Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume IIIVarious
History
Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume III
Various
Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946; War crime trials -- Germany -- Nuremberg
I will demonstrate that Klemm, due to his conviction that law had to
prevail in the state and due to his generally decent human attitude
interceded on behalf of the law. It will be proved that my client
was held in high regard by his co-workers in the Ministry, that he
tried in many individual cases to mitigate the fundamental harshness
of Minister Thierack who was severe on principle, that he always was
ready to listen to other officials, that he always was ready to accept
sensible suggestions; in general he was thus just the opposite of
Thierack. This attitude also showed results, as will be proved, in the
sphere of personnel policy. On principle he did not give any preference
for positions to so-called “old Party members.” In case of promotions
and appointments he recommended persons who did not belong to the
NSDAP. I shall be able to show cases where he also recommended persons
who were on the other side [gegnerischen Lager], if they had special
professional qualifications. He tried to aid officials of justice who,
for political reasons, were personally in difficulties.
(_h_) Extended fields which Klemm handled in the Ministry of
Justice have not been mentioned by the prosecution. When submitting
evidence I will have the opportunity to show especially that my client
had to spend most of his working time in the Ministry for Department
II of the Ministry. This department handled all questions which were
concerned with the general training of all German jurists. Here the
special difficulties which arose with regard to the personnel of
the authorities of justice on account of the events of the war had
to be surmounted. The evidence will show that my client in training
the young jurists omitted all politics, that his work was absolutely
unpolitical. Thus, the so-called ideological training and examinations
which were very much favored in the time shortly after the assumption
of power of the NSDAP and which found a specially exact expression in
the “Referendar Lager [camp for prospective lawyers] Hanns Kerrl” were
excluded from the professional education of the jurist. At the time
when Klemm, at the beginning of the year 1944, took over his position
in the ministry, all these things had been settled a long time ago.
The most urgent practical problems, where one should get young judges,
when and in what manner young jurists should make their examinations,
how former soldiers were to be treated, and similar questions belonged
to Klemm’s working field. This was practical work, also this field had
nothing to do with “politics.” Thus, if the picture and the activity of
my client will be made clear to the Tribunal, then it will be proved
that it is not a cheap attempt of throwing the blame upon dead persons,
then it will become clear that it has been tried to make my client here
in the dock the deputy of Thierack and perhaps also of Bormann. Klemm
is, however, not responsible for their guilt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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