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[re...] sistance, when he described these conditions to Pohl as
“a disgrace to our culture” and demanded that the situation be
remedied. He is one of the few who could prove that he investigated the rumors
about disgraceful treatment of concentration camp inmates and atrocities in
concentration camps; he cannot be blamed if the result was negative; this was
due to the general situation, about which I refer to Dr. Muench’s
testimony. And finally, we have proved how, at the end of the war, Dr. Krauch,
also in the face of personal danger, acted against the orders which aimed at
destroying the last semblance of civilization which had already been seriously
shaken by the war.68 The picture is clear,
the line is drawn; are there any doubts left, Your Honors?
Now then, let
me testify on behalf of Dr. Krauch. I stand up for him; he is no war criminal;
he is not a man who approved of the concentration camp atrocities, no
narrow-minded Party man, not a man who participated in the slave-labor program;
but a man who remained faithful to his career as a scientist and to his
obligation toward true humanitarianism. Believe me, when for an entire year you
are together with a man almost day-in day-out, you learn to distinguish between
the things that are genuine and others which are but a pretense; between the
true and the false, the inner value and the facade. For me, nothing did more to
clarify the situation than the statement by the president of Standard Oil,
Haslam, already quoted, who at a time when a flood of hatred and insinuations
was being hurled against I. G. Farben, had the courage to pay tribute to the
high standard of business ethics of I. G. Farben, and who in this connection
singled out particularly the name of Dr. Krauch. Contrary to the German custom
in the procedure governing criminal trials, the prosecution upon an instruction
by the Tribunal will speak after the defense. Therefore, I cannot foresee in
what tone the prosecution will deliver its plea. Regardless of the way in which
it will compile it, regardless of the form in which it will present it, I have
desisted from indulging in any generalizations, or exaggerations, such as the
prosecution chose in its opening statement, its Trial Brief, and other
occasional statements. I was thereby mindful of the words which the President
of this Tribunal so often used in this courtroom: “Come to the point in
your questions. Ask simple questions.” And thus I have tried, in line with
Dr. Krauch’s and my own nature, to handle and describe things in a direct
and simple manner. Behind this simple formulation, however, is concealed an
ardent endeavor and a struggle with this overwhelming material which the
prosecution caused us to arrange and to explain. It was necessary to present it
along plain, practicable lines in order to make it easier for the
High |
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68
TZ 9c.
934 |
. 
