"If an instance occurs which makes necessary the execution of hostages, according to my proclamation of August 22, 1941, the district leader in which the instance occurs should select from the list of hostages persons whose executions he wishes to propose to me. During this selection he must, as far as possible, select persons belonging to a circle which probably contains guilty persons."
"For executions, persons may not be proposed who are in custody at the time of the crime.
"The proposal must give the number of the persons who are proposed for execution, the number among which the order was commanded, and the names of those for which the order was given."
I read now at the very end of Paragraph VIII:
"At the time of the internment or burial of the bodies, we must avoid, through a common grave of a considerable number of persons in the same cemetery that shrines for pilgrims may thus be created which, now or later, a become centers for the propagation of anti-German propaganda. For that reason, as far as possible, the burial must take place in different localities."
Belgium an order of Falkenhausen of 17 September 1941, which you will find on page 6 of the official report on Belgium, No. 643, which I shall submit under the number 275.
I beg your pardon, gentlemen. I have sent for the German text to hand over to the interpreters. If you will permit me, I shall read you the translation in French. If you consider it necessary, we shall subsequently give the time for the German interpreter to read the German text,
THE PRESIDENT: Is the Belgian document in substantially the same terms as the document you have just read?
M. DUBOST: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Then I don't think you need to read that.
M. DUBOST: As you wish. Seyss-Inquart which related to Holland, I think that going back to a good number of these documents which are in your document book, you may exhaust those elements which may convict the defendants, which confirm only what I have already read in the ordinance of Suelpnagel. the Navy, dated 30 December 1944 from Keitel, which you will find in the Document Book, C-48. I read the conclusion of paragraph 1:
"Any workman in a work yard should know that any act of sabotage occurring within his sphere of activity will bring about for him personally, or for his relatives, the most serious consequences."
Page 2, of Document 810-PS:
"In the fourth place, I have received a teletype from Field MarshalGeneral Keitel requesting the publication of an ordinance according to which the immediate responsibility of relatives would be considered, those relatives being considered collectively responsible for acts of sabotage resulting in these industrial undertakings."
Note the phrase which follows. He condemns Keitel.
THE PRESIDENT: Do I understand that in Belgium, in Holland, in Norway, and in Denmark there were similar orders or decrees with reference to hostages?
M. DUBOST: Of course, Mr. President, in the reading for Belgium, Norway, Holland -- for Belgium, for instance, you will find this at page 6, Document 683, which is the official document of the Belgian Minister of Justice:
"In the fifth place"-
THE PRESIDENT: Which page?
M. DUBOST: Page 6 of the French text.
THE PRESIDENT: But what is the number of the document?
M. DUBOST: Number 683.
"Brussels, 29 November 1941"---at the top of the first page, to the right. "A decree of Falkenhausen, 17 September, 1941." Paragraph 5, in the middle of the page:
"In the future, the population must expect that any attack on the German Army or the German Police, in the event that the guilty are not arrested, a number of hostages proportionate to the gravity of the offense shall be taken, and, in the event the person dies, will be shot. All those in custody in Belgium will be considered immediately as suitable for hostages."
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't want you to read these documents if they are substantially in the same form as the document you have already read.
M. DUBOST: They are about in the same form, Mr. President. I submitted them because they constituted the proof of the systematic repitition of the same methods to arrive at the same end, to wit, to cause terror to reign in all occupied countries. systematically used in all the Western regions, naturally I shall spare you the reading of these documents, which are monotonous, and which repeat substantially the documents which relate to it.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps you had better give us references to
M. DUBOST: I repeat, for Belgium it is 683, page 6, decree of principal war criminals.
The second document is C-46, which corres
THE PRESIDENT: C-46?
M. DUBOST: Yes, corresponding to UK-42, 24 November, 1942,
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
M. DUBOST: It is within the official report of Holland, 224-A.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you sure it is C-46 and not C-48? I don't seem to have C-46; I only have C-48.
M. DUBOST: C-46, UK-42. It is also listed as UK-42 in your document book.
You will find in the corner to the left the
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
M. DUBOST: For Holland, 224-A.
"For the destruction or the deterioration of forests and community in the territory in which these acts took place.
The taken on private property and that houses--"
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid I don't know where you are reading.
Which paragraph are you reading?
M. DUBOST: This document has not been bound with the official "The population of these communities must expect that reprisals will be destroyed."
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, are you reading from C-46?
M. DUBOST: I have only submitted C-46; I am not reading from it.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you reading from some other document?
M. DUBOST: I quote now another document, the notice or warning
THE PRESIDENT: And that is what number?
M. DUBOST: Number 152 in the document book concerning German
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, are you now proposing to read from some document which is not in our document book?
M. DUBOST: I shall read it tomorrow, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, you will read it tomorrow.
M. DUBOST: For Norway and for Denmark we have several hostages was followed.
We have, notably, document C-48, from which policy of the execution of hostages is total.
Notice was given that
THE PRESIDENT: Did you say 1594?
M. DUBOST: Yes, I quote:
"In this letter we find a chart of the execution of hostages which took place up to this time in the sector over which I had charge. For a great part of the cases, especially for the most serious, the authors were subsequently arrested and were condemned. This result is in no wise susceptible to bringing about any mitigation of facts which were less intimidating, as far as the law is concerned, to the prejudice of the population. Any abyss which had been created in the population between the communists and the remainder of the population was filled. All circles were filled with a hatred against the occupation forces. An important element of hatred was the enemy propoganda. The result was that all sorts of general repercussions resulted which were of an inopportune nature.
"Signed: Falkenhausen." in the third paragraph of the third sheet. Elsewhere I wish to point out the following:
"In several cases the authors of aggression and sabotage"-
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a moment. We haven't found the document yet.
M. DUBOST: 1587-PS, fourth sheet.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, these documents are not all numbered, so that they are very difficult to find.
M. DUBOST: The fourth page, third paragraph. Elsewhere in this document from the same general I wish to point out the following:
"In several cases the authors of aggression or acts of sabotage were discovered when the hostages had already been shot, shortly after the criminal acts had been committed, in conformity with the instructions that had been received. Elsewhere, the true authors often didn't belong to the same circles as the hostages. Unquestionably in such cases the execution of hostages does not inspire terror but indifference on the part of the population, which had been passive up to that time. It thus negatively in regard to the occupying power was favorable to the English agents, who were often instigators of these acts. It is then necessary to prolong the delays in the hope that we may arrest the culpable or guilty persons, and also to get the greatest cooperation in the struggle against these terroristic activities.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you know what the date of that document was?
M. DUBOST: It is after the 16th September 1941. We don't have the exact date. The document is appended to another document, whose date is illegible, but it is after the order of Keitel in regard to the execution of hostages. It concerns the application of this order of Keitel.
"After the execution of the hostages who had been considered guilty, this fact had awakened the resentment of the population." the monthly report of the commander of the Wehrmacht in Holland--the report for the month of August, 1942, a new notice or warning from Keitel:
"Special political situation: On the occasion of an attempt against the train which contained soldiers on leave, and which was to arrive according to schedule at Rotterdam, a Dutch guard was seriously wounded because he touched a wire which was connected with an explosive charge, and thus was wounded as a result of the explosion. In the Dutch press the following repressive measures were announced. The term of the fixed day for the arrest of authors of crimes, with the collaboration of the population, is fixed at 14 August to midnight. A reward of 100,000 florins was fixed for a denounciation, which would remain confidential. In the event the authors of this crime were not arrested within the fixed day, the threat was given to execute hostages who watched over Dutch railway lines. Despite this summons, the author of the crime was not discovered and could not be found anywhere. Accordingly, the following hostages who had for several weeks been in custody as hostages were shot upon the order of the Chief of the SS and of the police."
I pass over the enumeration of the names. I am at the following paragraph and I read:
THE PRESIDENT: Will you read, not the names but the offices?
M. DUBOST: Ruys Wil lem, General Director at Rotterdam; Comte E.O.G. Limburg-Stirum; M. Baelde Robert, a Rotterdam jurist; Bennkers, Christoffel, former General Inspector of the Police at Rotterdam; Baron Alexandre Schimmel Pennik.
One paragraph further on:
"Public opinion was particularly impressed by the execution of these hostages. The report of the 6th of June expressed the opinion that from the beginning of the occupation no attempt against the Germans was more deeply felt.
Num erous anonymous letters, even signed letters, sent to the commander of the Wehrmacht, who was considered as responsible for this unheard of event, showed the diverse feelings among the general public. Since that hateful insult, or devout conspiracy, they were asked not to have recourse to such extreme measures.
"We have found among that correspondence reproaches for petty infractions, reproaches which had a serious foundation and which make one reflect that despite all that happened there might have been some possibility of a German-Dutch agreement, and that now all that had been spoiled. Such methods simply were of benefit to the communists, who must rejoice that they succeeded., when they were alone the true saboteurs and had accomplished a useful purpose which had placed them in a position of having people in other circles executed. Such a repudiation among the German-Hollanders, such hatred, has never been observed to that time.
"Signed: Schneider, Captain." neither the General Staff nor Keitel ever gave any order to the contrary. The order of 16 September, 1941, always remained in force. I shall show you examples of the execution of hostages in France and a number of other facts which I will utilize, dated in 1942, 1943, and even 1944.
(Whereupon at 1245 hours the Tribunal adjourned to 1400 hours.)
Military Tribunal, in the matter of: The 1946, 1400-1700.
Lord Justice Lawrence
COURT OFFICER: If your Honor please, the defendants Kaltenbrunner and Streicher will continue to be absent during this afternoon's session.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you please put on your earphones? that you were citing, and also the Tribunal understands that the interpreters had some difficulty because the document books -- except the one that is before me -- have no indications of the "PS" or other numbers, and the documents themselves are not numbered in order. Therefore it is extremely difficult for members of the Tribunal to find documents, and it is also extremely difficult for the interpreters to find any document which may be before them. indicate what the document is, and then give both the interpreters and the Tribunal some time in which they may find the document and then indicate exactly which part of the document you are going to read -- that is to say, whether it is the beginning of the document or the first paragraph or the second, and so on. But you must bear with us if we find some difficulty in following you in the documents.
M. DUBOST: I had finished this morning presenting the general rules which prevailed during five years of occupation in the matter of the execution of numerous hostages in our occupied countries of the West. I brought you the proof, the evidence, by reading a series of official German documents -- that the highest authorities of the Army, of the Party and of the Government of the Nazi Regime had deliberately chosen to practice a terroristic policy through the seizure of hostages. me to be necessary to say exactly wherein this policy consisted, in the light of the texts which I have quoted.
According to the circumstances, people belonging by choice or ethnically to the vanguished nations were apprehended and held as a guarantee for the maintenance of order in a given sector, or after a given incident of which the enemy army had been the victim. They were apprehended and held in lieu of obtaining the carrying out by the vanguished population of acts determined by the occupying authority, such as denunciation, payment of collective fines, the handing over of perpetrators of assaults committed against the German Army, the handing over of political adversaries, and these persons thus arrested were very often massacred subsequently by way of reprisal. who is a human being becomes a private guarantor subjected to seizure determined by the enemy. How contrary this is to the rule of individual liberty, of human dignity! All the members of the German Government are jointly responsible for this iniquitous concept and for the applications that were made of this concept in our vanguished countries. No member of the German Government can reject the responsibility attaching to subordinates by claiming that they merely executed clearly determined orders with an excess of zeal. I have shown you that upon many occasions, on the contrary, the persons who carried out the orders reported to the chiefs the moral consequences of the application of the terroristic policy of hostages. And we know that in no case were contrary orders given. We know that always the original orders were maintained. executions of hostages. For our single country of France there were 29,660 executed. This is proved in Document RF-420, dated Paris, 21 December 1945, the original of which shall be submitted under No. 266 to your Tribunal. It is at the beginning of the document book -- that is the second. You see there in detail, Region by Region, the number of the hostages who were executed for the Region of:
unveil the political plan of the General Staff which prescribed these executions -- plans of terror, plans that were intended to accentuate the division between Frenchmen, or more generally, between citizens of the occupied countries. You will find in your document book a brief quoted -- F-133, which I submit under No. 288. This is called "Posters of the Paris Region," Document F-133. At the head of the page you will read, "Pariser Zeitung." This document reproduces a few of the very numerous posters and bills, some of the numerous notices inserted in the press from 1940 to 1945, and announcing the arrest of hostages in Paris in the Region of Paris and France. I shall read only one of these documents which you will find on the second page. It is the one entitled No. 6, 19 September 1941. You will see in it an appeal to informing to reason; you will see means of corruption called for, means systematically applied to all the countries of the West for years. These means have tended -all of them -- to an equal extent to demoralize the population:
"21 August. Appeal to the population of occupied territories. On the 21st of August cowardly murderers attacking from behind opened fire on a German soldier and killed him. In have in consequence on 23 August ordered that hostages be taken. I have threatened to have a certain number of them shot, in case such assault should be repeated. New crimes have obliged me to put this threat into effect. In spite of this, new assaults have taken place. I recognize that the population in a great majority is conscious of its duties, which are to help the authorities in their unremitting effort to maintain calm and order in the country, in the very interest of this population.
This is the appeal to denunciation. But among you there are agents paid by the enemy powers of Germany, Communist criminal elements who have only one aim, which is to sow discord between the occupying power and the French population. These elements are completely indifferent to the consequences which result from their activity for the entire population. I don't want the lives of German soldiers to be any longer threatened by these assassins. I shall stop at no measure in order to fulfill my duty, however stringent it might be; but it is likewise my duty to make the totality of the population responsible for the fact that up to the present it has not been possible to put our hands on the cowardly murderers and to impose upon them the penalty which they deserve. That is why I have found it necessary for Paris, first of all, to take measures which unfortunately will create differences for the entire population and hinder its every-day life. Frenchmen, it belongs to you. It is your responsibility. If I should have to increase the severity of these measures.
I appeal to you all, to your administration and to your police, to cooperate through your extreme vigilance and your active personal intervention in the arrest of the guilty.
It is necessary, by anticipating and denouncing the criminal activities, to avoid the creation of a critical situation which would plunge the country into misfortune. He who fires from behind on German soldiers who are here doing only their duty and who are safeguarding the maintenance of a normal life, is not a patriot -- he is a cowardly assassin and the enemy of all respectable men. Frenchmen, I count on you to understand these measures which I am taking, which are taken also in your own interests. Signed von Stuelpnagel."
Under No. 8 on the following page you will find a list of twelve names among which are three of the best known lawyers of the Parisian Bar, who are characterized as militant Communists -- Pitard, Hajje, Rolnikas.
In File 21, submitted by my colleagus M. Gerthofer, in the course of his economic presentation, you will find a few notices which are similar, published in the official German newspaper "Vobi". September, relating the assassination of M. Pitard and his companions, that the murderers hadneither the courage nor the honesty to say that these were Parisian lawyers. Is it through a mistake? I think that it is a calculated lie, for at this time it was necessary to handle the Elite gently. The occupying power still hoped to separate them from the others. hearts of the French in the course of the month of October 1941, and which have remained present in the memory of all my compatriots, those which are known under the name of "executions of Chateaubriant and of Bordeaux". They are related in Document 415 in your document book, which I submit under number 285 before the Tribunal. and in Bordeaux a few days later, the German Army decided to set an example. You will find, on page 21 of Document 415, a copy of the notice put in a newspaper on the 22nd of October, 1941. This is the newspaper "Le Phare".
"Notice. Cowardly criminals in the pay of England and of Moscow have killed with shots in the back the Feldkommandant of Nantes on the morning of the 20th of October 1941.
Up to now the assassins have not been arrested. In expiation of this crime I have ordered that 50 hostages be shot to begin with. Because of the gravity of the crime, 50 more hostages will be shot in case the guilty should not be arrested between now and 23rd of October 1941 at midnight." to be related in detail. the Ministry of the Interior to designate prisoners. These prisoners were to be selected among the Communists who were considered the most dangerous. These are the terms of the letter of Stuelpnagel. A list of 60 Frenchmen was furnished by the Minister of the Interior. This was Puches. He has since been tried by my compatriots, sentenced to death and executed. Subprefect of Chateaubriant to the Commandatur of Chateaubraint, after the order which he received from the Minister of the Interior:
"After our conversation of today, I have the honor of confirming to you that the Minister of the Interior has communicated today with General von Stuelpnagel in order to designate to him the most dangerous Communist prisoners among those who are now held at Chateaubriant. You will find enclosed herewith the list of 60 individuals who have been handed over on this day."
On the following page is the German order:
"Because of the assassination of the Feldkommandant of Nantes, Lt. Col. Hotz, on 20 October 1941, the following Frenchmen, who were already imprisoned as hostages in execution of my publication of 22 August 1941, and of my decree to the Chief of the French Government of September 1941, are to be shot." of all the men who were shot on that day. I leave out the reading of the list in order to abbreviate the debate.
On page 16 you will find a list of 48 names. On page 13 you will find the list of those who were shot, in Nantes.
On page 12 you will find the list of those who were shot in Chateaubriant. On these two lists you will observe that the bodies were sent out to all the communities. buried after having been shot. On page 3 of this document you will find the note of M. Dumenil concerning the executions of the 21st of October 1941, which was drawn up the day after these executions. The second paragraph reads:
"The Abbe Fontaine was called at 11:30 to theprison of La Fayet. An officer, probably of the GFP, told him that he was charged with announcing to certain prisoners that they were going to be shot. The priest then went into a room with the three hostages who were at the prison. The other three, who were at Rochettes, were interviewed by Abbe Theon, professor at the College Stanislas.
"The Abbe Fontaine said to the condemned, 'Gentlemen, you must understand, alas, what my presence means.' He spoke then with the prisoners collectively and individually for the two hours which the officers had said would be granted to arrage the personal affairs of the condemned and to write their last wills to their families. The execution had been set for 2 o'clock in the afternoon, half an hour having been allowed for the trip, but the two hours passed by, another hour passed, and still another hour before the condemned were fetched. Certain ones, who were naturally optimistic, like M. Fourny, hoped already that a countermanding order would be given, in which the priest himself did not at all believe.
"The condemned were all very brave. It was the two youngest, Gloux and Grolleau, who were students, who constantly encouraged the others, saying that it was better to die in this way than to perish uselessly in an accident.
"At the moment of leaving, the priest, for reasons which were not explained to him, was not authorized to accompany the hostages to the place of execution. He went down the stairs of the prison with them as far as to the car. Two were chained together. The third had on handcuffs. Once they were in the truck, Gloux and Grolleau made another motion of goodby to him, smiling and waving their hands that were chained together."
It is signed "Dumenil, Counsellor attached to the Cabinet."
Sixteen were shot in Nantes. Twenty-seven were shot in Chateaubriant. Five were shot outside the department. For those who were shot in Chateaubriant, we know what their last moments were like. The Abbe Moyon, who was present, wrote on the 22nd of October 1941, page 17 of your document, the account of this execution. This is the third paragraph, page 17.
"It was on a beautiful autumn day. The temperature was mild. The lovely sun had shown since morning. Each one in the town was going about his usual business.
There was gread animation within the town since it was Wednesday, which was market day. The population knew from the newspapers and from the information it had received from Nantes that a superior officer had been killed in a street of Nantes, but they refused to believe the such ferocious and extensive reprisals would be applied.
"At the camp of Choisel, the German authorities had, for some days, put into special quarters certain number of men who were to serve as hostages in case of special difficulties. It was from among these men that those who were to be shot on this evening of 22 October 1941 were chosen.
"The Cure of Bere was finishing his lunch when M. Moreau presented himself. M. Moreau was Chief of the Camp of Choisel. In a few words, the latter explained to him the object of his visit, that, having been delegated by M. Lecornu, the Subprefect of Chateaubriant, he came to inform him that 27 men selected among the political prisoners of Choisel were going to be executed is the court in the afternoon, and he asked Monsieur le Cure to go immediately to see them and to be with them.
"The priest said he was ready to accomplish this mission, and he went to the prisoners without delay. When the priest appeared to carry out his missing the Subprefect was already among the condemned. He came to announce to them the horrible fate which was awaiting them, asking them to write their letters of farewell to their families without delay. It was under these circumstance that the priest presented himself at the entrance of the quarters."
You will find on page 19 the departure for the execution, paragraph 4:
"Suddenly there was the sound of automobile engines. The door, which I had shut at the beginning so that we might be more by ourselves, opened. A German officer appeared. He was actually a military priest. He said to me, 'Monsieur Cure, your mission has been accomplished and you must withdraw immediately.'" At the bottom of the page, the last paragraph:
"The quarry where the execution took place was forbidden of access to al Frenchmen. I know only that the condemned were executed in three groups of nine men, that all the men who were shot refused to have their eyes bound, that the young Mocquet fell, having lost consciousness, and that the last cry that sprang from the lips of all of them was an ardent 'Vive la France'". Officer Roussel.
It also is worth reading:
"The 22nd of October 1941, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, -- as I was, on the 11th of November, in Chateaubriant -- I saw coming from the Camp of Choisel four or five German trucks, without being able to tell exactly, preceded by an automobile, a sedan, in which was a German officer. Several civilians with handcuffs were in the trucks and were singing patriotic songs, the Marseillaise, the Chant du Depart, and so forth. One of the trucks was filled with armed German soldiers.
"I learned subsequently that these were hostages who had just been taken from the camp of Choisel to be led to the quarry of Sabliere on the Soudan Road to be shot in reprisal for the murder in Nantes of the German Colonel Hotz.
"About two hours later, these same trucks came back from the quarry and entered the court of the Chateau of Chateaubriant, where the bodies of the men who had been shot were deposited in a cellar of the chateau, awaiting disposition.
"On coming back from the quarry, the trucks were covered and one heard no noise, but a stream of blood escaped from the latter and left a mark on the road from the quarry to the castle.
"The following day, on the 23rd of October, the bodies of the men who had been shot were put into coffins without any French persons being present, the entrances to the chateau having been guarded by German sentinals, and these were taken to cemeteries of the surrounding communities, that is, three coffins per community. The Germans were careful to choose communities where there was no regular transport service, presumably to avoid the population's going en masse to the tombs of these martyrs.
"I was not present at the departure of the hostages from the camp nor at the shooting in the quarry of Sabliere, as the approaches to it were quarded by German soldiers armed with machine guns."
there were others who were to be added, those of Bordeaux. You will find in your document book, under No. F-400, documents which have been communicated to us by the Prefecture of Gironde, which we submit to the Tribunal under No. 286. Affairs, dated 22 October 1941, marked F-400-C, at the bottom of which you will read -- the last paragraphs "In the course of the conference which took place last night at the Feldkommandatur of Bordeaux, the German authorities asked me to proceed immediately to the arrist of 100 individuals known for their sympathy for the Communist Party or the Gaullist movement, who will be considered as hostages, and to a great number of house searches.
"These operations have been in process since this morning. So far no interesting result has been called to my attention. In addition, this morning at 11 o'clock the German authorities have made known the reprisal measures which they had decided to take towards the population." These reprisal measures you will find set forth on page "A" of the same document in a letter addressed by General von Faber Du Faur, Chief of the Regional Administration of Bordeaux, to the Prefect of Gironde. I quote:
"Bordeaux, 23 October 1941.
"To the Prefect of Gironde:
"Following upon the cowardly murder of the Councilor of War, Reimers, the High Military Command in France has ordered fifty hostages to be executed The execution will take place to-morrow. In case the murderers should not be arrested in the very near future, other measures will be taken as in the case of Nantes.
"I have the honor of making known this decision to you.
"Chief of the Military Regional Administration "von Faber Du Faur" And all of these men were executed.
of pilgrimage for the French since our liberation. This is the Fort of Romainville. During the occupation the Germans subsequently formed this fort into a hostage depot where they put their victims when they wanted to make an example of a patriotic demonstration. It is from Romainville that Professors Jacques Solomon, Decourtemanche, Georges Politzer, Dr. Boer, and six other Frenchmen went forth.