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PRESIDING JUDGE SHAKE: You may complete your answer.
WITNESS
SCHNEIDER: The one document which was given to me is of 9 August 1941, a time
when I was not yet in Auschwitz. |
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| * * * * * * * * * * |
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| X. MEMBERSHIP IN THE SS — COUNT FOUR |
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| A. Introduction |
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Count four of the indictment charged three defendants, Schneider,
Buetefisch, and von der Heyde, with membership after 1 September 1939 in the
SS, an organization of the Nazi Party declared criminal by the judgment of the
International Military Tribunal. The indictment also declared under count
three, Slavery and Mass Murder, that “To insure the cooperation of the SS
in the furnishing of concentration-camp labor, Farben took steps to establish
friendly relationships with the SS.” In 1941, Farben made a contribution
to the SS, through the "Circle," of 100,000 reichsmarks and thereafter made
similar annual contributions to the SS. The defendant Buetefisch was a member
of the “Keppler Circle,” subsequently known as the “Friends of
Himmler” and “Freundeskreis” (Circle of Friends). (See par.
136.) Thus the charges of membership in the SS had a close relation both to the
Himmler Circle of Friends and to Farben's relation with the SS in connection
with the employment and treatment of concentration-camp inmates at
Farben’s plant in Auschwitz (see sec. IX).
None of the three
defendants charged under count four were found guilty under this count of the
indictment. The defense interposed two principles of defense to the SS
membership charges: that the three defendants were merely honorary or
sponsoring members of the SS; and that the defendants were not aware of the
criminal purposes and activities of the, SS. The general nature of the evidence
arid argumentation adduced in connection with these charges is shown below by
the following extracts from the final argumentation in the case: that part of
the final brief of the prosecution which dealt with defendant Buetefisch and
the charges under count four (2 below) the last part of the closing statement
on behalf of defendant Buetefisch which dealt with the same charges (3 below).
Because of space limitations it has not been feasible to reproduce in this
section selections from the evidence introduced by the opposing parties.
In the first industrialist trial, the Flick case, the defendant
Steinbrinck was charged with criminal membership in the SS and the defendants
Flick and Steinbrinck were charged with supporting the SS through membership in
the Himmler Circle of Friends. A considerable amount of the evidence from the
Flick case concerning these charges and the nature of the Himmler Circle of
Friends has been |
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