 |
| [pris…] oners of war, and concentration camp inmates, because it
may be seen from it that this forthright disapproval of State orders was just
as unavailing as it had been in the case of his codefendants and of other
leading men of German industry. |
| |
| FOUR |
| |
| As regard to count four of the indictment, I may refer to the legal
arguments already submitted to the Court by the defense and on which we shall
elaborate, if necessary. |
| |
| FIVE |
| |
The prosecution introduced my client in the trial under the name by
which he had become known abroad even more than at home “Cannon
Mueller.”
The prosecution has stated in its opening statement that
it was not at all the question of prosecuting the firm of Krupp as such, nor
the profession of the armorer. If the Court holds the same opinion, and I am
convinced they do, then my client and myself are not afraid of the verdict.
|
| |
| F. Opening Statement for the Defendant
Janssen* |
| |
| DR. SCHILF: Your Honors. On 10 September 1945, Dr. Friedrich Janssen
was arrested in his office in Essen by British police, upon the orders of an
American agency. On 21 December 1946, he was released by British authorities,
but at the end of January 1947 he was rearrested at the hospital in Essen, and
on 19 February 1947, he was taken by American agents to the court prison of
Nuernberg. Before that date he had been interrogated once by American and once
by English officials. In Nuernberg he was interrogated about forty times. The
indictment was handed to him on 18 August 1947. That was the first time when,
almost 2 years after his arrest, he had an opportunity of speaking to his
defense counsel. Until the time when the indictment was served upon him my
client, Dr. Janssen, did not know at all whether charges would be brought
against him and why he was deprived of his liberty. The indictment was
unsubstantiated as far as my client is concerned. Preparations for his defense
were therefore a practical impossibility between August 1947, and the time the
prosecution presented his case. On 8 December 1947 which means 2 years and 3
months after his arrest Dr. Janssen for the first time faced a judge, namely
this Tribunal. |
__________
* Opening statement is
recorded in mimeographed transcript, 22 March 1943, pp. 4761 4774.
164 |
. 
