All the witnesses from the entourage of the defendant have told you finally that in these Central Planning Board, as well as in the Jaegerstab and GL meetings, that in addition to transcripts reproducing the individual speeches and opinions so-called records of results were drawn up which contained only the really important decisions, orders, and regulations. They alone were valid for the subordinates. Those concerned acted according to them alone. It is noteworthy that the prosecution has not submitted a single one of those records of results containing any inhuman orders issued by the defendant. I beg of you, your Honors, not only to give severe consideration to the weaknesses of the defense, I beg you to draw your severe conclusions from the weaknesses of the prosecution as well. The fact that no incriminating records of results have been submitted proves once more that these threats were never carried out.
Your Honors, in disturbed times other men, too, sometimes say things which cannot be taken seriously. Men can be charged only according to their deeds, not according to their chatter. If you have access to Churchill’s speech made in his first excitement after Dunkirk, you can see what violations of international law he recommended to the civilian population of England when he called upon them to prevent a German airborne landing. But he never actually issued any such orders, and so no one will try him for that. When the late General Patton said at one time that he intended to continue to collaborate with such of the German Nazis as were specialists, some excited American newspaper ran this headline: “Patton Should Be Shot.” Who would be so stupid as to call these newspapers inhuman? No one in the world; no one takes such excited words seriously. No one can say that these outbursts of anger meant that Milch approved the atrocities which occurred elsewhere in Germany.
The affidavits of Kruedener, Defense Exhibit 37, Lotte Mueller, Defense Exhibit 38, the testimony of witnesses Koenig, Vorwald, Pendele, have all shown that this man always and everywhere tried to help people in distress. He, who ostensibly wanted to force the foreign workers and concentration camp inmates to work by means of starving them, had the concentration camp inmates supplied with food from his estate near Rechlin in order to improve their diet. Thus, in his actions, he did the opposite of what he shouted in his anger. But one could raise a very serious charge to the effect that Milch by his thoughtless manner of speaking incited the elements throughout the country which committed such misdeeds. But this again, your Honors, is untrue. You have not heard one single example here of anyone having acted according to Milch’s words and having referred to having done so. These displays of fury only occurred among people who knew Milch and knew that he could not be taken seriously in such moments. All witnesses have stated for you that these fits only became known to the circle of intimates.
I lived in Germany throughout the war. Although the sins of the high-ranking leaders of the Reich were eagerly discussed among the people, I never heard one word about Milch’s fits of rage. In reply to my question the witness Vorwald stated convincingly that nobody spoke about these incidents to other persons because they did not wish to expose their superior to whom they were attached. His loyal followers surrounding him with a cordon of silence. Nothing could be more understandable, and every decent person who respects his superior will and must act in the same manner, for, in spite of his occasional fierceness, Milch was popular with his subordinates. The witnesses Richter, Hertel, Pendele and Vorwald, among others, testified before you that Milch was highly esteemed. Richter actually called him the best and fairest superior whom he had ever met in all his life. Here, your Honors, in this praise Milch’s true nature appears before our eyes.
I believe, therefore, to be justified in saying that one cannot and must not judge Milch by his wild talk. To infer guilt from that would mean to pass a judgment which could never be upheld before justice. Nobody may be judged by empty phrases. I would like to tell you a true story here which occurred in Germany during the discussions about a new, more stringent National Socialist penal code. At that time the Party took the point of view that criminal intent in itself was punishable, and thus, during a meeting of the Penal Law Commission in connection with the question of the meaning of murder, a long debate developed as to whether a person who intended to bring about the death of an enemy by prayer was to be punished by death for murder. The majority of Party members concurred with this mad opinion on the punishment of criminal intent. The sensible ones protested against it for a long time. When the debate was nearing its end, Dr. Guertner, the Reich Minister of Justice at the time, a clear-sighted man, rose and with one single sentence made reason prevail. These were his words: “Gentlemen, I do not understand you. All my life a corpse has been part of a murder.” The narrow-minded Party doctrinaires had to give in to the scornful laughter that followed these words. And in that way I should like here to think of Milch’s wild talk and exclaim, “Where is the corpse?”
In my opinion the only remaining question which needs serious discussion is merely that of the employment of foreign workers, of PW’s, and of concentration camp inmates. To begin with, it must be mentioned that the prosecution in its opening speech maintained that Milch more than anybody else in Germany was occupied with the employment of forced labor in Germany. That statement, however, is in no way correct. That, at least, has been clarified by the evidence beyond all doubt, it seems to me. There can be no doubt that Sauckel and Speer had considerably more to do with so-called forced labor than Milch, quite apart from Hitler and Goering themselves.
It is necessary to visualize clearly the scope of Milch’s sphere of activities and of his authority. Your Honors, even if you were only to check the three part Defense Exhibit 55 which I submitted, even to a superficial scrutiny only, you would realize immediately that Speer alone had a great deal more to do with this work than Milch. Speer was in charge of all armaments for the army and navy which, measured in human beings, by far exceeded the Luftwaffe, and alone exceeded the volume of the Luftwaffe armament many times, in particular as Milch only dealt with the construction of airplanes and as all equipment for the crews, in fact were part of the army equipment. Furthermore, Speer was in charge of all other productions in the German Reich. Finally, after the establishment of the Jaegerstab, Speer was also placed in charge of all armaments for the Luftwaffe. This Defense Exhibit 55, to which the defendant has sworn and which is based on the prosecution’s own Exhibit 58, reveals a much greater and more comprehensive scope of Speer’s organization. It was he, who as the central authority, not only controlled an apparatus with considerably more tasks, he alone also had at his disposal the executive authorities in the country, who dealt with all matters which had to be taken, whereas Milch had no executive organs at his disposal. He had, therefore, no executive powers whatsoever. Speer alone was in charge of the powerful main committees, the main industrial rings, in which the captains of industry exerted their influence and power.
He was also in charge of the armament commissions and armament officials of the armament inspectorates and armament detachments in the defense districts. And lastly, the Gau plenipotentiaries and provincial economic offices in the whole country listened to him. He was with Hitler almost every week, and therefore, he possessed much more influence to which Sauckel’s power—
[At this point, the following discussion took place:]
Presiding Judge Toms: May I ask you what was Koerner’s special interest?