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| a few people who know that the sessions of the Senate of the United
States of America are invariably opened with a short prayer (one minute
prayer), spoken by a clergyman. This prayer is published in the "Congressional
Record" together with the minutes of the Senate meeting. One of these prayers
by the Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall reads as follows: |
| |
"Shed the light of Thy Holy
Spirit within our minds and hearts, that all who sincerely seek the truth may
find it, and finding it may follow it, whatever the cost, knowing that it is
the truth that makes men free. Where we are wrong, make us willing to change,
and where we are right, make us easy to live
with." |
Under the Hitler regime, at the time when darkest night had spread
over Germany, when propaganda had usurped the place of truth, my client, Dr.
Carl Wurster, too, preached the gospel of truth to new trainees — when
they joined the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik at Ludwigshafen/Rhein. He
described truth as the basic prerequisite for the future activity of these
young people, and pointed out that everything in nature and also in the science
of chemistry was subject to the laws of truth, and that the laws of nature
would not be denied or perverted with impunity. All those who sincerely seek
this truth may find it, if they are filled with the spirit of which the prayer
speaks. This truth, which it is our duty in this trial to find, must, however,
be accompanied by justice. Truth makes men free; justice is the foundation
stone on which is built the communal life of an orderly human society. As
defense counsel, I shall, therefore, fight with the sword of truth to win for
my client, Dr. Wurster, the liberty which he expects from your sense of
justice.
Dr. Wurster is accused, together with the other defendants, of
being a war criminal. That is the simplest formula in which the indictment can
be expressed. But the prosecution never asked Dr. Wurster what he has to say to
those accusations, in spite of the fact that it had time and opportunity enough
for such questioning. He never had an opportunity of defending himself against
those who made these serious and positively defamatory attacks against him. He
was taken from the hospital at Ludwigshafen, the town where the Badische
Anilin- und Sodafabrik is situated, and first put into a prison hospital at
Nuernberg, and then into prison. But nobody knew what this man had to say to
these aspersions. The only statement he has made in this trial, so far, was not
addressed to the prosecution, but to this Court, and was somewhat formal in
nature. It consisted of two little words. When he was asked, whether he pleaded
guilty or not |
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