Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume II

by Various

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.