_The Defendant’s Erroneous Assumption of an Emergency_ (_Putative Emergency_) I have already mentioned the circumstances which justify the assumption of a national emergency and a war emergency caused by the special conditions prevailing in 1942. If these conditions actually prevailed, the illegality of the act and not only the guilt of the perpetrator would be excluded for reasons previously enumerated. If the defendant had erroneously assumed circumstances which if they really had existed would have justified a national emergency and a war emergency, then, according to the general principles already mentioned, the intent of the defendant and thus his guilt would also be eliminated in this respect. The evidence, especially the defendant’s own statements on the witness stand, leaves no doubt that, when the experiments began in 1942, he had assumed the existence of such circumstances which were indeed the starting point and motive for ordering and carrying out these experiments. * * * * * _EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL PLEA FOR DEFENDANT SIEVERS_[4] * * * * * May I remind you of the exciting part of my case in chief which dealt with Sievers’ participation in the resistance against the National Socialist government and administration. By putting forward his activity in a resistance movement, the defendant Sievers does not endeavor to obtain a mitigation of an eventual condemnation. In my opinion, this activity must under all circumstances result in his acquittal, even though, contrary to expectation the High Tribunal should tend towards the opinion that Sievers had participated in the accused crimes.