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VI. DESTRUCTION OF DOCUMENTS |
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A. Introduction |
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Tons of documents of the Farben Konzern were destroyed by Farben
officials shortly before the Allied occupation of Germany in 1945. Officials of
the Farben Konzern testified that this was done upon orders of the
counterintelligence officers of the German Army and the German Police. This
section contains an affidavit on the destruction of documents by Karl von
Heider, an official of Farben and a counterintelligence officer at Farben's
central headquarters in Frankfurt, followed by the examination and
cross-examination of von Heider on this matter (subsec. B). The last selection
reproduced here is an affidavit of Dr. Struss, Chief of the Technical Committee
of Farben's Vorstand (subsec. C). Although Struss was called for oral
examination several times, he was not examined further about the destruction of
documents. Judge Hebert, in his concurring opinion on the dismissal of the
charges of aggressive war as to all defendants, stated in his opinion that the
destruction of documents may have been the decisive factor in the prosecution's
failure to establish criminal knowledge of plans for aggressive war beyond a
reasonable doubt (sec. XIV, vol. VIII, this series). |
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B. Affidavit and Testimony of Dr. von Heider, Farben Official
and Counterintelligence Officer |
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I. AFFIDAVIT OF DR. KARL VON HEIDER |
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TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NI-9126 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT
661 |
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AFFIDAVIT OF DR. KARL VON HEIDER, 25 JULY 1947 |
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AFFIDAVIT |
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I, Karl von Heider, Frankfurt a/M., Grillparzerstr. 83, having been
warned that I shall be liable to punishment for making a false statement, state
herewith under oath, of my own free will and without coercion, the following:
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