Afternoon Session
MARSHAL: May it please the Court, I desire to announce that the Defendants Kaltenbrunner and Seyss-Inquart will be absent from this afternoon’s session due to illness.
THE PRESIDENT: I have an announcement to make.
When the attention of the Tribunal was called by the Defendant Hess to the absence of his counsel, the Tribunal directed that the presentation of the individual case against Hess be postponed, so that counsel could be present when it was presented. So far as the cross-examination of witnesses who testified to matters affecting the general case and not against Hess specifically is concerned, it is the view of the Tribunal that the cross-examination conducted by counsel representing the defendants equally interested with Hess in this feature of the case was sufficient to protect his interests, and the witnesses will therefore not be recalled.
The Tribunal has received a letter from the Defendant Hess dated 30 January 1946, to the effect that he is dissatisfied with the services of counsel who has been appearing for him and does not wish to be represented by him further, but wishes to represent himself.
The Tribunal is of the opinion that, having elected, in conformity with Article 16 of the Charter, to be represented by counsel, the Defendant Hess ought not to be allowed at this stage of the Trial to dispense with the services of counsel and defend himself. The matter is of importance to the Tribunal, as well as to the defendant, and the Tribunal is of the opinion that it is not in the interests of the defendant that he should be unrepresented by counsel.
The Tribunal has therefore appointed Dr. Stahmer to represent the Defendant Hess, in place of Dr. Von Rohrscheidt.
[Turning to M. Dubost] Yes, M. Dubost.
M. DUBOST: I beg the Tribunal to excuse me; I was completing the work which they had requested me to do in relation to concentration camps. In a few moments, when I have completed the exposé on the question of prisoners of war, I shall present to the Tribunal the end of the French presentation concerning concentration camps. This will not be much, for we shall have only a few documents to cite. Subject to counter evidence which the Defense may bring, the systematic repetition of the same methods seems so far sufficiently established.