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3. TWO AFFIDAVITS OF DEFENDANT
VON SCHNITZLER |
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[Statement from the judgment concerning the personal history,
positions and affiliations of defendant Georg von Schnitzler:
“Von Schnitzler, Georg: Born 28 October 1884, Cologne.
Lawyer. 1926-1945 member of Vorstand; 1926-1938 member of Working Committee;
1930-1945 member of Central Committee; 1929-1945 guest attendant of Technical
Committee; 1937-1945 chairman of Commercial Committee; 1930-1945 chief of
Dyestuffs Sales Combine; various periods between 1926 and 1945, member of other
Farben committees, etc.
“Member of Nazi Party; Captain of SA
('Sturmabteilung' of the Nazi Party) ; member of German Labor Front; member of
Nazi Automobile Association (part of the SA) ; Military Economy Leader; member
of Greater Advisory Council, Reich Group Industry; deputy chairman, Economic
Group Chemical Industry; vice president, Court of Arbitration, International
Chamber of Commerce; chairman, Council for Propaganda of German Economy;
chairman of Aufsichtsrat, Chemische Werke Aussig-Falkenau, Aussig,
Czechoslovakia; member of Aufsichtsrat, Francolor, Paris; officer or member of
Aufsichtsrat of other Farben affiliates in Spain and Italy.”]
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| The majority and concurring opinions on crimes against peace were of
diametrically opposed views with respect to the pretrial statements of
Defendant von Schnitzler in a number of respects. The majority opinion
stated: |
| |
"Von Schnitzler has been in
confinement since he was arrested on 7 May 1945. He was interrogated many times
during the course of his imprisonment. His utterances, some of great length,
appear in forty-five written statements, affidavits and interrogations, a
number of which have been introduced in evidence. His counsel sought to have
all of these statements stricken upon the ground that they were given under
threats, duress, and coercion. He claimed that his client had been mistreated,
insulted, and humiliated while in prison, and that this treatment resulted in
his mental confusion to the extent that he eagerly cooperated with the
interrogators in the hope of better treatment and with considerable disregard
in many instances for actual facts. We do not think that the showing discloses
such duress as would warrant us in excluding this evidence upon the ground that
the statements were involuntary, although the circumstances under which they
were given undoubtedly greatly depreciate their probative value. The statements
themselves disclose that von Schnitzler was seriously disturbed and no doubt
somewhat mentally confused by the calamities that had befallen Germany, his
firm of Farben, and himself personally. He was extremely voluble. He talked and
gave statements in writing to his interrogators with seeming eagerness and in
such detail as to both facts and conclusions, that we regard selected passages
that contain |
1498 |
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