' Extract from the Transcript of the
Proceedings before the People's Court [Volksgerichtshof] of the Greater German Reich 7 & 8 August 1944
In the Great Plenary Hall of the Berlin Supreme Court President: Dr. Freisler, President of the Volksgerichtshof Deputy President: Guenther Nebelung, President of the Senate. Honorary Assistant Judges: Gen. Reinecke (Infantry)
Garden technician & small gardener Hans Kaiser (Berlin)
Merchant Georg Seuberth (Fuerth) Honorary Reserve Judges: Baker Emil Winter
Engineer Kurt Wernicke
Assisting Reporting Judge: Volksgericht Counsellor Lemmle Reserve Reporting Judge: Oberlandesgerichtsrat Dr. Koehler Prosecutors: Oberreichsanwalt (Attorney General) Lautz
Oberstaatsanwalt (Senior Public Prosecutor) Dr. Gorisch
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Defense Counsel appointed by the President, Dr. Freisler, Lawyer Dr. Weissmann Lawyer Dr. L. Schwarz Lawyer Justizrat Dr. Neubert Lawyer Dr. Gustav Schwarz Lawyer Dr. Kunz Lawyer Dr. Falck Lawyer Hugo Bergmann Lawyer Boden
Defendants: Erwin von Witzleben Erich Hoeppner Hellmuth Stieff Albrecht von Hagen Robert Bernadis Friedrich Karl Klausing Peter Yorck von Wartenburg
Indictment: Participation in the attempt to assassinate Hitler on 20 July 1945.
[Page 54]
Von Hagen (a defendant) : Mr. President, for me the situation was as follows: I did in fact have doubts that something was wrong. On one side was von Stauffenberg's statement. On the other stood my superiors who would have been put in a terribly difficult position at first if my report had been wrong.
The President: Now listen here. It is natural that criminals should be put in a terribly difficult position; .their place is behind bars. One must see what is to be done with them. Did you have scruples about arresting criminals?
[Page 55]
Defense Counsel: I should also like to ask whether he did not feel limited by his position of subordination.
The President: But then he would have been perverted; for if one thinks that because one's superior is a criminal one must protect him, one is completely perverted. * * *
[Page 117]
The President: Then you are also responsible for the orders. To agree to something subsequently and carry it on is exactly the same as to have drafted it beforehand; it is all the same thing.
[Page 158]
The President: Another person who acted dangerously and stands close to the attempted assassination is the defendant Klausing, a young officer who—I must say—follows the order of his
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superior officer with touching lack of reflection—an order to carry out which—or even .to think out which—was a crime * * *
¡Page 177]
The President: If someone who delivered the explosive remarks at this moment: "It is intended for an attack on the Fuehrer", one must ask whether any healthy man or woman would not have to say to himself or herself: to do nothing now is exactly the same as to have set the explosive off oneself.
[Page 178] '
The President: Just imagine if Rehmer (Rehmer was given orders by one of the conspirators who was his superior officer but refused to obey them)—then a major, now a colonel—had thought: I have received an order, I couldn't! Imagine what would have happened! You cannot assume that when a German officer notices: "The explosive is intended for such and such a purpose", he will just say that one has ,to accept the thing, one can't do anything against it. In fact he must do something against it.
[Page 231]
The regime was to be overthrown.
A young officer Friedrich Karl Klausing! In April of this year, von Haeften, whom we already know, told him that Stauffenberg, Schulenburg, and others intended to overthrow the regime; the war had no chance of success; the preparations were in the hands of Stauffenberg; would he join in? And he replied: yes. On the 10.7. he was ordered to go and see Stauffenberg. He was told that he was to be escorting officer to go to Berchtesgaden— and that he knew what he was doing by this, the action was coming off. He did know what he was doing and he did not refuse. He did not report it. He went along as escorting officer; he was given the assignment of having the car standing by at the Berghof in Berchtesgaden and the plane on the aerodrome. He did that. Stauffenberg came out. He had not carried out the assassination, because the Reichsfuehrer SS had not been there. Four days later, on the 14.7., came a new order to accompany Stauffenberg to the Fuehrer's H. Q. He flew with Fromm and Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg stated that it could go on again this time. And again he was given the assignment of being sure to have the car and the plane standing by correctly. Again he did so. Again nothing came of it. On the1 20.7, he was called to Colonel Merz von Quirnheim, who told him: "The Fuehrer is dead, disorder has broken out, no one may leave the Bendler block. 'Walkuere' comes into effect." He received orders to
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call ou,t the sentries, to send out teleprints, to make telephone calls. He did all this and, in the evening, when the loyal development set in, he threw down his arms, went home and gave himself up the following morning. Certainly, he is young. But in this case youth is no excuse. Certainly, he had as his superiors terrible traitors. Certainly he had got into a ghostly company of traitors. But loyalty, the core of honor, should have proved itself here. No excuse is possible here. There can be no mitigation in this case.
[Page 233]
He spoke to us about his illness, discoursed upon the influence which Stauffenberg had on him. He should be a soldier and a true German! Here illness does not help, here to refer to another traitor does not help. Here it is only a question of: Loyalty or treachery of oneself. He chose the path of treachery. To him, also exactly the same applies as to all the others.
Extracts from the proceedings of the People's Court trial of seven persons charged in the anti-Hitler plot, including Freisler's rejection of the superior orders argument
Authors
Roland Freisler (Dr., presiding judge of People's Court; undersecretary in Ministry of Justice)
Roland Freisler
German lawyer and judge (1893-1945)
- Born: 1893-10-30 (Celle)
- Died: 1945-02-03 (Berlin)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: judge; lawyer; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Schwarzburgbund
- Position held: Judge of the People's Court (period: 1942-08-20 through 1945-02-03; replaced by: Harry Haffner; replaces: Otto Georg Thierack); Member of Landtag of Prussia; member of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany
- Educated at: University of Jena
Date: 07 August 1944
Literal Title: Extracts from the Transcript of the Proceedings before the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) of the Greater German Reich
Defendant: Alfred Jodl
Total Pages: 3
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-3881
HLSL Item No.: 452133
Trial Issue
Document Summary
PS-3881: Photostatic copy of transcript of the court proceedings against the members of the plot against Hitler on 20 July 1944
PS-3881: Stenographic report of the trial before the German people’s court on 7 and 8 August 1944: proceedings against general field Marshal von Witzleben and seven other officers for the attempt on Hitler’s life on 20 July 1944