B. Closing Statement of the Defense[152] (continued 2)

In all the discussions submitted there is nowhere a word to be found, either to the effect that Milch had requested workers for his air armament. If the need for workers was under discussion, then always only, as the defendant himself confirmed, in regard to the basic industries—that is, mining and the iron industry and in regard to agriculture. It was always a question, as the records show, of the commitment of prisoners of war. But even according to the Geneva Convention prisoners of war may be employed in mining, in the production of iron, and in agriculture. These places of work are not actual armament industries.

That Milch did not have anything to do with the commitment of Russians in antiaircraft defense, which was not under him at all; that, on the contrary, he even opposed it, and that that part of the minutes of the 33d meeting of the Central Planning Board must be incorrect here, too, has been stated by the witnesses Hertel, Koenig, as well as others equally incontestably. It has now been proved that this order was issued by the OKW directly via Goering.

Thus Milch, in his capacity as member of the Central Planning Board, was neither perpetrator of, nor accomplice in, crimes; nor did the Central Planning Board have as its purpose the commission of such crimes. Its sole purpose was the distribution of raw materials—an activity which is not prohibited under any conditions.

The third activity of Milch which could bring him in connection with the so-called slave labor was the activity on the Jaegerstab. Were one to view this membership in the Jaegerstab from the point of view of the prosecution, one could perhaps maintain the previously formed opinion that this activity was limited to the increased use of slave labor. The testimony of Speer, Vorwald, and Milch, however, have shown that the Jaegerstab had two main aims, namely, first, to raise the production of fighter planes and, secondly, to facilitate Milch’s resignation from his office by transferring the entire air armament industry to the ministry of Speer.

Formerly, to be sure, Milch was one of the chairmen of this Jaegerstab, but the witnesses—among them Schmelter, Hertel, Eschenauer and Vorwald—have testified that the actual chairman of this Jaegerstab was Saur. Milch very soon withdrew from the Jaegerstab; in March 1944 he still participated in fifteen meetings, in April only eight, in May only five, and in June only two. Nothing proves the veracity of the testimony of the defendant more than the quite obvious decrease in his participation. If one considers the fact that the Jaegerstab held its meetings daily one realizes how rapidly the decrease in the activity of the defendant was. If one considers furthermore that he was not always present at the meetings at all, that he did not hear most of the details of the discussions at these meetings, one can say with certainty that he was really not the man who had the biggest influence in the Jaegerstab, and who performed the practical work there. The expression “breakfast director”, which the witness Dorsch applied to the defendant, characterizes the situation excellently. The Jaegerstab was concerned with labor questions only insofar as it guided the so-called transfer of workers who were already working in industry, in the event changes in production occurred, especially effecting, as far as possible, their transfer from closed down bomber factories to fighter plane factories. However, in this connection it is almost exclusively a question of so-called skilled workers, as the witness Schmelter, a specialist in this field, has confirmed. In this process no new workers of any kind were introduced into industry. The witness Schmelter, however, finally expressly confirmed that no real influence was exerted on Sauckel and his offices. Wishes regarding the transfer were merely referred to the Organization Sauckel. This fact in particular was emphasized in the statement of Schmelter with all the clarity desirable.

Thus, it has been proved in regard to this committee, too, that it had nothing to do with the bringing of workers into Germany from abroad, nor dealt with their redistribution. Thus, it was also not the purpose of the Jaegerstab to decide labor questions. Finally, it has thus been clarified that the ministry of Speer was the office which handled labor questions, insofar as it was necessary in the framework of the transfers. On the basis of the submitted documents, it seems at first as though the Jaegerstab had initiated and carried out the building of underground factories or of concrete protected factories above ground. The witnesses Speer, Hertel, Eschenauer, Koenig, Pendele, as well as Milch, himself, however, all clearly and decisively confirmed that these constructions were ordered directly by Hitler and Goering, and that the defendant had opposed these orders because he considered them senseless. It has furthermore been declared that Hitler himself, handled the needs of workers for these undesirable constructions. The Jaegerstab was connected with these constructions, according to all the testimony, only to the extent that it had to examine which ones of the fighter plane factories had to be installed in them. In this connection it must be remembered that a number of these constructions were also allocated for armament factories of the Wehrmacht. Thus, Milch also cannot be charged with any responsibility in this count. He was neither formally nor actually in a position to prevent Hitler’s and Goering’s orders.

Nor had Milch anything to do with the allocation of Hungarian Jews to these factories, quite apart from the fact that it has been made clear that these Jews were allocated only in the summer of 1944, which was stated by the last prosecution witness, Krysiak, that is, at a time when Milch had withdrawn from his office for some time. It has been proved that Hitler issued relevant orders here and that the Jaegerstab trip to Hungary was entirely unconnected with this matter because it was undertaken solely for the purpose of a conference with the legal Hungarian government. These consultations were merely concerned with agreements regarding aircraft production by the Hungarian industry in the large caves near the Danube. Not one single document has shown that Milch either agreed to or welcomed the employment of Hungarian Jews.

To sum up, I may say then that even within the Jaegerstab Milch was neither a principal nor an abetter in the crimes listed in the indictment. I might add that it was not the purpose of the Jaegerstab to carry out such crimes. In any case he was by no means the leading man on that board. It has been found with certainty beyond all doubt that the Jaegerstab served the purpose of helping the defendant to withdraw from office.

Mention must also be made of the question of concentration camp inmates working. Before going into details, I should like to make a few basic remarks. From all the trials in which I acted as counsel, from the questions asked in this courtroom, from various discussions I have had with citizens of your country, I have, your Honors, attained the certainty that in your circles no one believes in the truthfulness of the defendants’ and all other witnesses’ statements, namely that the average German knew nothing about the happenings in the concentration camps and that the defendant did not know of the existence of such camps, with the exception of Dachau and Oranienburg. As most Germans certify to this and as all witnesses swear to this under oath, it is first of all difficult to understand why such statements are not believed. It can only be explained by the fact that the citizens of your country have been so much influenced by press propaganda and the newly discovered facts that they put more trust in the reports of their newspapers than in the assurances of the citizens of a country which is now known throughout the world as the place of origin of many atrocities.

But should such prejudice which does not originate from [one’s] own and actual experience influence the judgment? I believe and always have believed that it is one of the essential laws of justice to base one’s judgment strictly on facts which have become evident during a trial. It is a proven fact that in Germany no one was allowed to write about concentration camps; that the rules of secrecy which had been imposed by the dictatorial regime had to be kept very strictly; and that even the German authorities in case of their violating these rules of secrecy, were threatened with death, as I have proved by the submission of Defense Exhibit 36.

From the statement of the witness Roeder, who, incidentally, explained that the defendant had neither the power of passing a death sentence nor of sending people to concentration camps, you have learned that the concentration camp inmates spoke to nobody about their condition. Even the prosecution witness Krysiak has told you that the prisoners did not dare to lodge complaints to anybody. How could the Germans generally learn about conditions in concentration camps? Milch, too, could not and did not learn about them, as he has told you, for the secrecy was kept even among the highest authorities. May the propaganda of your country insist on the contrary as much as it likes, what I have stated here still remains true, and I can certify it myself.

I myself who during the time of the so-called Third Reich often enough defended men who were accused because of their political views, I, who was watched by the Gestapo, who was attacked in the public newspapers of Nuernberg and especially was mentioned with name in the notorious “Stuermer” on account of my defense of unhappy Jews, I, too, didn’t learn anything about these camps, although clients came to me after their release from the concentration camp Dachau. I always asked them and I always received the answer that they had nothing special to report. It was, of course, no pleasant life, but they reported that it was not so bad.

I would ask you, your Honors, to consider how we could have learned of these conditions.

May I remind you in this connection that deeds have been committed in the east of the former German territory, in the Sudeten-German border territories of Czechoslovakia, and other countries, deeds which, even if one imagines them at their worst, remain far behind the truth. About these atrocities the international press has kept silent although one day history will speak and one will learn about them with horror. I have refused to give proof of the events which were brought about by your armies after the collapse. I could have mentioned many deeds which can be called nothing but grave infringements against the Geneva Convention. I could have given you a picture of how in the prisoners’ camps in the early days hundreds of German prisoners died of starvation. I am not accusing anyone. Shortcomings of organization and of human nature but not express orders and rules account for it.

I only mention this, your Honors, in order to point out that you did not learn about this and that it is only our unhappy and wretched people who know about it. But we who have had the bitter experience of the power of propaganda and of the force of secrecy know that ignorance of such matters can be excused and believed. Therefore, no one may say from the outset that all the unanimous statements by witnesses and the declarations of Milch are to be disbelieved. They have been sworn to; and the verdict must take them into consideration.

According to these it is certain that Milch only knew of the employment of concentration camp inmates in the Heinkel plant in Oranienburg and that he was of the opinion that these were German criminals and German political prisoners, of whose mistreatment, however, he had no knowledge. The use of prisoners and convicts is not a crime against humanity. This, however, should not have to be mentioned. In all countries in the world it is customary for prisoners to be obliged to work. In Germany this was even regulated by law to such an extent that the prisoners who were condemned to prison, that is, not to the penitentiary, also had to work. For a prisoner to have to work is not an atrocity. An atrocity can be seen only if the prisoner has to do this work under conditions which injure his health or which are inhuman.

But Milch did not know that the food, the housing, and the treatment of the prisoners were inhuman. One would have to prove such knowledge before one could punish him for it. You have heard, on the contrary, that he always did everything possible when he heard of individual cases of abuse. He even tried to help, as the Kruedener affidavit, Defense Exhibit 37, proves, in a case where he was not competent. As the testimony of Kruedener revealed this was a case of inadequate accommodations. Moreover, as the witness Koenig has testified, he instituted an improvement in the food given the prisoners at Rechlin on his own initiative, and he generally saw to it that workers got better rations.

But that does not mean that he knew that those prisoners were starving. It was unfortunately so that because of the total blockade of Germany by the Allied forces the food available to the civilian population of Germany was very poor. I myself had only had the minimum ration card; and I could tell you a long story about how difficult it was to work on such rations. Milch, however, obtained better food for everyone working under him for armament. It was he who was the first to obtain extra rations for his air armament industry because the workers worked overtime. As a number of records of the Central Planning Board and the Jaegerstab show, he obtained additional rations for the prisoners of war and, for example, sent the Russians into agriculture so that they might get better food there and be padded a little. He had an office set up in the Jaegerstab in order to obtain additional food and clothing for the workers, as the witness Schmelter has testified.

The improvement in the food of the inmates of Rechlin concentration camp was part of these measures. If he did this through his estate, it was because he had no influence with the administration of the concentration camps in respect of the issue of additional ration cards.

It would not correspond with justice if he was pronounced punishable for the employment of concentration camp inmates under these conditions. The compulsory labor of prisoners has always been lawful in Germany even before the Third Reich. He knew nothing of cruelties and atrocities or inhuman treatment. Therefore, his consent to these cannot be proved.

If I may summarize then, I believe that my opening statement for the defense had correctly revealed that Milch was not a slave holder, moreover that he never aspired to be one, that he was of the opinion that the employment of such workers was permitted, and finally that he had done everything to keep down the employment of foreign workers as much as possible and to make it as humane as possible. At any rate the prosecution’s description of him is in no way accurate, and could only originate from a misunderstanding of the man, his speeches, and of his background. Sauckel and Speer had far greater responsibility in this connection. It was they who had real influence, and not Milch, but even in the case of Speer who was higher than Milch in his position, the International Military Tribunal has granted extenuating circumstances in connection with the manpower issue. I am convinced that Milch thought employing such labor was permissible, and that he did everything in his power to keep such employment to the lowest level and as human as possible.

I am conscious of the fact that the verdict of the International Military Tribunal is a great obstacle for me, and nevertheless the Tribunal was merely composed of human beings, and it had passed judgment under particularly difficult circumstances, and in composition it opened the door to politics into the courtroom. I do not need to remind you that in the English speaking countries, several verdicts of the Tribunal were subjected to very serious criticism. I myself here attacked one point of this verdict with better witnesses and better evidence, that with regard to slave labor, for example, the International Military Tribunal based itself upon a wrong assumption. Nobody stated there that the U.S.S.R. had called off the Hague Convention of Land Warfare. I checked up on those features of defense, and I found that all the time it was only talk that the U.S.S.R. had not become a partner of the convention. The statement of von Neurath revealed that notice of withdrawal was expressly given.

Here we not only pronounce penalty verdicts or judgment, but also political judgments, whether we want to or not. Especially in politics there is always some fluctuation. Every day new facts turn up, which throw different light upon things. The distance of time which always grows greater and greater and separates us from the irritating events of the past allows an ever clearer judgment. The man who returns from battle is always confused. The more he becomes calm the more he admits justice towards his enemy.

Honorable Judges of this Tribunal, when you judge please don’t forget the whole personality of Milch. He always concerned himself as a good and noble man, and I am not only convinced of that as his counsel but also as a human being. The world would have a different outlook if his superiors had listened to his advice, which was intended to serve the people of this world, and the common will of the people, and peace. In his heart he always took the side of the fighter who fought for united Europe, which now has been joined also by his former enemy number one, Churchill. May this statement of Milch which has thrown new light upon things serve this aim. Poor and tortured Europe needs an enduring peace. May his statements also open the eyes of those among the German people who still cannot give up their misconceptions of many years, and show them what crime has been committed against them.

But you, Honorable Judges, must recognize from the attitude of the defendant Milch that he never became unfaithful to himself, and even if he had been perhaps under the spell of erroneous conception, he has always wanted the best for his and other people.

I have profound confidence in you, Honorable Judges, that you, equally detached from your own people, will find an independent, true and righteous judgment that corresponds to the truth. I shall consider it as an honor for my person if I have contributed to this through my painstaking labor.