VON SCHIRMEISTER: No, it was not aggressive and not obdurate enough for him.
DR. FRITZ: And how did Fritzsche react to such demands both with reference to individual journalists and with reference to the newspapers as a whole?
VON SCHIRMEISTER: Again and again, at every opportunity, both during the conferences presided over by the Minister and at private meetings with the Minister, he spoke on behalf of the press and the journalists and tried to represent their point of view to the Minister.
DR. FRITZ: Can you mention a few names of journalists or papers whom Fritzsche tried to protect in the manner described?
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Fritz, why should he give the names of individual journalists and papers? Isn’t it too detailed to go into that?
DR. FRITZ: Very well; but Mr. President, may I, in that case, at least offer an affidavit in connection with this question as Document Number Fritzsche-5. It is in my Document Book Number 2 on Page 22. It comes from the editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung, Dr. Wendelin Hecht, and I should like to quote it very briefly:
“I herewith make the following affidavit for submission to the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg:
“1. It is true that the Defendant Hans Fritzsche also helped to protect the Frankfurter Zeitung for several years against a ban by withholding copies of the Frankfurter Zeitung from the Führer’s headquarters.
“2. In the numerous attacks directed against the Frankfurter Zeitung because of its political attitude the Defendant Hans Fritzsche repeatedly intervened in favor of the continued publication of the Frankfurter Zeitung.
“Leutkirch, 6 March 1946. Dr. Wendelin Hecht.”