the IG. In connection with this, I shall show
the intention and purpose of the office Berlin NW 7, in which my client found
his sphere of activity.
When we examine the individual guilt, we cannot
take note of the defendant as a person without occupying ourselves in more
detail with him; that is, we must get a picture of what belonged within this
man's sphere of work, what was the intent of his work, and at what he aimed.
This picture will contrast most strikingly with the picture which the
prosecution has drawn of my client.
It is known to the defense that
during the war there appeared an inflammatory pamphlet in America, under the
title "The Horsemen of the Apocalypse of the I.G. Farben," which was directed
against the IG and its leading employees for transparent motives — we may
safely call them motives of competition. We believe that we can see in this
fact a source which influences the outlines of the picture - possibly
subconsciously — which the prosecution has drawn of the defendants in the
opening statement.
If I now point to my client as a person who is
supposed to have lent his hand in the planning, preparation, and waging of a
war of aggression, I cannot help but remind the Tribunal of the statements of
the prosecution witness, Dr. Kurt Krueger,* who spoke in a convincing manner
about my client, and I quote: "* * * that he (Dr. Ilgner) was blowing the
shepherd's reed of peace so loudly that in so doing he did not hear the blaring
of the trumpets of war." These words, however, aptly characterize my client's
personality with respect to count one of the indictment.
This man was
in charge of the office "Berlin NW 7," which, as I have already mentioned,
included among others, the "Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung" (VOWI). This
Volkswirtschaftliche |
__________
* Complete testimony of the
witness, Dr. Kurt Krueger, is reproduced in the mimeographed transcript for 28
and 29 October 1947 (pp. 2941-3029), 17 December 1941 (pp. 4693-4107). and 9
April 1948 (pp. 11131-11163).
320 |
. 
