test the truthfulness of my statements because of my readiness in all ways which certainly has not occurred frequently in connection with investigating authorities. If the many men were interrogated, whose names Mr. Wartenberg read to me from a long list, then the result of the questioning can have been nothing other than that which I said myself, excluding the events, naturally, which took place within me. according to which 12,000 people have been shot under my responsible leadership of Einsatzkommando V. Each member of Einsatzkommando V who was there during my time can truthfully say nothing other than that such a charge is devoid of any basis. men have always been holy for me. Just as I am concerned to maintain the purity of my own honor, I consider also the honor of my fellowman, no matter who it was. And it was also not otherwise in Russia. At no time did I deviate capriciously or without feeling on the subject of the fate of human beings. witness - that never in my life at any place or at any time have I maltreated or tortured a human being. Neither have I ever participated in an order to this end, nor have I tolerated such an act silently. Had I discovered such an inhumane act within my area, I should have committed myself against it with all means at my disposal. That this is the case is proved also by the affidavits which have been submitted, which for the most part were made available most voluntarily by former political opponents. a conclusion which is not in harmony with my conception, I wish to try to attain understanding here, too. But that should not after the fact that I can answer to my conscience for that which I have done and permitted. This accounting to my conscience is, however, all that I should like to do myself.
wards humanity, because I carried within me personally the conviction that the respect of my Fatherland is dependent upon that respect which it deserved from its environment. I acted in my position on this promise. fidently await the decision of the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Six will now make his statement.
DEFENDANT FRANZ SIX: Your Honor, I was always a scholar but never a policeman. My life was honorable, whether at the desk of the university, or at the desk of an office, which I served understandingly, and not militarily. The four weeks of my assignment in the East did not constitute an exception to this. And I do not have to reproach myself in anything as a man and as a soldier than as today. Thus my first word in this trial can remain my last word, NOT GUILTY.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Blobel will now make his statement.
DEFENDANT PAUL BLOBEL: May it please the Tribunal, Contrary to the assertion of the Prosecution that I did not serve at the front and that my activity did not take place in the confusion of the front line, I would like to say once more in conclusion: My assignment was exclusively in the combat area and not in the rear area. In addition this assignment was the result of an order by the RsHA, which legally is to be considered equivalent to a war draft. Like every soldier I was subject to the harsh war laws. I too became enmeshed, by the assignment in the East, in conflict between law and morality, obedience and refusal to obey orders, harsh necessity of war, and personal feelings, a conflict which can hardly be retold today, and which can hardly be explained to the outsider. mass executions of Jews, Communists, and other enemies, since I personally lacked every prerequisite to bear the responsibility for such a decision.
bach as a final order. I expected certain executive orders. There were issued to me when I was subordinated to Sixth Army Headquarters.
Executions were not ordered by me personally. The executions which were carried out, at which I was present, were decided upon and ordered by the Commanding General of the Sixth Army, Fieldmarshall von Reichenau according to documentary statements. to my knowledge all events with which any man of Sonderkommando IV-A had to furnish a small group of men, as per order, is responsible for by far the greater part of this number. Whether any of these men took part in this execution is something of which I am not personally aware, since I did not actively participate in this operation. due to infectious diseases. Only relatively late did this condition lead to my being relieved, after the superior authorities finally had knowledge of the medical opinion about my reduced military fitness. operations connected with it, as can be seen from the hospital papers which have been submitted. orders given to me by von Reichenau, I did not commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, as the Prosecution states. I can face my wife and my children with a clear conscience, and I can look into their eyes. I am NOT GUILTY before God and my conscience.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Blume will make his statement.
THE DEFENDANT BLUME: May it please the Tribunal, my defense counsel in his final plea and myself when in the witness stand commented already on the actual questions of this trial and its legal problems. Therefore I only want to add a few words with regard to my personality. university acquainted me with the values of western culture. At the same time Germany was a sacred concept for me. After the conclusion of my studies and at the beginning of my professional career in 1933 it was the aim of my life to become an official in the internal state administration. But fate sent me to the branch of the political police. In all those years from 1933 until 1945 I saw nothing else in all the developments in Germany than the great effort to eliminate the moral threat through Bolshevism against our Western cultural values. According to my conviction of that time, this purpose was served by Adolf Hitler's policies, even when he in the middle of 1941 led Germany into the war against the Soviet Union. the inner values of man, and on the belief in ideals. I always tried to realize these ideals in my personal conduct of life as well as in my profession. This required in particular a correct and clean attitude as an official and the endeavor to serve justice and law in my professional activity. In those cases where my character could not agree with certain orders received in my activity, I tried up to the last limit to dominate with my own humane attitude. I therefore believe that during my entire professional activity, I helped incomparably more people without their knowing it, than I interfered in human destinies and made them suffer in the execution of the authority of the state.
All in all I feel myself free from any legal guilt. I therefore expect your judgment, Your Honors, with perfect calm and confidence.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Sandberger will make his statement.
THE DEFENDANT SANDBERGER: I do not want to make any statement.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Seibert will make his statement.
THE DEFENDANT SEIBERT: May it please the Tribunal, I do not wish to add to the statements of my defense counsel about the actions indicted here in this trial in Russia, because I am of the opinion that that which had to be said about it has already been said. I had requested my defense counsel not to make any lengthy statements about my character and my life otherwise. Above all the reason was that the Tribunal already knew my life even in brief outline because of my testimony on the witness stand, and that my activity in the SD, especially outside of Russia, always took place in the economic department. The documents of the prosecution prove this. SD I feel myself free, so free of every guilt according to the best of my knowledge, that I dare to claim that it is no coincidence that the prosecution did not succeed during the time of my detention, which is more than two and three -quarters years, to mention even one human being who has been harmed through my activity. that not only here but already in '45 and '46 I was interrogated about my activity longer than seven months in the headquarters of the British Secret Service in Nenndorf. After the completion of these interrogations in February 1946 I was charged with nothing but I was committed then to an internment camp for automatic arrest. I feel free of every guilt.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Steimle wall make this statement.
THE DEFENDANT STEIMLE: May it please the Tribunal, may I precide my final words with the story of an event which I experienced at the end of September or beginning of October '41 in Welich, the headquarters of my kommando, and which I related to Mr. Wartenberg during the interrogation?
by a partisan attack. The competent military field commander handed over to me a number of farmers from collective farms from a village which was located near the site of the attack. He asked me to have these Russians shot as hostages by my kommando. For this purpose I ordered an interrogation of the prisoners concerned. The invesgitation showed that these men could not be connected with the partisan attack. I therefore ordered their immediate release. received the indictment for participation in systematid genicide. As far as my situation is concerned, it seems to me to be especially symptomatic in this trial too, insofar as the interrogator at the time greeted my truthful story with sarcastic laughter and did not believe me. Whatever the Prosecution may bring up, the inner certainty of having the truth on my side induces me once more to present the following concerning the charges made against me:
1. At no time during my command, either in Kommando 7 a or in Kommando 4 a, did I give orders to carry out the Fuehrer Order, just as little as this Fuehrer Order was carried out in my two kommandos, to the best of my knowledge.
2. Numerous crimes against the security of the German troops which were punishable according to announcements, especially the appearance of partisans, gave my kommandos cause, by order of the competent army, to take action against the bearers of this resistance movement and also to carry out death sentences in the process.
3. These convictions resulted on the basis of detailed interrogations which proved the individual guilt of the individual defendants.
4. At no time did my kommandos carry out any collective measures during my command.
5. The Communist functionaries who are reported as having been shot were convicted as active leaders of the resistance movement.
The documents submitted by the Prosecution cannot brand me a criminal nor a war criminal. No witness who experienced my activity has supported this claim of the prosecution, even though the prosecution interrogated officers and men of my kommando in detail. into contact with the National Socialist movement once upon a time. I wanted to serve Germany, to help German people. The end of the war finds my generation facing an immense abyss. Where we dreamed of future well-being and peace, we found ruins and distress in their stead. No history-conscious man will claim that such an event is thinkable without human weakness and guilt. Likewise, every historically-minded man knows that it is impossible, after such an event, to distribute the guilt individually or even to charge all to one people alone. As a former SS officer and National Socialist I am prepared to take my guilt upon myself. It does not lie in a punishable act which I might have perhaps committed in Russia. If I am to express this sense of guilt only in an approximate manner I will say this: Hundreds of thousands have, together with me, placed their faith and idealism into the hands of a few people with too great a confidence and have thereby laid the foundation of one of the causes of our unfortunate time. Thus alone did I and many others become unmeshed in the guilt of our time. Surely their guilt is not a criminal one, but a political one. As an upright man I will answer for it.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will take its afternoon recess and reconvene in fifteen minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
THE PRESIDENT: In view of the fact that the microphone is not protable to the back row of the defendants' dock, each defendant, as his name is called, will please come to the center of the defendants' box and speak into the microphone standing there at that point.
ERNST BIBERSTEIN: Your Honors, I have nothing to add to the deliberation of my defense counsel. As to all charges of the Prosecution I do not feel guilty before God and my conscience.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Braune will come to the microphone.
WERNER BRAUNE: Mr. President, Your Honors: I have nothing to add to the final plea of my defense counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. The defendant Walter Haensch.
WALTER HAENSCH: Your Honors, when this trial started I pleaded not guilty. With this idea I begin my final words. At no time did I have any connections with war crimes or crimes against humanity, and equally am I unable to see anything criminal in my membership in the SD and, therefore, also in the SS. that I am here today. Documents have been found, which appear to speak against me. However, a benevolent fate made it possible to prove to Your Honors that I actually had nothing to do with the events reported in the documents. I underline here to its full extent what my defense counsel has said about this. I returned from there. I myself never did commit anything criminal, nor did I see others do so, nor did I ever hear of it. Also, nobody ever suspected me of committing a criminal act. What actually happened during this war in this respect - especially the treatment of the Jews on account of their race - I have learned, and of this I assure you again, only after the collapse of Germany, and the full details I heard only in this trial.
I did not know the so-called Fuehrer Order. One could, therefore, not ask me now to feel guilty about this which is something which does not correspond to the fact. I, therefore, do not want to deal with it at this point, but only want to say one thing - had such an order been given I myself would have left nothing unturned in order to fight against it, just in the same way as otherwise I always interfered against injustice and corruption without consideration of my person. met during this trial, to check on my assertions and ask whomever they wanted to about my person and activities because I did and have nothing to hide and, therefore, have nothing to fear. It was clear to me that only truth could wash the suspicion off me, which the false statements in the documents had cast on me. Therefore, I avoided everything which could have shaken the proof put forward in my defense in the remotest way, and I know that all those who have helped me in providing for my evidence or who testified for me, did the same. For this reason I even restricted to a minimum my personal correspondence with my family. This was in no way easy for me, worried as I was about my wife and my aged mother, both of them being almost without means of subsistance at the present time. point out that I only joined this organization in the belief to serve my people best in this way. This was my conviction when I swore fidelity to the Head of the State. This oath was no obligation to blind obedience as far as I was concerned, but left sufficient amplitude to my own responsibility. I related which events induced me to join the National Socialist Movement. It was the situation created in Germany by Bolshevism at that time. Everything I saw with my own eyes showed the development which could only end in chaotic destruction. To stem this danger I considered my duty, not only as a German, but also as a member of the entire civilized world.
I do not think that I made a mistake in the recognition of this danger. It is still my conviction to this very day. made me join the SD and the SS. I have nothing to add to this point. intention. My intention, however, was and is clean. Nobody can disturb the peace of my conscience. However, there is another thing, which ought to be defended. This is honor. It is exposed to outside attacks. Please do understand that I suffered a great deal and still suffer under the accusations of the Prosecution, because they charged me with a guilt, of which I feel myself free. As a man who at one time was privileged to serve justice I trust that you, Your Honors, will dispense justice to me, and will find me not guilty as my defense counsel has applied.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Nosske.
GUSTAV NOSSKE: Your Honors, I have declared since the very beginning that I was determined not to obey the Fuehrer Order. And indeed I did not carry it out. as during war time it is imperative in enemy country. On the other hand, the knowledge of this order prompted me to try with all means to sever my connection with the Gestapo. I have made many attempts in this direction, however, I failed. Only as late as 1944 I succeeded to leave the Gestapo. I refused to obey an order, which I could not evade, but should have carried out. The consequence of my leaving the Gestapo was that I was sent to the front as a soldier, and this could be considered as extreme leniency towards me. Just as well I could have been court-martialled and executed for disobedience. I did not have an easy time as a soldier but was assigned to those placed where fighting was hottest, which is proved by my combat wound. I ask you, Your Honors, to consider all these circumstances, and put my life in your hands.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Adolf Ott.
ADOLF OTT: Mr. President, Your Honors: Since 1945 singular and most secret conferences and decrees have come to our knowledge which we hever had access to before. I must confess that under the influence of these documents numerous conclusions seem at hand which, however, were never drawn by me as I have never had knowledge of the internal connections. Thus, the Fuehrer Order looks quite different if we look at it today as it did then in Russia where I did not have any idea of the happenings in the concentration camps and similar matters. In Russia I, as a soldier, was confronted with the task to do my utmost towards securing the army territory for the fighting units. I carried out this task as well and as conscientiously as I was able to do. I saw no unjust war, I had no ideas of liquidations, but the decisive matter for me was my duty as a German and a soldier within the struggle for life of my own people. I only came in contact with the Jewish population of the sector of our assignment so far as individual Jews were members of the partisan groups which we fought against. I never searched for Jews in order to have them shot. In accordance with this I used Sonderkommando 7 b only as a unit for fighting partisans and for the prevention of acts of sabotage but never for liquidation operations. Even partisan counter-intelligence tasks I have tried to comply with using aslenient means as possible. Therefore, from my own initiative and under great difficulties I set up an internment camp in the vicinity of Orel to which I had people brought whose offenses would have sufficed to have them shot according to the general laws of warfare then in force. But I thought I would be able to secure their lives and merely punished them with 6, 9 or 12 months confinement. By doing this I saved the lives of about 200 people.
I have never hunted for external honors. All my actions have been guided by reason and humane compassion. My assignment in Russia did not result in promotion; I received no decorations, no priority in subsequent employment.
I did not apply for my assignment in Russia appointed to the same post I had held before. assignment, especially my activity in Lorraine was not regarded as one enforcing and supporting a terror rule by the population. It is most clearly shown in the letter of the French mayor, who, on his own initiative, says that I would be welcomed by the population of this particular French area at any time.
My conduct in Russia was not different. Whenever and wherever I saw injustice done or unnecessary severity exercised I openly applied to the responsible agencies as Gauleitung, Regierungspraesidium, and Labor Exchange, or State Police in order not only to bring about exceptional treatment by deviating the normal channels but also to cause the suspension of any and all unjust measures; concerning this, evidence has been brought.
Apart from this, any agency of my former domiciles can be asked concerning my behavior and conduct, be it my hometown Lindau, be it Norway, Saarbruecken or Lorraine. Therefore I faced interrogacontained in the common indictment. Yesterday the Chief Prosecutor, Mr. Ferencz, has stated that he will not submit a Closing Brief against me. I have only one special request to make to the honorable judges that they may arrive at their decisions only according to the defendant's own personal conduct and their motives, and not according to points of collective guilt. It is just because I was an old member of the Party that I know that we never as much as thought of elimination as a solution of the racial question. This kind of solution was invented in the heads of a few leaders under the impression of war. And it was only carried out by few of them, based on order which have nothing to do with the Fuehrer Order which is the subject of this trial.
Even at the time when I was inspired by the idea of a new European Order under German leadership I never for a moment thought of violent methods, which would be considered a terror regime against other nations.
The war has caused many hardships. It also treated me with severity by taking my wife from me. She was shot down in the street of a locality which was not defended when the enemy marched in by an antitank gun through a well aimed shot, as she was just coming out of a shelter. In spite of this sorrow no bitter feeling has remained with me but only the wish that peoples may, in future, be saved from the horrors of war.
13 Feb 1948_A_MSD_22_1_Spears (Hildesheimer)
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Ott has made a statement with regard to trial brief. Does the prosecution intend to file a trial brief in his case?
MR. HOCHWALD: If the Tribunal please, the Tribunal is aware of the fact that Einsatzgruppe B was handled entirely by Mr. Ferenoz, however, I do think this is a mistake from the part of the defendant. As far as I know, trial briefs in all cases of all individual defendants are being filed and will be filed by the prosecution.
THE PRESIDENT: We wouldn't want any defendant or defense counsel to be of the impression that a trial brief is not being filed if one is to be filed. We will repeat what we said before. The trial briefs will be accepted up to and including next Friday, February 20, but will not be accepted after that, and we recommend that both defense counsel and prosecution counsel get together, where briefs have not yet been filed, to see to it that with all expeditiousness possible that they now be submitted to the Tribunal.
MR. HOCHWALD: Very well, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: In their order, the next defendant would be Eduard Strauch. He is not here, we presume, for physical reasons. We would like to inform his counsel, Dr. Gick, that Eduard Strauch has the right to make his final statement in court and we do not know whether you purposely, Dr. Gick, did not have him brought in or whether it was just assumed that he would not be brought in, and perhaps he is actually in good physical condition to make his statement or it may be that Strauch doesn't care to make a final statement. We would appreciate it, Dr. Gick, if you would inform him that he is entitled to make this final statement unless he has already indicated to you that he waives that right. If he wishes to make the statement in open court and you inform the Tribunal, the Tribunal will sit to hear his statement. It may be that he will be satisfied to make merely a written statement in the nature of a final statement and that will be 13 Feb 1948_A_MSD_22_2_Spears (Hildesheimer) accepted by the Tribunal.
We will leave it entirely in your hands, Dr. Gick.
DR. GICK: Your Honor, I saw the defendant Strauch yesterday in the hospital and I found him in a state of health which was wprse than ever before. He gave completely confused answers and he spoke nonsense. I was not in a position to make it clear to him that he, if necessary, could say a few final words, but I was not in a position to make it clear to him what that meant. I believe that Strauch in his present state is not responsible for his actions. If the Tribunal will permit me to do so, I shall sumbit another medical certificate concerning the present condition of the defendant Strauch at a date to be fixed by the Tribunal.
MR. GLANCY: If it please the Tribunal, it is the prosecution's opinion that the defense counsel for the defendant Strauch is precluded from testifying as an expert in mental diseases. The Tribunal is well aware of his present condition and has been so advised by experts.
THE PRESIDENT: Defense counsel has on previous occasions made comments similar to those which he has just now made and the facts established the contrary. The defendant was brought into court and did testify in a normal manner after two or three attempts and after examination had been made by competent physicians. So that the present statement of the defense counsel may not be accepted as evidence of the defendant's condition.
DR. GICK: May I say a few brief words, Your Honor? It is not my intention to give an expert opinion here. I am not in a position to do so, but it was merely my intention to tell the Tribunal how I found the defendant, and what impression I gained.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Well, the Tribunal will ask you, Dr. Gick, to inform the defendant Strauch that he is entitled to make a final statement just like every other defendant is making. He may make 13 Feb 1948_A_MSD_22_3_Spears(Hildesheimer) it in writing.
Very well. The defendant Klingelhoefer will please advance to the microphone.
Mr. President, Your Honors. early youth through the fact that I was born outside of Germany. Besides my love for the German people and the inner obligation to dedicate my energy and my efforts to the good of the people, there always was the respect and the understanding for other peoples and nations. East made me join the NSDAP at a time when the political, social and economic conditions in Germany threatened to develop towards a chaos, which was bound to open the doors of Germany to Bolshevism. I also realized the fact that for Bolshevism Germany represented the key for the polticial conquest of Europe. From this point of view I considered the war in the East and therefore hoped for Germany's victory, being convinced that this victory in the East would also mean the final exclusion of the Bolshevist danger in the East. Einsatz as an interpreter, because of my knowledge of languages. This assignment was based on a military order, which could not be objected to. My task in this assignment was restricted to intelligence duties and those duties resulting from my knowledge of the language and the country. In consideration of my subordinate position within the SD in Germany I never could be given the independent job of being the leader of a commando. My activity was therefore limited to the execution of orders and directives given to me, without ever being able to issue orders on my own initiative. declared that I personally objected to this radical order and tried to evade it. I also succeeded in doing so. I again declare expressly that at no time whatsoever, was I in a position to have to carry out or pass on the Fuehrer order in its radical and absolute form. I 13 Feb 1948_A_MSD_22_4_Spears (Hildesheimer) therefore never sent any persons to death on the basis of this Fuehrer order.
of particular circumstances and under particular pressure I had to carry out on direct orders, and where my knowledge of the language played a decisive part, I never had anything to do with the executive tasks. This was entirely beyond the scope of my duties. the cases, where I had seen shootings or participated in them. At no time did I ever have the intention to deviate from the truth or to withhold something; in the witnesstand as well as in all the interrogations and affidavits I always tried to speak the truth. I did not do anything which for any reasons -- be it for fear of punishment or because of the knowledge of having done wrong -- I had to withhold. Everything I did and however reacted to the tasks assigned to me and orders I received, was directed by the awareness of my duty as a soldier as well as a soldier as well as by the intention to do only those things which according to my own and full conviction had to be done to maintain and guarantee the order and security in the rear of the fighting army. of the Tribunal at the beginning of the trial, I pleaded "not guilty", and with a clear conscience I can repeat this declaration at the end of the trial.
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant, Fendler, will please come to the microphone.
On his final plea, my defense counsel Dr. Fritz stated our opinion on all points which might be of importance for the Tribunal in judging my case; he has arrived at the conclusion that the case-inchief has undoubtedly turned out favorably for me. Therefore, I shall 13 Feb 1948_A_MSD_22_5_Spears (Juelich) tell your Honors about my personal opinion concerning the indictment filed against me.
chief of Einsatzkommando 4B is just as incorrect as all conclusions drawn from that assertion. It is also unjustified for other reasons to make me responsible for the happenings in Einsatzkommando 4B which were discussed in the course of this trial. The truth is, and I solemnly confirm this, that my entire activity in the SD, both before, during and after my assignment in the East, consisted exculsively of intelligence work. At all times, including my assignment in the East, I only did what any state demands of its officials and officers entrusted with such jobs. I never had cause to fear that I was doing anything not permissable or even morally doubtful. Therefore I cannot hold a different opinion of my work during those years. sibility for actions which I neither ordered nor carried out, in which I did not participate in any way whatsoever, and which I was even unable to prevent.
I can only repeat what I said at the beginning of this trial: I am not builty!
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant, Von Radetzky.
THE PRESIDENT: The Defendant von Radetzky.
THE DEFENDANT VON RADETZKY: Mr. President, Your Honors, when I was given the indictment on the 13th of July 1947, to answer for myself before this Tribunal, I accepted it, being confident that the truth would be established in the course of the trial and that I would have an opportunity to justify myself for a period of my life which without my assistance took a course during which I was not able to decide freely for even one hour. I have now answered for myself before this Tribunal. I did not commit any crime. I need not ask for pardon for my actions. I only ask for unprejudiced understanding and I am confident that the Tribunal will arrive at a just verdict.
THE PRESIDENT: The Defendant Ruehl.
THE DEFENDANT RUEHL: Your Honors, my career, my position, and tasks, my activity, and my attitude from 1933 to 1945 have been discussed at such length during the case-in-chief that it does not seem necessary to me to go into details about this again at this point. I would only like to say the following: SA and two years later I joined the SS with youthful faith in the truth and purity of the ideals and aims which were made known at the time. In this good faith I finally complied with the draft to the then completely unknown State Police in 1933 and worked there until 1940 on counter-espionage, having nothing to do with everyday political differences. began to undermine this faith, apart from the outer duress, I felt myself obligated to stay at that post to which I had been ordered in the decisive battles of my people of my native country.
answer for before my conscience is proved most clearly by my behavior in Augsburg. In opposition to binding orders from the highest authorities, I stood up for those people whom the prosecutions believes it was my aim to persecute. prosecution wants to ascribe motives to me in my action concerning the retransfer of those Jews in Mogilew-Podolsk, which did not even occur to me, in view of my basic attitude, which has now been proven. The important part which I played there as an intermediary of an order, was only based on the idea to avoid terrible misery and to enable those people to return to their native land. to give orders in this case, to which I was not entitled, I do not consider incriminating. On the contrary I hold the opinion that I would justly be in the defendant's dock now, if I had refused to assist at the time and had let those people perish in misery by referring to my incompetency. opinion that my conscience has not deceived me.
THE PRESIDENT: The Defendant Schubert.
THE DEFENDANT SCHUBERT: Your Honors, being one of those tens of thousands of officers holding the same rank as I and holding the same position as adjutant, fate has placed me among those 220 German men who have to answer for themselves to the highest American Military Tribunals as the ones whol held the most responsibility. As long as I live I shall never understand that decision. Yet I shall never complain about my fate. I need have no fear for myself as to the verdict of this Tribunal.