:40:00
If responsibility is to be found,
the widest latitude is to be permitted.
:40:05
Objection overruled.
:40:08
Did you ever swear
to the Civil Servant Loyalty Oath of 1934?
:40:14
Everyone did.
:40:15
We are not interested in what everyone did.
:40:18
We are interested in what you did.
:40:20
Would you read the oath
from the Reich Law Gazette, March, 1933?
:40:26
"I swear that I shall be obedient...
:40:27
"to the leader of the German Reich
and people, Adolf Hitler.
:40:30
"That I shall be loyal to him,
that I will observe the laws...
:40:33
"and that I will conscientiously
fulfill my duties...
:40:36
"so help me God. "
:40:38
Everyone swore to it.
:40:41
It was mandatory.
:40:45
Yes.
:40:47
But you're such a perceptive man, Dr. Wieck.
:40:51
You could see what was coming.
:40:53
You could see that National Socialism
was leading Germany to disaster.
:40:58
"It was clear to anyone
who had eyes and ears. "
:41:03
Didn't you realize...
:41:05
what it would have meant if you,
and men like you...
:41:10
would have refused to swear to the oath?
:41:13
It would have meant that Hitler
could never have come to absolute power.
:41:20
Why didn't you?
:41:23
Why didn't you?
:41:25
Can you give us an explanation?
:41:28
Has it something to do with your pension?
:41:31
Did your pension mean more to you
than your country?
:41:33
Your Honor!
:41:35
I object to the entire line of questioning,
and ask that it be stricken from the record.
:41:39
I thought prosecuting counsel
was dedicated to finding responsibility.
:41:42
Your Honor, I made an objection.
:41:44
Prosecution is not interested
in finding responsibility?
:41:47
There is responsibility for more here
than swearing to a loyalty oath...
:41:51
- and you know it.
- There is indeed.
:41:53
One thing that even the German machine,
with its monumental efficiency...
:41:57
has been unable to destroy...
:41:59
Order.