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Falkenau were in danger, due to their separation from the Prague
headquarters. This trustee held the title of "Kommissar." To doubt the legality
of these government measures was unreasonable for anybody living in Germany, a
state which was wont to encroach greatly on the economy. In this respect, the
defense will have additional material to supply as evidence in the course of
this trial. The same goes for the fact that German nationals offered their
services for such an office, in accordance with the regulations of their
country. This my client did.
I assert, furthermore, that my client
conducted his trusteeship in a manner not counter to the interests of the
proprietor. The prosecution has asserted certain facts which supposedly
disclose my client's incorrect conduct of business. The prosecution's evidence
respecting this has not yet been offered in full; therefore, I must decline to
discuss this point further right now.
My demonstrations purport to show
that things happened here which, at that time — looked at from an
historical point of view — did not represent an unjustified development;
that they, furthermore, were realized in a form not to be considered as
criminal in the meaning of the indictment. Hence, I may infer that, prima
facie, one can reproach no participant with being an accessory to a
criminal set of circumstances.
It only remains for me now to comment
briefly on the statements General Taylor made on 27 August 1947. He argued that
the IG completely ruined the economy of the occupied regions. I make the
assertion, and shall prove it, that in the Sudetenland, after annexation of
this territory by the German Reich, the Plants of Aussig and Falkenau in no way
suffered in respect to their assets and production; that no dismantling took
place in this territory; that, on the contrary, prosperity ensued. I do not
know if this remark of General Taylor also refers to the then not occupied
Czechoslovakia. In this connection, I am in a position to assert, and to
support this assertion by evidence, that, through the aid of the IG, the Verein
fuer Chemische and Metallurgische Produktion was enabled to enlarge its sphere
of action.
This, Your Honors, concludes the statement which I submit in
the interests of my client. |
377 |
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