Dr. Bergold: It is a principle inasmuch as if somebody has been misled by his superiors on the significance of the law. Everybody must inquire what the law is, but if his superior authorities give him certain information, he can rely on that.
Q. Suppose a person is advised by his own counsel as to the law, and counsel is wrong, does that excuse the client?
A. The client’s lawyer is not sufficient. The authority must be a government official.
Q. Well, suppose a high government official, a man in high authority who was not a lawyer, advised his subordinate as to his legal rights and duties, and that advice was wrong?
A. That would mean that there would be an excusable error, an excusable legal error.
Q. If, for example, Goering, who was a person in high authority, advised Milch that he had the legal right to go out and shoot a person, would that be justification for Milch’s doing so, legally?
A. No. Because as to the question of whether you can commit murder or not everybody knows about that; but the point as to whether the employment of foreigners was admissible under international law is a very tricky legal point, and there, of course, there is a difference.
Q. You mean that every one is supposed to know that he cannot shoot a man.
A. Yes. Everybody knows that.
Q. But everyone is not supposed to know that he can force a man to unwilling labor?