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Essen enterprise was sentenced to death by the People’s Court
and executed. In 1943, Dr. Loeser left the firm of Krupp.
In attempting
to prove my case I am confronted by not inconsiderable difficulties, because to
a large extent I have to establish internal facts and events. The classical
witnesses of this period from the civilian sector of the resistance movement,
such as Dr. Goerdeler or the former Prussian Minister of Finance, Popitz, or
the former mayor of Berlin, Dr. Elsass, the former attache in Rome, von
Hassell, and the trade union leaders Leuschner and Habermann — to name but
a few of the more important men — are no longer alive. They in common with
many others connected with the attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944, became
victims of the Gestapo and the People’s Court. Nevertheless I am confident
that I will be able to give the Tribunal a complete picture of the political
line pursued by Dr. Loeser. This will show how Dr. Loeser during the period
prior to, during, and after his activities with Krupp was an outstanding member
of the resistance movement. Therefore, he had been envisaged since 1938 as a
member of the Reich government which was to be formed after the removal of
Hitler and his system in order to set up once again a state founded on law in
Germany.
I do not believe that the prosecution can seriously argue that
this man is supposed to have utilized precisely the years 1938 to 1942-1943 for
the preparation of aggressive wars or to commit war crimes or crimes against
humanity.
This consideration forces the question to whether Dr. Loeser
should have been arraigned before the present military tribunal in the first
place. Article I of the Allied Control Council Law No. 10 points out that the
Moscow Declaration of 30 October 1943 “concerning the responsibility of
Hitler’s adherents for atrocities committed” and the London Treaty of
8 August 1945 are integral parts of the Allied Control Council Law No. 10.
As transpires from the title of the Moscow Declaration, the latter is
directed exclusively against Hitler’s supporters.
Supplementary
thereto the London agreement says “that those German officers and men as
well as members of the National Socialist German Labor Party were responsible
for brutalities and crimes or gave their consent to same should be returned * *
* in order to be tried.” Since the Moscow Declaration as well as the
London Treaty are inseparable from the Control Council Law No. 10, they have to
be applied to the limitation of the group of persons liable to prosecution
under Control Council Law No. 10. Dr. Loeser never was a supporter of Hitler
but on the contrary one of his most pronounced opponents. The injuries to his
health inflicted in the prisons of the Third Reich are eloquent proof of
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