"It is a fact that Herr von Geitner ordered a medical inspection and investigation of the sanitary and health conditions for the collecting camp Semlin. I was present when the order was given; however, I was not personally in that camp.
"Following the report by the investigating medical officers, (probably Dr. Rost, Dr, Reuter, Dr, Koebben), Herr von Geitner immediately effected comprehensive relief measures."
In the next paragraph which I don't want to read verbatim we find the old complaint about excesses committed by the Higher SS and Police Leader. I do not think I have to read this in detail.
This brings mo to yet another affidavit, which is Geitner Document 135, on page 68 of Geitner Document Book 5, and this will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 113. This affidavit was executed by Prince FriedrichFerdinand Schleswig-Holstein-Glueckburg, who, as he states, was auxiliary officer in the Ia Department, Strategic and Tactical Planning Staff of the Commanding General and Military Commander in Serbia, during the period from 12 July 1942 until January 1943.
The affiant first of all checked on detail on General von Geitner's attitude toward reprisal measures, and he does that in paragraph 1a. There is nothing new in his statements because we have heard about these facts before, and therefore I can leave this out for the moment.
However, on Page 69 there is a paragraph which I would like to read, approximately towards the middle of the page, two sentences after Paragraph "B". I would like to read that because there is an immediate connection between this statement and the record of this trial of 23rd October 1943, Page 4809 and Page 4810 of this record. The affiant says here, two sentences after Paragraph "B", on Page 69:
"Prisoners of the Dragha Mihailovic movement, who were captured during mopping-up operations in the fall of 1942, von Geitner saved from getting into the hands of the Higher SS and Police Leader by having these people removed to prisoner of war camps in Germany, without informing this official. At such a removal the Dragha. Mihailovic officers Tribedjanin and Djurie escaped and returned to Serbia."
This is the end of my quotation from Paragraph "B," through which the Defendant von Geitner wants to prove that he wont much further than was his duty in even treating captured band members as PW's.
I shall now go on to read from Paragraph "C," on Page 69, towards the bottom of the page.
"The chief of staff endeavored to substitute reprisal measures with regular trial procedures, in order to eliminate the possibility, under all circumstances, that innocent people were punished, This intention failed to materialize, because material, which was obtained by the radio control, and supplied by Lt. Wollny, would have been introduced as evidence against those insurgents concerned. Because of a secrecy ruling this material was not permitted to be used for such a purpose. When the Chief of Staff mentioned this plan, the Senior Intelligence Staff protested against it. These persons, under special obligation to observe the secrecy ruling, could not allow the release of secret information of the radio control."
That's the end of my quotation. The Defendant attaches particular importance to the fact that it is being confirmed here--which had been mentioned in a document of the Prosecution,--namely, that he made even reprisal measures dependent on a judicial procedure and judicial decision.
On Page 70, the affiant goes on to deal with a chapter which is also dealt with in the record of this trial of the 27th of October, on Pages 4757, and he says in Paragraph 2 on Page 70:
"General Bader, in the capacity of judiciary and holding executive powers in Serbia, reserved for himself the right to pass decisions and to give orders regarding reprisal measures. During discussions he mentioned this several times. When he was present, General Bader always signed the reprisal orders himself. When he was away on leave or official business the Chief of Staff always made it a special point that the deputy, who had been appointed, at all times gave the orders regarding reprisal measures himself."
The Chief of Staff mentioned here is General von Geitner. This is Paragraph 2, which the Defendant von Geitner thinks to be of importance because what is said here coincides with his own statements, according to which he was excluded from reprisal measures and had no say in them.
In Paragraph 3 the affiant goes on to say on Page 70:
"Time and again, by orders and hints of the highest commands, ruthless and energetic measures were commanded for sabotage and murder actions. Inquiries by the High Command of the Armed Forces, what the Commanding General and Military Commander in Serbia had ordered and planned to execute by way of reprisals, after acts of sabotage and what steps had been taken to prevent such acts, were frequently passed on by phone. I mention this to prove that the command staff was thoroughly controlled and supervised. As a result, reports of sabotage and assassinations - when it could be assumed that they were not reported via other channels - were deliberately withheld. Thus, reports on executed reprisal measures for such cases were unnecessary."
That's my quotation from Paragraph 3. At further paragraphs of his affidavit the affiant goes on to describe in detail the procedure which was taken, namely, that people in the Staff--therefore General von Geitner--made efforts to camouflage their orders to higher agencies so that in this manner they could keep reprisal measures on the lowest possible level.
The result is described by the affiant towards the middle of Page 71: "By this method the execution of actual reprisal measures often was not carried out, as, counted in numbers. the actually to be effected reprisal quota had been met. Herr von Geitner and General Bader were informed about this kind of reporting and approved of it."
That is the end of the quotation, and this expresses that the Defendant von Geitner approved and sponsored this camouflage method of reporting so that reprisal measures could be restricted to the greatest extent possible.
Finally, the affiant makes a statement to the effect as to how he has this complete knowledge and he says:
"I am making the above statements as, in. 1942. I had the task to compile those daily reports within the Strategic and Tactical Planning Staff. By that, both reports on acts of sabotage and slayings given by the subordinate departments and the Field General Staff and reports on successes, came to me for compilation. I could use them as required. This method had only one danger, i.e. that acts which should be met by reprisals according to orders, were forwarded in reports of other commands."
The affiant goes on to relate in detail how that was possible. He points to the danger which could have existed if these inexactitudes of the Staff had been found out. This affiant also has duly sworn to his statements and his signature was properly certified.
Document No. 136, on Page 73 of Geitner Document Book V, will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 114. This is an affidavit executed by General Otto Gullmann. According to his statements he was German Plenipotentiary in Albania, during the period of time from 1 June 1944 to 28 August 1944. He describes the constant battle waged by General von Geitner against intervening of all kinds of officers, and towards the end of the page, namely, Page 73, he relates how, on the occasion of the complaint made by General Gullmann because of intervening of an SS agency, it was General von Geitner who promised his assistance against this interference and actually supported him soon afterwards.
I recommend tills affidavit to the judicial notice of the Tribunal, and I shall immediately come to deal with the next document.
This is Geitner Document No. 137, on Page 75 of Geitner Document Book V, and this will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 115. This is an affidavit executed by Dr. Carl-Heinz Kunde. He was First Lieutenant in the Staff of the German Plenipotentiary General in Albania, and he was a member of the 117th Light Infantry Division during the period from January 1944 to April 1945. He gives examples and relates the chivalrous attitude shown by General von Geitner. In Paragraph 2 towards the bottom of Page 75, and towards the top of Page 76, he talks about relief actions granted to civilian agencies. Here General von Geitner gave all kinds of instructions in order to improve the medical and other installations in Serbia. In the last but one paragraph, on Page 76, the affiant mentions the following example, and I quote from the last but, one paragraph on Page 76:
"When the head of the British military mission, General Davis, fell into German hands with a serious abdominal wound, the well-known surgeon. Professor Schoenbauer was expressly brought by plane from Vienna to treat him. As General Davis later assured me, he had only this German attention to thank for his recovery."
This is the end of my quotation from Paragraph 2, and in this connection General von Geitner told me that he considered all this as a matter of course, but that unfortunately it had to be mentioned expressly in order to correct the completely wrong picture which was created by the one-sided evidence submitted by the Prosecution.
This brings me to the next document, which is Geitner Document No. 139, contained in Geitner Document Book V. It will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 116 on Page 78. I repeat: Geitner Document No. 139, Page 78, Geitner Document Book V, Geitner Exhibit No. 116. This document deals with several statements which were made during this trial on the 23rd of October 1947, and they are contained on Page 4807 of the record of this trial. These statements are somewhat connected with a document submitted by the Prosecution, which is Document NOKW-668, which is Exhibit No. 440 of the Prosecution. This document is contained in Document Book XVIII of the Prosecution, Page 87 of the German text, and Pages 88 and 89 of the English text. This document deals with the Jewish problem and with actions of the SS Skanderbeg Division. The affiant who made the statements here is Dietz Freiherr von Thuengen. During the war he was chief with the liaison staff with the Albanian Government. That is, with the Plenipotentiary German General in Albania. He was in this position in the period from December 1943 until September 1944. The affiant says, on Page 78:
I remember that the SS Skanderbek Division arrested Jews in large numbers. The occurrence was reported in due time by Prizren Field Headquarters with reference to the completely illegal behavior, which was contrary to orders, of the Regimental Commander of the SS Skanderbek Division residing in Prizren. At the order of his superior officer the undersigned which Baron von Thuengen then phoned the above-named commander. A vigorous dispute developed, since the commander tried to contest the (completely unimpeachable) jurisdiction of the Authorized General. Thereupon complaints were made about the behavior of the commander in Prizren to both the Commanding General in Tirana (13th Army Corps) and the Higher SS and Police Leader and it was requested that he be reprimanded.
This was certainly done by the Commanding General, and von Fitzthun indeed promised to do so, but as a matter of fact he probably hardly did. Furthermore, this led to an order being sent out by the Authorized General to the Field Headquarters that such things were under no circumstances to be permitted in the future.
The above-mentioned SS division was subordinate to the Higher SS and Police Leader with respect to the service of the troops (and discipline?P, but only tactically to the Commanding General.
The affiant later on makes comments about the agreement between the Albanian Government. This is of no great interest here, but the Defendant von Geitner presents this document in order to show that because of the excesses committed by the SS Skanderbeg Division directed against Jews, the Commander in Serbia did everything in his power.
This brings me to Geitner Document No. 140. This document is contained on Page 80 of Geitner Document Book V, and it will become Geitner Exhibit No. 117. This is an affidavit executed by one Theobald Keyser, who, as we know, was, during the war, a member of the Economic Administration of Serbia, from April 1941 to October 1944. The affiant describes the endeavors of the Defendant von Geitner in an economic respect, namely, to sponsor Serbian economy. His statements are somewhat connected with the record of this trial of 24th October 1947, which is on Page 4841, and also with Document NOKW-717 of the Prosecution, which is Exhibit No. 435 of the Prosecution. It is contained in Document Book XVIII of the Prosecution on Page 26. I am making reference to these pages so that the Tribunal may easily find those documents and those pages in the record to which this affidavit refers.
The next document to offer will be Geitner Document No. 141, which is contained on Page 82 of Geitner Document Book V, and which will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 118. This is an affidavit made by the same affiant, Theobald Keyser, and these statements are connected with Document NOKW-1774, which is Exhibit No. 583 of the Prosecution.
This document is contained in Document Book XXV of the Prosecution, on Page 110. It was dealt with in the record of this trial of 24th of October 1947, or Page 4841. The Problem here is the question of the Economic Administration, but the affidavit makes it clear that the Chief of Staff of the Operational Department, that is, the Defendant von Geitner, was not competent for this question.
The next document to offer will be Geitner Document No. 142, on Page 85 of Geitner Document Book V, and it will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 119. It is an affidavit executed by one Otto Gescher, who, during the war, was IIb with the Military Commander Southeast from January to October 1944. This document has also been duly sworn to and properly certified, as being submitted for the purpose of showing that the Military Commander, in the event of his absence, was not automatically represented by the Chief of Staff, but that a deputy was appointed by a higher agency. The affiant says, on Page 85, towards the middle of the page:
In Spring 1944 General Felber left Belgrade for a leave of absence. I can, unfortunately, not remember the exact date. Artillery of General Beig who had moved to Belgrade from Tirana in Albania for this time and this purpose, acted as his deputy while he was on leave, taking up quarters at the Casino of the so-called 1st Echelon.
I furthermore confirm that leave was usually started one day ahead of time and ended on the day following the last. This additional time was naturally utilized by going on leave one day ahead of time and arriving at Belgrade on the day following the last day of leave.
The statements of this affiant have been duly sworn to and properly certified.
This brings me to the next document, No. 143, which will become Geitner Exhibit No. 120. This document is contained on Page 86 of Geitner Document Book V. I beg your pardon; I shall withdraw this document.
I'm not offering Geitner Document No. 143 in evidence because this happens to be a witness who is a resident of Nuernberg, and the affidavit is of no particular importance any way. In Geitner Document Bock V, with which we are dealing at the moment, the last document is Geitner Document No. 14, which I shall offer as Geitner Exhibit No. 120. This is on Page 87 of the Document Book. It is Document No. 144, on Page 87.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: There is no such document in our Document Book. No. 144 seems to be absent.
DR. SAUTER: It runs from Page 87 to Page 91.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: The last page in our Document Book is Page 86, and it's marked "The End." Neither does it appear to be in Document Book VI.
DR. SAUTER: I just notice, Your Honor, that this last document, which is properly contained in the German Document Book, is not contained in the English version. Why this is so I do not know, but perhaps we can circumvent this difficulty and this for the following reason: This last document which I wanted to offer from Document Book V is Document No. 144, and it contains excerpts from the Rules of Land Warfare, which, as I have seen, are contained in other document books for other defendants and have, as such, already been submitted; and, furthermore, I assume that in any case the Tribunal will have those regulations handy and, of course, will notice them. I shall today, then, not present Document No. 144 because it is not contained in the English version. If Your Honors please, this brings me to the last Document book, which is Geitner Document Book VI. This book contains Documents 145 through 200. This Document Book, Geitner Document Book VI, comprises a number of affidavits concerning General von Geitner's character and personality. Mainly, howrever, this Document Book contains excerpts from Situation Reports of the Commanding General and Commander in Serbia, from Daily Reports etc. That is, it contains excerpts from documents which we received from Washington. We are presenting these documents in excerpts to the Tribunal.
First of all, we have three documents in Document Book VI which belong together. They are: Document No. 145, on page 1, which will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 120; and Document 146 on page 2 which will become Geitner Exhibit 121; and then there is Geitner Document 147 on page 3 which will become Geitner 122. These three documents are affidavits executed by well esteemed citizens of the town Schneeberg in the Erzgebirge. This is the town where the defendant was born and where he lived and where until 1939 he worked as the owner of a factory. These three Inhabitants in the three documents mentioned, namely 145, 146 and 147, gave an opinion concerning General von Geitner's character and personality, and they comment on his political attitude about which there can be no doubt, and they have mentioned that because of this attitude in '34, the defendant von Geitner was discharged from his post as a Standartenfuehrer because his national socialist conviction proved to be insufficient. The affiants go on to comment on defendant General von Geitner's examplary, helpful attitude which he showed to his fellow citizens. I recommend these documents to the notice of the Tribunal but from page one I would like to read the last sentence of Document 145, and this sentence reads--it is the last sentence of page one:
"The persecution of Jews he severely critized in meetings, particularly the excesses of the SA in Aue - which is a town in the Erzgebirge - against the Jews by smashing up of residence etc."
These three documents which I have dealt with as one entity are all duly sworn to and properly certified.
The next document to deal with is Geitner Document 148 which will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 123, and this document is contained on page 4 of Geitner Document Book VI. This is an affidavit, quite a brief one, executed by Baron Thuengen, and the affiant states that he was Chief of the Liaison Staff with the Albanian government. He comments on the anti-Jewish action carried out by the SS Division Skanderbey in Albania. These Jews, by order of the Commanding General, were released or were to be released.
That is why the affiant comments on this action. He affirms that the Military Commander Serbia had no influence at all on the arrest of these Jews.
This brings me to the next document which is Geitner Document No. 149 on page 5 of Geitner Document Book VI and this will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 124. I don't want to read this particular document. It deals with the cunning acts committed by the Draja Mihailovic movement and the document is signed "On order of (Signed) Geib, General of the Artillery."
You happen to see here another document signed by General Geib of whom we heard that he was deputy of General Felber whenever the latter was absent. This also becomes clear from the document 142 which I read this afternoon. This is contained on page 85 of the Geitner Document Book V. It is the same General von Geib as the one mentioned previously.
This brings me to the next Document 150, which will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 125. This document is contained on page 6 of Geitner Document Book VI and it refers again to the treacherous conduct of war executed by the Draha Mihailovic movement where the partisans appear in German uniform, an act which of course is not admissible under international law. Document 151 on page 7 of Geitner Document Book VI will be offered as Geitner Exhibit 126. It describes the atrocious cruelties committed by the insurgents, mutilations of fallen or captured German soldiers, plunder, and lootings of the corpses, atrocious wounds on the corpses. There is, for instance, one dead German soldier mentioned who was nailed to the hard, frozen ground by a bayonet. The bayonet had been stuck through the head of the deceased.
I recommend this document also to the notice of the Tribunal whereupon undoubtedly the Tribunal will ask the question whether or not this was an action in compliance with the regulations of international law.
This will bring me to document 153, which will be offered as Geitner exhibit 127. It is contained on page 10 of Geitner document book 6. I don't want to read this document. It also deals with the usual sabotage and surprise activities of the insurgents.
The next document, which is Geitner document 154, will be offered as Geitner exhibit 128. This is contained on page of 11 Geitner document book 6 end this document also deals with sabotage acts commited by the insurgents end directed against German troops. Along one telephone line 150 telephone poles had been cut down. The last sentence is of possible interest, it says:
"Disarming of the Italian Commands stationed within the Command area an transporting them off, while the population gave a demonstration of its sympathy without any incidents. Approximately 1 000 members of the Italian army transported out of Serbia altogether (not counting transports passing through)."
This quotation proves that the transportation of the Italians which had left the Alliance was carried out in the proper manner.
The next document is Geitner document 155 and this will be offered as Geitner exhibit 129, it is contained on page 12 of document book 6. This document is proof that the counter actions of the military Commander Serbia directed against the excesses of the partisans did have a certain success, that is to say they were not useless. It then further describes the conduct of the war of the partisans during battles between the individual units.
This brings me to Geitner document 156.
MR. FULKERSON: No. 128, is the English version that I have does not show what exactly this report is, Doctor. It shows that it is a report, but from whom or to whom does not appear. I object to it on that grounds.
DR. SAUTER: I shall refer back now to document 154. I beg your pardon. This is a document, which was also found among the documents which were received from Washington. Of course, we cannot do any more than present this document, we cannot make any additional remarks to this document.
THE PRESIDENT: Can you describe it as a report of what unit, from what war diary or how can we tell from what document it is, what is it a copy of
DR. SAUTER: I shall make inquiry about this point and perhaps I can make an explanation tomorrow morning. At the moment, I am not informed concerning this question.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: Very well, the Tribunal will recess until (9:30 tomorrow morning.)
(A recess was taken until 0930 hours, 23 December 1947.)
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
Official transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America, against Wilhelm List, et al, defendants, sitting at Nuernberg, Germany, on 23 December, 0930, Justice Carter presiding.
THE MARSHAL: All persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal V. Military Tribunal V is now in session. God save the United States of American and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshal, you will ascertain as to whether or not all the defendants are present in the Courtroom.
THE MARSHAL: May it please Your Honor, all the defendants are present in the Courtroom with the exception of the Defendant von Weichs, who is in the hospital.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Carter will preside at this day's session.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: You may proceed, Dr. Sauter.
DR. SAUTER (Defense Counsel for Defendant von Geitner): If Your Honors please, first of all, I would like to have a correction entered into the record with reference to exhibit numbers. I have checked on some of the exhibit numbers, and I would like to suggest that documents No. 111, No. 112, and No. 113 -- three documents which belong together be given Exhibit Nos. 28A, 29A, and 30A, respectively. This will have to be done because in a different context these exhibit numbers have been used previously. To repeat, Geitner Documents No. 111 will become Exhibit No. 28A; Geitner Document No. 112 will become Exhibit 29A; and Geitner Document No. 113 will become Exhibit No. 30A--so that we don't use the same exhibit number for two different documents.
I would further like to suggest that Geitner Document No. 28 become Geitner Exhibit No. 64A. I repeat -
Geitner Document No. 28 will become Geitner Exhibit No. 64A, and this will have to be done because the Exhibit No. 64 has been used for another document, and this was Geitner Document No. 80. In this way we shall be able to prevent any misunderstanding and errors.
I shall now turn back to Geitner Document Book VI. Part of the documents contained in this Document Book I presented already yesterday. I hope to be able to soon be finished with the balance of this Document Book. First of all, there is another addition which I would like to make, and this concerns Geitner Document No. 154--that is on Page 11 of Geitner Document Book VI, and it was given Geitner Exhibit No. 128. The Prosecution asked yesterday who compiled this five-day report, dated the 15th of September 1943 and from which agency this report was issued -- this report which is Geitner Document No. 154. From the photostat copy which was handed to the Secretary General it becomes apparent that this document is signed "Military Commander Southeast, Ia," and that the report was directed to the OKH; that is the High Command of the Army. That is what I would like to add with reference to this document in order to answer the question of the Prosecution. What I said just now with reference to Geitner Document No. 154 also applies to the next document which I dealt with yesterday. That is Document No. 155, Geitner Exhibit No. 129. This is on Page 12 of Geitner Document Book VI. It is, again, one of the usual reports from the Military Commander Southeast, Ia, and it is addressed to the OKH. I had finished yesterday with Document No. 156, in Geitner Document Book VI, on Page 13 of this Document Book. It will be given Geitner Exhibit No. 130. This document, if your Honors please, belongs to those approximately one hundred documents which were, at a later date, sent to us from Washington. It is an annex to the War Diary. It contains the diary of a Serbian partisan.
This diary was obviously captured at the time by German troops and, as a cultural document, it was added to the War Diary of the unit concerned. Together with the War Diary this document fell into the hands of the Allies, and thus it eventually came to Washington; from Washington it was sent back to us to Nuernberg. This is how we gained knowledge of this partisan diary. We are submitting this document because it gives an interesting insight into the psychological and the mental attitude, and into the opinions of such a Serbian partisan, and particularly because it is to prove that, according to their own notes, the Serbian partisans had women and children amongst those under arms, and that women and children helped them, supported them, and were used in the fighting. Such women and children were, as can be seen from this document, praised in song and idolized. Seen from the Serbian point of view this is quite comprehensible; however, it does not seem to be in accordance with the meaning of International Law and of the provisions of the Hague Rules for Land Warfare. This document, of which I have submitted the photostat as Exhibit No, 130, also shows the fierce ethnic battles between individual partisan groups and the individual tribes. It shows the hatred and the cruelty with which such battles were waged. From this whole document, which is rather extensive, I only read the last sentence on Page 14. Here the author of this partisan diary writes on Page 14, towards the middle, approximately, and "Page 32" is underlined:
"It is two things which shocked me most of all in Busnia, and dampened my spirits: the thirst for blood and the filth. The Chetniks massacre the Moslems and the Catholics, the Ustaschen, the Pravoslavs. They massacre, sack, annihilate whole villages, even annihilating their families. And those people were mostly the victims of the Italians, those perfidious occupyers, for they have armed and fed the Chetniks.
And I should say that these bloodthirsty ones, who like best to search for the hiding places of our wounded, are really elated about this fratricide. These hyenas, these vultures! An abyss of terror opened up before me and my thoughts. How was this preserved in our nation throughout the centuries? What or who is responsible for it? Is it possible that Cain is still lurking and alive in the depths of our consciousness?"
This is the quotation which I did not want to withhold from the Tribunal because people like us here or on the other side of the Ocean can only, with difficulty, understand the mentality of the people of the Balkans.
This brings me to the next document, which is Document No. 157, Exhibit No. 131, on Page 15 of Geitner Document Book VI. I don't want to read this document in detail. It contains a report from the Military Commander Serbia. That is, General Felber, who was the Defendant von Geitner's second commander. The report is addressed to the Commander in Chief Southeast, Army Group F, and it concerns the fighting value of the Bulgarian occupation troops. In this way it concerns the endeavous of General Felber to get reinforcements of the troops at his disposal. He did that in order to restrict reprisal measures wherever possible. All these exhibits which show the efforts for a reinforcement of the German troops General von Geitner is only offering to the Tribunal for the purpose of showing that everything possible was done to limit reprisal measures wherever possible and do without them wherever possible.
The next document is Geitner Document No. 158, on Page 16 of Geitner Document Book VI, and it will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 132. Here, again, I don't want to read the details of this document. It concerns the contradictory orders from higher agencies, and it is to show how difficult it was for the Commander in Serbia to cope with the administration, since several other agencies existed in that area, which were not subordinated to him. This document also shows the efforts on the part of the Military Commander Serbia, whose Chief of Staff was the Defendant von Geitner, for the abolishment of collective measures; but these efforts were objected to by the Higher SS and Police Leader Meyszner. It so happens that here, again, we have a note which bears out General von Geitner's statements along these lines, and this is one sentence on Page 17 of this document, under VI. I am reading from this sentence, and the heading is "Reprisal Measures.": 8177 "Collective measures to be stopped.
Meyszner opposes this. Neubacher today: Himmler's method is to be changed. Modifications."
From the handing "Reprisal Measures" it can be seen, for the evaluation of this brief passage, that in the oral report to Field Marshal von Weichs it was to be expressed that reprisal measures were to be mitigated. The heading of this document reads "oral report to the Commander in Chief Southeast, Field Marshal von Weichs, on 20 October 1943." This oral report, which cannot be seen from the document itself--that is indicated by the initials at the end of it--was held by the Defendant von Geitner himself.
This brings me to the next document, which is Document No. 159, on Page 18 of Geitner Document Book VI. This will be offered as Geitner Exhibit No. 133. This, again, is an oral report by the Higher SS and Police Leader in Serbia, whose name was Meyszner, to the Commander in Chief Southeast, on 29th August 1942. That is, an oral report by the same Meyszner whom I mentioned when discussing the last document. From this document it becomes apparent that the Higher SS and Police Lender was independent in relation to the Military Commander in Serbia, whose Chief of Staff was the Defendant von Geitner. The document also shows Meyszner's attitude towards the Serbian population, which was in contrast to the attitude held by the Defendant von Geitner. It is said in the document:
"By Fuehrer order dated 23 January 1942 a Higher SSand Police Leader was appointed for Serbia, and I, That is Meyszner was commissioned to fill this position. According to the Fuehrer order the following responsibilities come under my jurisdiction:
1.) Coordinating all police matters, which are to be submitted to the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, according to distribution plan concerning official business as well as, especially, the supervision, organization, and deployment of Serbian police forces."
From this oral report of the Higher SS and Police Leader Meyszner it can be seen that he, in his sphere at least, according to his own opinion, was completely independent. As the Tribunal can gather from this document, he does not mention the Military Commander for Serbia at all. He leaves him out altogether, and he feels himself to be completely independent; and that is why we submit this document.
The next document, is Geitner Document No. 160, on Page 19, of Geitner Document Book VI, and will become Geitner Exhibit No. 134, It is a communication from General Bader, who was the first commander and superior of the Defendant von Geitner. The communication is dated the 12 of January 1943, and it is addressed to the Bulgarian Occupation Corps. It is a communication dated the 12th of January 1943, and it is said in the report by Bader:
"The following decision has been made according to application. After 8 suspicious persons had been arrested by Bulgarian troops these persons were shot dead when they tried to escape. By the death of those 8 suspects the attack is considered expiated. Further shootings of expiation prisoners or hostages must not be executed."
The signature is "Bader, Commanding General and Military Commander in Serbia."
We have submitted this document as a renewed example for the fact that General Bader also conscientiously checked applications for reprisal measures, and he rejected them if he didn't think he could take the responsibility for them.