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MR. SPRECHER: Mr. President, I personally have always heard and also
felt, from my very limited experience, that where cross-examination was
conducted, no matter how efficiently it might he conducted, that it was very
difficult to determine in advance how long it should last, particularly with a
witness whom you haven’t asked questions of in advance, or where the
witness is not friendly to you even if you have asked him questions beforehand.
It seems to me that it's very difficult for us to tell in advance how long it
will take; and I feel that your rule might be construed under certain
circumstances — and I don't think that is being unfair and I am certainly
not referring to this witness in case anyone should think I am making a
personal remark — might be construed as an invitation by some people to he
more evasive than would otherwise be the case. Consequently, how can the
prosecution know in advance that it would finish in 20 percent of the time?
PRESIDING JUDGE SHAKE: Perhaps that is a difficult matter, but
certainly no one ought to be in a better position to know how long a
cross-examination should continue than the party who is responsible for the
cross-examination.
MR. SPRECHER: I can quite agree, Your Honor, but I
don't think anyone short of God really knows in advance how long it should
continue
PRESIDING JUDGE SHAKE: Proceed with the trial. |
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Q. Mr. Witness, you stated in the affidavit, Document Duerrfeld
651, Duerrfeld Defense Exhibit 2,* that after the fencing in took place that
the beatings of the inmates by the Kapos ceased entirely. Now, is it your
testimony that all beatings of inmates ceased or that only beatings by the
Kapos ceased?
A. Personally I never saw that inmates were beaten by
anyone else but Kapos.
Q. Well, would you say that with respect to
beatings then, after the fence was built the inmates were better off than the
foreign workers?
A. That the inmates were better off than the foreign
workers?
Q. With respect to beatings.
A. That is possible to
that extent but this is logically too much of a hair-splitting argument.
because, actually, after the fencing was constructed in some, thank God, rare,
cases foreign workers were beaten on one occasion or the other. Such eases
happened, but if from this comparison one wants to conclude that these inmates
were better off than the foreign workers, well, that's up to you.
Q.
Mr. Witness, you state on top of page 6 of your affidavit — that's
Document 2 Duerrfeld — that the defendant Duerrfeld constantly opposed the
beating of prisoners by the SS and Kapos on the, building |
__________
* Not reproduced herein.
850 |
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