Official German Journal, 1940, Page 22. The Ordinance is entitled "Concerning the Introduction of the German Regime in Alsace." I shall not read this Ordinance. I simply indicate that its object is to put into effect from 1 October 1940 the German municipal regime of 30 January 1935.
The body of the text and the body of the organization show that the territories annexed were re-organized on the basis of German administration concepts. At the head of each arrondissement we have no longer the French sub-prefect but a Landkommissar, who has under his orders the different offices of Finance, Labor, School Inspection, Commerce, and Health. The large towns, the seats of arrondissements and even of cantons, were endowed with a Stadtkommissar instead of and in place of the eliminated mayors and municipal counsellors.
The judiciary offices were attached to the Gaus, who were court of appeals. The agricultural services, and in particular, the chambers of commerce, were carried out by the representatives of the chambers of commerce of Karlsruhe for Alsace and of Saarbruecken for Moselle.
After having Germanized the forms of the administrative activity, the Germans undertook to Germanize the personnel. They named numerous German officials to posts of authority.
They attempted, moreover, on a number of occasions, to have the officials who had remained in office signed declarations of loyalty to the Germans. These attempts, however, not the refusal of the officials. They were renewed on a number of occasions in different forms. We have been able to recover in the archives of the Gauleiter of Strasbourg ten different formulas of these declarations of loyalty. I shall produce one of these for the Tribunal, by way of example. This is Document 714:
"Formula of the new declaration which the officials are obliged to sign if they wish to keep their employment:" There are blanks for the date, name and first name, grade, and domicile, and Service.
"I have been engaged since ________________ 1940 up to this date in a public service of the German administration in Alsace. During this period I have had occasion through my own observation, as well as through the Party and the authorities, verbally and in writing, to learn the obligations of the German official and the requirements which are exacted of him from the point of view of policy and general opinion:
I approve these obligations and these requirements without reservation and am resolved to be ruled by them in my personal and professional life. I give my adherance to the German people and to the National Socialist ideals of Adolph Hitler."
Along with the administration, properly speaking, the Nazis set up in Alsace the parallel administration of the National Socialist Party, as well as that of the Arbeitsfront, which was the sole labor organization.
German legislation on currency was introduced to Alsace 19 October and to Lorraine 25 October 1940. The Empire Mark became henceforth the legal means of payment in the annexed territory.
The German judiciary organization was introduced by a series of successive measures which led to the decree of 30 September 1941 concerning the simplification of the judiciary organization in Alsace. I produce this ordinance as Document 715.
In regard to teaching, the German authorities established a series of regulations and of ordinances which were aimed at assuring integration into the German teaching system. I shall simply mention the dates of these chief documents, which we produce as documents and which are documents of a public nature, since they were all published in the Official Journal in Germany.
Here are the Chief texts:
Document 717, regulation of 2 October 1940.
Document 718, ordinance of 24 March 1941 on elementary teaching in Alsace.
Document 719, ordinance of 21 April 1941 concerning the allocation of subsidies in Alsace.
Document 720, ordinance of 11 June 1941 on obligatory education in Alsace.
I now quote a series of measures regarding the introduction in Alsace and Lorraine of German civil law, German criminal law, and likewise, procedure. I shall quote as the most important, under Document 721, the ordinance of 19 June concerning the application of the provisions of German legislation to Alsaciens. I should like to read the first paragraph of Article 1 because it indicates a notion which is interesting:
"Article 1. (1) The state of persons who have acquired French nationality by virtue of the appendix to Articles 51 to 319 of the dictate of Versailles, as well as the state of persons who hold their nationality from this source, notably as regards the personal status and the right of family, are ruled by the legislation in force in the old Empire as rights of their country of origin, to the extent to which this legislation provides for the application of the laws of the country of origin."
A similar ordinance was drawn up for Lorraine-- Document 722, ordinance of 15 September 1941 concerning the application of German legislation to personal and family status in Lorraine. German Official Bulletin, page 817.
I should like now to quote, indicating the titles and the references, the principal measures which have been introduced in the penal sphere.
Document 723, notice of 14 February 1941 relative to the penal dispositions declared applicable in Lorraine by virtue of Section 1 of the second ordinance concerning certain measures in the domain of justice.
Document 724, ordinance of 29 October 1941 relative to the introduction to Alsace of the German legislation of penal procedure and of other penal laws.
Document 725, ordinance of 30 January 1942 relative to the introduction to Alsace of the German penal code and other penal laws.
I do not wish to read the text which is so long, but I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to two features which show that the Germans introduced into Alsace the most extraordinary provisions of the penal law, conceived from the point of view of the National Socialist regime.
The Tribunal will see this in this document 725, page 1 Under Number 6 of the enumeration that the law of 20 December 1934 repressing perfidious attacks directed against the State and the Party and protecting the uniforms of the Party.
The ordinance of 25 November 1939 completed the penal provisions tending to the protection of the military power of the German people.
As concerns public freedom, the Germans eliminated from the beginning the right of association, and they dissolved all such associations. They intended to leave free room for the Nazi system, which involves the single and obligatory association.
I shall quote in the same way a number of documents, with the titles of these texts, which are public:
Document 727, regulation of 22 August 1940, setting up a supervising commissariat for associations in Lorraine.
Document 728, regulation of 3 September 1940 introducing the dissolution of unions of teachers.
I point out in regard to this document 728, that the last article provide an exception in favor of the organization called Union of National Socialist Teachers.
Document 729, regulation of 3 September 1940, introducing the dissolution of gymnastic societies and of sports associations in Alsace.
I should like to read Article 4 of this document 729:
"My commissar of Physical Sulture will make in regard to other gymnastic societies and sports associations in Alsace all necessary provisions in view of their integration into the Empire National Socialist Union for Physical Culture."
In the process of the organization of Germanism, we now encounter two texts which are very characteristic, and which I produce as documents number 730 and 731. Of Document 730 I read simply the title, which is characteristic "Ordinance of 7 February 1942 relative to the creation of an Office of Geneological Research of the Upper Rhine."
I shall likewise read the title of document 731: "Regulation of 17 February 1942 concerning the creation of the Service of the Official German Commissar for the Strengthening of Germanism."
I indicated a moment ago to the Tribunal that the Party had been establish ed in Alsace and in Lorraine in a way that Was parallel with the administration I shall produce in this connection Document 732, which is a confidential note of the National Socialist Workers Party of the country of Badd, dated Strasbourg, 5 March 1942. This document is likewise part of the series found in the files of the Gauleiter of Strasbourg. It bears as a heading, "Direction of the Gau -- Auxiliary Bureau of Strasbourg."
If the Tribunal please, I shall read the beginning of this document:
"Evaluation of possible adherences to the Party, to its subdivisions and to the groups to it in Alsace.
"In the framework of the action of 19 June organized for the recruiting of members of the Party, the Kreisleiter in collaboration with the Ortsgruppenleiter, is to establish for the Alsaciens above the age of 18, even if their membership has not been obtained within the framework of the action --" The word "qui" has been omitted in the text. "who are to be considered as future members of the Party, of its subdivisions and of the group connected with it; who are, moreover, the men between the ages of 17 and 48 who may be employed in an active manner in the Party or in its subdivisions. These evaluations are equally to include, in order that we may same obtain a view of the whole, the persons already enrolled in the Party, in the Opferring -- " This is the collecting organization for the Party. "--its subdivisions and affiliated groups. The Kreisleiter may call upon the collaboration of the Kreisorganizationsleiter--" These are the organizing directors of the arrondissement. "--and of the Kreispersonalamtsleiter--" The personnel informatuion bureau of the arrondissement. "The 19 June action, organized with a view to recruiting members, must not because of this be put into a second category, but must be carried on by all means toward the purpose indicate by the Director of the Gau, and must be concluded at the date specified.
"The results of the investigation of the population are to be set out in five lists; namely:
"List 1 a "List 1 b "List 2 a "List 2 b "Control list."
I shall skip over the following paragraphs, which are a little long and purely administrative, and I shall continue on page 2 of the document, paragraph 9.
"The objective of the National Socialist movement being that of putting all Germans into a National Socialist organization in order to be able to influence and the lead them in toward the ends of the movement, it will be necessary to feature on List 1(a) and (b), 2(a) and (b), ninety percent of the population, and on the control list solely those who shall have been considered unworthy of belonging to an organization led or supported by the Party; namely, persons of inferior rape of Germanophobes."
I shall now enter upon the two most serious questions which are directly connected, questions which, on the one hand, concern nationality, and, on the other hand, military recruiting.
The German policy in the matter of nationality reveals certain hesitation, and this hesitation is related to the German policy in regard to military recruiting. Indeed, the German leaders seem to have been drawn by two contradictory trends. One of these trends was that of conferring nationality very broadly, and this in order to impose in a corresponding manner the obligation of serving in the army. The other trend was that of conferring nationality only with discernment. In this view, it was considered, first of all, that nationality is an honor, and that in regard to persons who did not possess it to begin with it should, to a certain extent, constitute a reward. On the other hand, nationality gives to the one who possesses it a certain special quality. It gives the person, in spite of the abolition of all democracy, a certain element of influence in the German community. It should therefore be granted only to persons who give guarantees in this regard and what are not likely to abuse it.
These are guarantees of loyalty (and we know that in the German conception loyalty is not only a choice of spirit, but that it is inherent in the appraisal of physical qualities.
The well-known qualities are elements of blood, of race, and of origin).
These are the two opposed trends of the policy of Germany, in regard to nationality. This is how these developed:
For an initial period, until the month of August, 1942, the Reich, not yet feeling need for manpower as great as what they were to feel later, deferred the institution of obligatory recruiting. In a parallel manner, they deferred a general imposition of nationality. During this first period the Nazis, not making any obligatory recruitments, simply appealed to voluntary recruiting, which, however, they tried to increase by all manners of inducement and of pressure.
I shall not go into the detail of these German procedures with regard to voluntary recruitment. I should like simply to give by way of example the subject matter of document 733. It is an appeal that was posted in Alsace on the 15th of January, 1942. It constitutes one of the appendices of the governmental report, which was submitted under No. 472. In this document, I shall read simply the first sentence of the second paragraph:
"Alsatians: Since the beginning of the battles in the East, hundreds of Alsatians have freely decided to march as volunteers side by side with the men of other German regions against the enemy of civilization and of European culture, etc."
For anyone who knows the German propaganda and its technique of exaggeration, the term "hundreds", which is used in this document, is quite revealing of the failure which the Nazi recruiters had encountered. "Hundreds" must obviously be translated by tens, and it must be recognized that this was a very poor supply for the Wehrmacht.
During the period that I am speaking of the Nazis practised in regard to nationality a policy similar to that of its policy of recruitment for the military forces. They appealed to the volunteers of nationality. It is desirable to quote in this regard an ordinance of 20 January 1942, a general ordinance of the Reich, and not a special text, that was directed at the annexed territories.
This ordinance, in its first article, widens the possi-
bilities of naturalization in connection with conditions which, until then, had been very narrow for the Empire statute book, and in Article 3 it gives the following provision. This ordinance is not produced in the document book, for it is an ordinance of the German Empire and, therefore, a public document:
"The Empire Minister of the Interior may grant German nationality by means of a general regulation to categories of strangers established on a territory placed under the sovereign power of Germany or one having his origin in such territory."
Still, in connection with this first period, it is necessary to stress the the Alsatians and the Lorrainians who did not become German citizens did not for that keep their French nationality. They are all considered as German subjects. They are qualified in the documents of the period as members of the German community. This natably entails the consequence that they ore subject to the German labor service. I submit document 734 in this connection, regulation of 27 August 1942, on obligatory military service and on labor service in Alsace. I shall return to this document presently as concerns military service, but I would like to quote immediately the text relative to service in the Hitler Youth, the ordinance of the 2nd of January 1942 for Alsace, and ordinance of the 4th of August 1942 for Lorraine.
The German policy of nationality and of military recruiting comes to a turning point in the month of August 1942. At this moment, under the pressure of the military difficulties and of the necessity for extensive recruiting, the Germans instituted obligatory military service in Lorraine by an ordinance of the 19th of August 1942, and in Alsace by an ordinance of the 25th of August 1942. These two ordinances, relative to the setting up of obligatory military service, constitute document 735, ordinance for Lorraine, and document 736, ordinance for Alsace.
At the same time the Germans promulgated an ordinance of 23 August 1942 on German nationality in Alsace, in Lorraine, and in Luxembourg. This text is the subject of a circular of the Minister of Empire, which constitutes document No 737. I should like simply to summarize for the Tribunal the provisions of the various texts, which it would take long to read. These provisions are the following:
German nationality is acquired in full right for the Alsatians, the Lorrainians, and the Luxembourgers in the following cases: First, when they have been or will be called to serve in the armed forces of the Reich or in the SS armed formations: second, when they are recognized as having acted as good Germans.
As concerns the expression "of German origin," which is used in these tects, this concerns Alsations and Lorrainians who either have become French through the Treaty of Versailles or who have become French subsequently on the condition of having previously been German nationals, or on condition of having transferred their domicile from Alsace or from Lorraine to the territory of the Reich after 1st September 1939; and, finally, likewise considered as of German origin, are children, grandchildren, and spouses of the preceding categories of persons.
In the last place, it was anticipated that the Alsatians and Lorrainians and the Luxembourgers who did not acquire German nationality in an absolute manner could obtain it subject to revocation.
I should like to mention, to complete this question of nationality, that an ordinance of the 2nd February 1942 gave details as to the German laws on nationality applicable in Alsace, and that an ordinance of the 2nd November 1942 likewise gave German nationality to persons who had been in concentration camps during the time of war. The German texts indicate that, on the one hand, German nationality was imposed upon a great number of persons; and, on the other hand, that the Alsatians and the Lorrainians who were French were obliged to the exorbitant requirements and the truly criminal requirements of military service in the German army against their own country.
These military obligations were constantly extended by the call of successive classes, going even to the class of 1908.
These German exigencies provoked a solemn protest on the part of the French National Committee, which in London represented the Free French public authority. I should like to read to the Tribunal the text of this protest, which is dated 16 September 1942, and which I submit as document 739. I shall simply read the three paragraphs of the official protest, which constitutes the beginning of this document.
"Information Service of London:
"After having proclaimed in the course of the war the annexation of Alsace and of Lorraine, banished and stripped a great number of inhabitants, taken the most rigorous measures of Germanization, the Reich now constrains Alsatians and Lorrainians, declared German by the Reich, to serve in the German armies against their own compatriots and against the allies of France.
"The National Committee, defender of the integrity and of the unity of France, and trustee of the principle of rights of peoples, protests, in the face of the civilized world, against these new crimes committeed in contempt of international convention against the will of populations ardently attached to France.
"It proclaims as inviolable the right of Alsatians and of Lorrainians to remain members of the French family."
This protest could not be ignored by the Germans, for it was on a number of occasions read and commented on over the radio by the French National Commissioner of Justice, Professor Rene Cassin.
In regard to this solemn protest of France, I shall allow myself to quote the justifications, if one may use this term, which were furnished in a speech of the Gauleiter Wagner delivered in Colmar on the 20th of June 1943. This quotation is drawn from the Muehlhauser Tageblatt of 21 June 1943. In view of its importance I shall not deal with it simply as a quotation, but I produce it as a document and submit it as document No.740. The paper itself is with the Tribunal. I read the explanations of the Gauleiter Wagner, as they are reproduced in this newspaper under the title "Alsace will not Stand Apart":
"The decisive event for Alsace in 1942 was thus the introduction of obligatory military service. It cannot be part of my intention to justify from the juridical point of view a measure which strikes so deeply at the life of Alsace. There is no reason for making such a justification. Every decision which here touches the Greater German Reich is motivated and cannot be attacked as to its juridical form and its do facto form."
Naturally, the Alsatians and the Lorrainians refused to accept the criminal orders of the German authorities, and they undertook to avoid these by every means. The Nazis then decided to oblige them by pitiless measures. The frontiers were severely guarded, and the guards had orders to fire on the numerous recalcitrants who attempted to escape and cross the borders.
I should like to quote in this connection a sentence from a newspaper article, which is an article from the Dernieres Nouvelles de Strassbourg of the 28th of August 1942. This is document 741. This article relates the death of one of these men who refused to serve in the German army, and it concludes with the following sentence: "We insist quite particularly on the fact that the attempt to cross the frontier illegally is a suicidal attempt."
Naturally, the judicial penalties provided were applied with greater severity in a great number of cases. I do not consider that I should, bring to the Tribunal all the instances of these cases, which would be too long, but I should like simply to insist on the principle that governed this form of repression. I shall quote first of all a document which is quite characteristic of the conception which the German administration had of justice, and of the independence of judicial power. This is document 742. It is a part of a series of documents discovered in the Gauleitung's files. It is a teletype message dated Strasbourg, the 8th of June 1944, addressed by the Gauleiter Wagner to the Chief of the Court of Appeals of Karlsruhe. Its date is 8 June 1944. I shall read paragraph 2 of this document, which is on page 1 of the same document:
"It is particularly necessary in Alsace that the penalties pronounced against those who refuse to do military service shall produce an effect of intimidation, but the effect of intimidation cannot be obtained in the fear of personal danger to those who refuse to act, but the effect of intimidation can be achieved by the death penalty. All the more so, an Alsatian who emigrates with the intention of escaping military service generally counts on a forthcoming victory of the enemy powers and counts, in case of conviction on a penalty of deprivation of freedom and upon an imminent conclusion of the penalty. Consequently, for all attempts of illegal emigration, after the 6th of June 1944, in order to escape military service, it is required, aside from any other judicial practice in the old Reich, and in principle to apply the penalty of death, which is the only penalty provided."
But I shall wish to indicate that the consideration of personal risk, however great it might be, even that of, being killed at the frontier or being condemned to death, could not be sufficient to make the Alsatians and the Lorrainians accept the military obligation.
Thus the Nazis decided to have recourse to the only threat which could be effective. That was the threat of reprisals against families. From the 4th of September 1942, on, one could read in the Derniers Nouvelles de Strasbourg a notice entitled "Severe Sanctions against those who Neglect to Appear before the Revision Council". An extract from this notice constitutes document 743. I shall read from it:
"In the cases mentioned above it has been demonstrated that the parents have not given proof of authority in this regard. They have proved thereby that they have not yet understood the requirements of the present time, which can tolerate in Alsace only reliable persons. The parents of the above-named young men will therefore shortly be deported to the Altreich in order to acquire once more, in a center of National Socialists, an attitude in conform ity with the German spirit."
Thus the deportation of families was provided, not to punish a definite subordination, but now to sanction the failure to appear before the recruitment board.
In order to avoid repeated readings, I shall now present to the Tribunal under the heading of document No. 744, the ordinance of the 1st October 1943, for the repression for refusal to perform military service, official bulletin of 1943, page 152, I shall read the first two articles:
"Article 1: The chief of the civil administration in Alsace nay forbid residence in Alsace to deserters and to persons who fail to fulfill their military obligations or these of the obligatory labor service, as well as to members of their families. This prohibition of residence entails for persons of German origin who are affected by it their transplantation to the territory of the Empire through the delegate of the chief of the SS of the Empire, commissioner of empire for the strengthening of Germanism. The measures regarding property seizure, indemnity, etc. are regulated by the ordinance of the 2nd February 1943, concerning the regime of property of persons of German origin transplanted from Alsace to the territory of the Empire.
"2. Independently of the preceding measures, penal prosecution may be brought for violation of the provisions of the penal laws."
THE PRESIDENT:Exactly what did "German origin" mean? How far did it go?
M. FAURE:The term "souche Allemande", German origin, applies, as indicated in connection with the preceding text to the categories of persons who are in the following conditions: In the first place, persons who were in Alsace and Lorraine before the Treaty of Versailles and who became French by the Treaty; these persons who had German nationality before 1919 are considered as of German origin, as well as their children, their grandchildren, and their spouses. This involves a great majority of the population of the throe departments.
I continue reading paragraph 2 of the first article of document 744.
"Independently of the measures which precede, penal prosecutions may be brought for violation of the provisions of the penal laws. The members of the family, in the sense of Article 52, paragraph 2, of the Empire Penal Code, who bring proof of their serious efforts to prevent or dissuade the fugitive from committing his act, or avoiding the necessity of flight, shall not be punishable."
These abominable measures - the obligation of denunciation, of punishment inflicted upon the families - permitted the German authorities to bring about the enrolling of Alsatians and of Lorrainians, which for many of them had fatal consequences and which was for all of them a particularly tragic trial.
I must finally indicate, to conclude this part, that the Germans proceeded to the mobilization of women for war work. I produce as document 745 the ordinance of the 26th of January 1942, completing the war organization of the service of labor for the young women of Lorraine. We find an ordinance of the 2nd of. February 1943, concerning the declaration of men and women for the accomplishment of tasks of interest to national defense.
This is taken from the German official bulletin, 1943, page 26. This ordinance is relative to Alsace. The following document, 747, deals with Lorraine. This is an ordinance of 8 February 1943, concerning the declaration of men and women for tasks concerning the organization of labor. The Tribunal will note that the ordinance concerning Alsace had the expression "tasks of interest to national defense", whereas the ordinance relative to Lorrain specifies simply "concerning declaration of men and women for tasks concerning the organization of labor", but in principle those are the same. Article 1 of this second ordinance, document 747, has reference to the ordinance of the General Delegate for the Organization of Labor, relative to the declaration of men and women for tasks of interest to national defense, etc. It is thus a question of making not only men but women work for the German war effort. I shall read for the Tribunal an extract from a newspaper article which comments on this legislation and which comments likewise on the measures which the Gauleiter Wagner proposes to undertake in this connection. This constitutes document 748, taken from the newspaper Dernieres Nouvelles de Strasbourg, dated 23 February 1943.
"In his Karlsruhe speech the Gauleiter Robert Wagner stressed that measures of total moblization would be applied to Alsace, and that the authorities would abstain from any bureaucratic chicanery.
The Alsatian labor offices have already invited the first category of mobilizable young women to fill out the application blanks.
Here is the second passage of the same article.
"In principle, all the women who until the present have worked only at home, who have had to occupy themselves only with their husbands and who had no other relative, shall work a full day.
Many married persons who until then had never offered to help their women in the household work will be obliged to put their shoulder to the wheel.
They will work in the household and do errands. With a little goodwill, everything will work out.
The women who have received a professional education shall be put, if possible, into tasks that relate to their professions, on condition that they have an important bearing on the war effort.
This prescription applies only to all feminine professions which imply care given to other persons."
Here again a rather comical presentation should not prevent one from perceiving the odious character of these measures, which oblige French women to work for the German war effort.
THE PRESIDENT:We will adjourn now for ten minutes.
(A recess was taken from 15.30 to 15.40 hours.)
M. FAURE:Mr. Dodd would like to speak to the Tribunal concerning a question he wishes to put to the Tribunal.
MR. DODD:Mr. President, I ask to be heard briefly to inform this Tribunal that the affiant Andreas Pfaffenberger, whom the Tribunal directed the Prosecution for the United States to locate, if possible, has been located yesterday and he is here in Nurnberg today.
He is available for the cross-examination which, if I remember correctly, was requested by Counsel for the Defendant Kaltenbrunner.
THE PRESIDENT:Was his affidavit read?
MR. DODD:Yes, your Honor, it was,
THE PRESIDENT:It was read, was it?
MR. DODD:It was read.
THE PRESIDENT:It was read.
THE PRESIDENT: And on the condition that if he should be brought here for cross-examination?
MR. DODD:Yes, sir. He asked him to be brought, if I recall it.
THE PRESIDENT:Does Counsel for Kaltenbrunner wish to cross examine him now--I mean, not this moment--does he still wish to cross-examine him?
DR.KAUFFMAN (Counsel for Defendant Kaltenbrunner): I believe that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner would not need the testimony of this witness.
However, I would have to take this question up with him once more, for up until this time it was not certain that Kaltenbrunner would be in court, and if he is to be cross-examined and to testify, I believe Kaltenbrunner would have to be present at the hearing.
THE PRESIDENT:It seems somewhat unfortunate that the witness should be brought here for cross-examination and that then you should be saying that you don't want to cross-examine him, after reading the affidavit.
It seems to me that the reasonable thing to do would be to make up your mind whether you do, or do not, want to cross-examine him, and I should have thought that would have been done and he would have been brought here if you want to cross-examine and not brought here if you did not want to cross-examine.
Anyway, as he has been brought here now, it seems to me that if you want to cross-examine him you must do so.
Mr. Dodd, can he be kept here for some time?
MR. DODD:He can your Honor, except that he was in a concentration camp for six years, and we have to keep him here under certain security, and it is somewhat of a hardship on him to be kept too long.
We would like not to keep him any longer than necessary. We located him with some difficulty in the United States Forces.
DR. KAUFFMANN:In perhaps two or three days we might wish to cross-examine; perhaps two or three days.
THE PRESIDENT:I imagine that if after the affidavit had been read that you demanded to cross-examine him and that he has therefore been produced--well, in those circumstances it seems to me unreasonable that you should ask that he should now be kept for two or three days when he is produced.
Mr. Dodd, would it be possible to keep him here until Monday?
MR. DODD:Yes, he can be kept here until Monday.
THE PRESIDENT:We will keep him here until Monday, and you can cross-examine as you wish.
You understand v/hat I mean; when an affidavit has been put in and one of the Defense Counsel said that he wants to cross-examine him, he ought to inform the Prosecution if, after reading and considering the affidavit they find that they don't want to cross-examine him; they ought to inform the Prosecution so as to avoid all the cost and trouble of bringing a witness from some distance off.
Do you follow?
DR. KAUFFMANN:Very well, and thank you very much. Then I will proceed with the cross-examination on Monday.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
M. FAURE:Mr. President, I would ask the Tribunal whether they would agree to hear the witness Emil Reuter at this point?
(EMIL REUTER, a witness on behalf of the French Prosecution, takes the stand.)
THE PRESIDENT:What is your name?
THE WITNESS:Reuter, Emil.
THE PRESIDENT:Emil Reuter, do you swear to speak without hate nor fear, to say the truth, all the truth, only the truth?
Raise the right hand and say, "I swear."
(The witness answered in French.)
THE PRESIDENT:You may sit down.
DIRECT EXAMINATION.
BY M. FAURE:
QMr. Reuter, you were a lawyer of the Luxembourg Bar?
AYes.
QYou are President of the Chamber of Deputies in Luxembourg?
AYes.
Q You had been exercising these functions at the time of the invasion of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by the German troops?
AYes.
QCan you give us any indication on the fact that the Government of the Reich had a few days before the invasion of Luxembourg given to the Government of the Grand Duchy assurances of its specific intentions?
AAlready in the month of August 1939 the Minister for Germany in Luxembourg gave to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country a statement according to which the German Reich, in the event of an European war, would respect the independence and neutrality of the country, provided that the Luxembourg Grand Duchy should not violate its own neutrality.
A few days before the invasion, in the month of May, 1940, the Germans constructed pontoon bridges through half of the Moselle River which separates the two countries.
An explanation from the Minister for Germany in Luxembourg had for its purpose to represent such construction of pontoon bridges as landing in the interest of navigation.
In the general view of public opinion, these invasions were really of a military character.
QCan you state about the situation of public authorities in Luxembourg, following the departure of Her Royal Highness, Madame the Grand Duchess, and of her Government?
AThe continuity of general administration of the country was insured by a government commission which possessed the necessary powers which had been bestowed upon it by the competent constitutional authorities.
There was, therefore, no stopping of the power.
QIs it not true, however, that the Germans pretended--is it not true that the Germans claimed upon their arrival in that country that the Government had failed to carry out its functions, and following the departure of the Government there was no regular authority in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg?
AYes, indeed; the Germans did make such a declaration. The Minister of the Reich in Luxembourg made that statement before a Parliamentary Commission.
QDo I understand correctly that these statements on the part of the German authorities did, not in fact correspond to the truth inasmuch as you have told us that there did exist an organization for the administration of the country?
AThis statement did not correspond to the reality. It was obviously that of a usurping authority.
QMr. Reuter, the Germans never proclaimed by law the annexation of Luxembourg.
Do you consider that the totalitarian measure adopted by the Germans in that country was equivalent to annexation?
AThe measures that were taken by the Germans in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were obviously equivalent to an annexation of that country.
A few days after the invasion the leaders of the Reich in Luxembourg stated in public and official speeches that the annexation by law would occur at a time which would be freely selected by the Fuehrer.
The proof of this de facto annexation is shown in a neat and clear manner from the whole series of ordinances which the Germans published in the Grand Duchy.
QThe Germans organized in Luxembourg an operation which was called "Census."
In the formula that was placed before the inhabitants of Luxembourg to effect the census, there was one question concerning language, the maternal or usual language, and also another question as to the racial background of the individual.
Are you prepared to assert that in view of these two questions this census was considered as having the character of a plebiscite?
AAccording to the instructions which were published by the German authorities in connection with this census, it appeared that the political purpose was obvious; therefore public opinion never envisages this census except as a sort of attempt to achieve a camouflaged plebiscite and to effect by this census a political operation which would give the appearance of justification to the annexation which was then being considered.