Dr. Pfaff was an associate judge at Nuernberg and corroborates the statements of Dr. Gros.
Dr. Joseph Mayer was a Referent in the prosecutor’s office at Nuernberg. Concerning Oeschey, he said:
“Oeschey * * * was obviously of Rothaug’s school. Outwardly he gave the impression of being morose and unrelenting. I cannot remember ever having had a personal conversation with him. As a rule he began the proceedings with a preconceived opinion to which he adhered. Anyone who tried to oppose this opinion was overridden by him in the most brutal way. He insulted the defendants all the time in a most offensive manner, informing them repeatedly all the way through, what he intended to do with them. He had an extensive vocabulary of invectives for that purpose, the use of which he developed to a fine art. * * * It was literally tormenting if one had to listen to this tirade often for hours at a time. When his face became distorted into a repulsive mask by his continual scolding and abusive language, Faust’s words to Mephistopheles would often quite involuntarily come to my mind: ‘Thou freak of filth and fire.’”
Joseph Eichinger, defense attorney at Nuernberg, stated:
“His prejudice was so strong that he did not consider, seriously, the statements of the defense and dismissed them rudely or ironically. Even during the trial he repeatedly addressed the defendant thus: ‘People such as you deserve to be exterminated,’ ‘You will be convicted;’ or he called the defendant insulting and humiliating names such as ‘criminal,’ or ‘scoundrel,’ ‘enemy of the people.’”
Again, he said:
“As leader of the Gau legal office (Gaurechtsamt) and, after the latter’s disbanding, as member in the Gau staff (Gaustab), he enjoyed a special position of power which enabled him to hold the defense strongly in check; it was well known that a sign from the Gau authorities, instigated by Oeschey, was sufficient to have a lawyer turned over to the Gestapo.
“I had the impression that he supported, knowingly and willingly, the policy of Hitler to ‘decimate’ (Dezimierung) aliens, especially Poles, by increasing the number of death sentences against them * * *.”
On cross-examination Eichinger admitted that he did not know of any lawyer who had been turned over to the Gestapo by Oeschey. It is clear that in his statements Eichinger was relying only upon general information as the basis of his opinion. We think, however, that his opinion merits consideration.
Dr. Karl Mayer, defense counsel, said that Rothaug was judge of the worst Special Court in Germany and used to tell defendants even during the trial that they would be exterminated. He adds that after Rothaug was transferred to Berlin, Oeschey even surpassed him in the spitefulness of his manner. Space does not permit the discussion of the other cases which illustrate Oeschey’s ruthless exercise of arbitrary power. Mention should, however, be made of the trial of a group of foreign boys who had some fights with boys in the Nuernberg Hitler Youth Home. Dr. Mueller characterizes the action of the boys as harmless pranks. At worst they were indulging in street fights with the Hitler Youth. Oeschey held that they constituted a resistance movement and several of the boys were sentenced to death.