THE PRESIDENT: Go on, Mr. Dubost. As I say, do it slowly -
DR. STAHMER: That is not quite correct, that we have received the book three days in advance. We received -- or we found -- in our room, these documents yesterday, not in good order, and we just didn't have the time to put order into these papers. That was in our room this morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Let's go on now, Mr. Dubost, and go slowly in describing the identification of the document.
M. DUBOST: We shall pass to Document F-357, which will be submitted under No. 381, which is on page 125 in the French Document Book. This document deals with the execution of general orders concerning the treatment of prisoners of war, and it contains the testimony of a German police officer who was made prisoner on 25 May 1945 and who on page 27, paragraph before the last, under-scored lines -
"All the war prisoners who we might have in our possession for any reason whatsoever were to be shot down by us instead of being handed over to the nearest Wehrmacht post as was being done until now." This has to do with an order which was given in the middle of May, 1944. And the witness continues:
"This execution was to be carried out in a deserted spot." Germans having had to do with the war prisoners.
We shall now submit a document, which will become No. 382. The Tribunal will find it on page 129 in its Document Book. This is Document 1634-PS. This is a document which has not yet been read, which relates to the murder of 129 American war prisoners carried out by the German Army, in a field southeast and west of Baignez in Belgium on 17 December 1944 during the German offensive.
Page 129, bottom of the page. The author of this report summarizes the facts.
"Prisoners are gathered together in the proximity of the cross-roads"-
THE PRESIDENT: Where are you reading?
M. DUBOST: I am summarizing, Mr. President, page 130 -- 129 and 130.
The American prisoners are brought together near the cross-roads. A few soldiers whose names are indicated rush across the fields towards the west, hide among the trees in the high grass and thickets and ditches, and thus escape the massacre of their companions.
A few others who at the moment when this massacre began were in the proximity of a barn were able to hide in it. These are other survivors.
Third paragraph. The artillery and machine-gun fire on this column of American vehicles lasted from ten to fifteen minutes. Then there appeared on the national highway two German tanks and a few caterpillar trucks which came from Weismes. When these vehicles reached the crossing they turned out on the St. Vith Road. The tanks fired with machine guns into the ditches of the road where the American soldiers were crouching. At the site the other American soldiers threw down their weapons and raised their arms above their heads. All the American soldiers who had surrendered were given the order to return to the road crossing and German soldiers who were on some German vehicles before which the American war prisoners were passing made them hand over their personal objects, like watches, rings and gloves. The American soldiers were then gathered on the road of St. Vith before a house situated on the southeast corner of the crossing. Other German soldiers arriving in tanks or small caterpillar trucks continued to search the American prisoners at this pot and likewise removed from them objects of value.
Top of page 131, before the end of the paragraph: An American prisoner was questioned and led with his other comrades to the crossroads which have just been referred to.
Third paragraph: At about the same moment, a German vehicle (I skip two lines) tried to maneuver in such a way as to be able to point its guns on the group of American prisoners who were in the field 20 to 25 metres from the road. (I skip again four lines.) Some of these a (this refers to the German vehicles) stopped before the field where the American prisoners were standing with their arms lifted or their hands drawn behind their heads. A German soldier, undoubtedly an officer or a non-commissioned officer, got up in one of the stopped vehicles and pulled out his revolver, aimed, and fired into the group of American war prisoners. One of the Americans fell. The same thing happened again and another American soldier of the group fell. Almost at the game moment -- and this is at the beginning of the massacre -the machine guns of two of the vehicles on the road opened fire on the group of American soldiers in the field. All or most of the American soldiers threw themselves to the ground and remained there during the firing, which lasted two to three minutes. Most of the soldiers in the field were hit by the firing of the machine guns. They were followed by other vehicles, likewise coming from Weismes, and when these last vehicles passed before the field where the American soldiers were stretched out, individual shots were fired from these moving vehicles on the recumbent corpses in the field.
Page 132, first paragraph. I summarize: German soldiers who were mounting guard at the crossroads went over to the wounded prisoners who were lying on the ground and who still gave some sign of life.
Fifth line before the last of the paragraph: They struck them with blows of their gun butts or with other hard objects. On several occasions American prisoners received a shot, fired apparently at a very short distance, exactly between their eyes or in the temple or behind the head. This act constitutes an act of pure terrorism, the shame of which will remain upon the German Army, for nothing justified this. They knew that the prisoners were unarmed and had surrendered.
the French accusation is based to establish the guilt of Goering, of Keitel, of Jodl, or Bormann, of Frank, of Rosenberg, of Streicher, of Schirach, of Hess, of Frick, of the OKW, of the OKH and the OKR, of the government of the Reich, and the Corps of the Nazi Party leaders, as well as of the SS and the Gestapo in the atrocities committed in the camps. I shall be very brief. I have very few documents present in addition to those which have already been presented.
The first puts Kaltenbrunner under accusation. The Tribunal will find this document on page 246. The number is L-35 in the document book concerning concentration camps. This document has not yet been submitted. Paragraph 3, page 246, L-35: This is the testimony of Rudolf Miltner, Doctor of Law, Colonel of the Police, who declares, paragraph 2 of his declaration:
"The internment orders were signed by the Chief of the SIPO and of the SD, Dr. Kaltenbrunner, or by delegation by the chief of service for the SS, Gruppenfuehrer Mueller." second document book. This is a letter from Field Marshal Milch to Wolff. On page 204, this letter concludes with this phrase:
"I express to the SS the special thanks of the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe for the considerable aid brought by them." Now, from what precedes one can conclude that these thanks are relative to the biological experiments of Dr. Rascher. Thus, Goering is involved in these. The German Medical Corps is implicated; the SS Medical Corps is implicated. This one can gather from document 1635, which has not yet been handed to the Tribunal, which becomes document RF-385, which the Tribunal will find in tie annex of the second document book. The number of the document is 1635-PS. These are extracts from reviews of microscopic anatomic research. These extracts deal with experiments made on persons who died suddenly, although they were in full health, and the conditions of their death are put forth by the experimenter.
in such a way that no reader can be in any doubt as to the conditions under which they were brought to their death. extracts. Page 132, at the very top of the document which we submit to the Tribunal:
"The thyroid glands of 21 persons between 20 and 40 years of age who were supposedly in good health and who suddenly died were examined."
The following paragraph: "The persons in question, 19 men and 2 women lived until their death for several months in uniform outward conditions, and likewise as concerns their food. The food absorbed at the end consisted chiefly of hydrocarbon."
Paragraph before the last: "In the course of a rather long period, substance for the experiment was taken from the liver of 24 adults in good health, who suddenly died between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning." will see that the German medical literature is very rich in experiments carried out on adults in good health who died suddenly between five and six o'clock in the morning. No one in Germany could be a dupe or could be fooled since in this way publicly the accounts of experiments were published. These were the experiments of SS doctors in the camps. poison bullets, carried out on the 11 of August 1944, in the presence of SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding and Dr. Widmann, page 187 of the second document book concerning the concentration camps. These two documents are submitted under numbers 386 and 387. The Tribunal will find on page 187 the description of this experiment, in which the victims are persons sentenced to death, and where, in fact -
THE PRESIDENT: The document has been read already, I think.
M. DUBOST:F-185. It is a French document.
THE PRESIDENT: But I can't help that. It has been read already, I think.
M. DUBOST: I beg the Tribunal's pardon. I didn't realize that. It is a document from the French archives. However, Mr. President, I doubt that the Tribunal has heard the reading of document 185b, which is by the French Professor, Mr. May, a surgeon.
This document is on page 222, second paragraph. Profess or May, Agrege of Surgery, to whom the pseudo-scientific documents to which I alluded a while ago were submitted -- accounts from scientific reviews of experiments -- wrote:
"The wickedness and the stupidity of the experimenters fill us with amazement and stupefaction. The symptoms of intoxication with aconitine have been known from time immemorial. This poison is sometimes employed by certain savage tribes to poison the arrows of their arsenal. Never has one heard that it has been seen that observations should be presented in such a pretentious style on the foreseeable result of their experiments, nor that these could be signed by a D.O.Z., that is to say, a professor."
We now submit document 278a, under number 388. The Tribunal will find it on page 75. It involves Keitel. It is a letter signed by order, Dr. Lehmann, 17 February 1942. It is addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it involves Keitel.
I quote paragraphs 2 and 3 on page 75, which concern the regime in the internment camps:
"The delinquents brought to Germany in application of the edicts of the Fuehrer are to have no relation of any kind with the outside world. They must, therefore, heither write themselves nor receive letters nor packages nor visits. The letters, packages, and visits are to be refused with the remark that all relations with the outside world are forbidden. The high command shares the point of view of the receiver of this letter, in his letter of 31 January 1942, according to which access of Belgian lawyers to Belgian prisoners shall not be permitted." which becomes No. 389. This document involves the German Government and the Cabinet of the Reich. A conversation between Dr. Goebbels and Thierack, Minister of Justice, 1942, in Berlin:
"As concerns the extermination of the asocials, Dr. Goebbels is of the opinion that the following groups should be exterminated: Jews and nomads without discrimination; Poles who have three or four years of penalty to be executed; Czechs and Germans sentenced to death or to forced labor for life or placed in the security detention for life."
THE PRESIDENT: Has that document been read before?
M. DUBOST: This document does not seem to have been read before. We informed ourselves. I am sorry; that was my fault: "The idea of exterminating them by work is the best idea." camps is document F-162, which becomes document 390. Page 77 and 78, second document book. This document is the testimony of M. Poutiers, living in Paris, Place de Breteuil, who indicates that the prisoners in the commandos of Mauthausen worked under the direct control of civilians, the SS dealing only with the surveillance of the prisoners. This witness, who was in numerous work commandos, specifies that all were controlled by civilians, and only supervised by the SS, and that, thus, the inhabitants of the country, in the going and coming of the workers to work, could observe the distress of the prisoners, which confirms the testimony which has already been given before your Tribunal.
the West: At the beginning of the occupation, violation of Article 50, Execution of Hostages, brought the creation of a psuedo law of hostages, in order to justify these executions in the eyes of the populations of the occupied countries. person increase. It will be complete in the last months of the occupation. At that time arbitrary imprisonment with summary trials or without trials will become daily practice. The sentences, the Tribunal will remember, will cease to be observed in cases of acquittal or of pardon, and the people acquitted by German tribunals, who should be put at liberty, will be deported and will die in concentration camps. In a parallel way, the organization of the French who remain on the soil of France and who refuse to let their country die. At this stage the German terrorism becomes more violent against them and grows from month to month, and what follows is the description of the terroristic repression of the German against the patriots of the West of Europe, against what was called the "Resistance", without giving this word any other meaning than its generic sense. collaboration is doomed to defeat, that its policy of hostages only exasperates the fury of the people which it is trying to subdue, then, instead of modifying its policy with regard to the citizens of the occupied countries, it reinforces the terror which already reigns over these countries, and tries to justify itself by saying it is an anti-communist campaign.
What one must think of this pretext the Tribunal already knows. All the French, all the citizens of Europe, without distinction, without any distinction of party, profession, religion or race, were involved in the resistance against Germany and were involved in the collective charnel houses to which Germany sent them. But this deliberate and calculated confusion justified to a certain arbitrary degree the repressive measures, this arbitrariness which we have already witnessed by document F-278, page 4 of the document book, which we submit under No. 391, dated 12 January 1943, signed "Falkenhausen."
THE PRESIDENT: Which document book is it?
M. DUBOST: Terrorist Actions against the Patriots, document F-278, page 4, second paragraph:
"Persons who are found without a valid authorization, having in their possession explosives and firearms, may be immediately shot in the future without any judicial process." Western Europe. These orders are even executed against organized forces in Belgium as well as in France, although the Germans themselves considered these forces as troops in a certain measure. This can be verified by reference to document FS-673, page 167, third paragraph.
THE PRESIDENT: That is in a different book, I am afraid, isn't it?
M. DUBOST: We are now dealing with the Terrorist Actions Against Patriots, and is in the document book entitled "Terrorist Actions Against the Patriots."
THE PRESIDENT: The number of the page came through to me as one hundred sixty something, and my pages end at 155.
M. DUBOST: Excuse me; I made the mistake. It is page 6 of the document book, paragraph 3, third line:
"The action of the German troops, even taking account of the guilt of these killed" -
THE PRESIDENT: Is this from 673? Are you reading from 673?
M. DUBOST: Excuse me, Mr. President, this document is surely not before the Tribunal, and I shall not quote it.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a convenient time to break off.
(Whereupon a recess was taken from 1125 to 1140 hours.)
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, M. Dubost.
M. DUBOST: During the few minutes recess the opportunity was afforded me to submit RF-673, which I submitted to you, and I am thankful to the Tribunal. This document is now before you. It has just been given to you. In paragraph three of this document, which is a note of presentation to the Wiesbaden Commission, we read the following:
"The action of the German troops, even if we take account of the realities of the presenting of facts by the French, is taking place within the scope of combats which by far exceed any police action against isolated outlaws. On the enemy side we have organizations which absolutely refuse to accept the sovereignty of the French Government of Vichy, which also from the point of view of numbers as well as of armament and as well as with regard to the command, must also be designated as troop units. It has often been reiterated that these revolutionary units consider themselves as being incorporated in the Allied forces which are fighting against Germany.
"General Eisenhower has designated the terrorists who are fighting in France as 'Troops under my orders.' It is against the latter (and the original is written in red pencil unfortunately) that preventative measures are intended." forces of the interior as well as all French forces in the Western countries were considered as troops by the German Army itself.
THE PRESIDENT: I see that it may be useful for the record. It is in the document book, on the extermination of innocent populations, at page 167.
M. DUBOST: I thank you, Mr. President. The patriots who were therefore considered by the German Army as constituting regular troops, are they then to be treated as soldiers? No. The order of Falkenhausen is proof thereof. They were either to be brought down on the spot, and nevertheless they are combatants, or else they will be turned over to the Sicherheitspolizei, and they will be tortured to death by organizations which are free of any legal compulsion.
835-PS, which is already deposited under No. USA-527. Proof thereof is also given in F-673, page six in your document book, which we are now placing before you.
THE PRESIDENT: What page?
M. DUBOST: Six of your document book.
THE PRESIDENT: Of the same document book?
M. DUBOST: This is the only book of documents that we are referring to now. Terrorist action against patriots, F-673, on page six of the book, which is now before your eyes. The whole of that document has already been deposited under No. 323. F-673 is a considerable bundle of papers which comes from the archives of the German Commission at Wiesbaden, and we are placing it in in its entirety under No. 392 after placing it under our own number 673. It will be one of the documents quoted in reference to this German question.
Letter of the Fuehrer's headquarters, 18 August 1944, thirty copies, number twenty-six. It deals with secret matters of command. First of all, struggle against the terrorists and the saboteurs in occupied territories. Second, jurisdiction against non-German civilians in occupied territories.
THE PRESIDENT: Is this page twenty-six?
M. DUBOST: No, sir; page six of the document book. First of all, as added documents, says the writer of this letter, we are transmitting a copy of the order of the Fuehrer of 30-7-1944, and the first supplementary ordinance of 18-8-44. This order of the Fuehrer of 30-7-44 will be found on page nine of your document book. Here is the order, page nine, paragraph three.
"I order the troops and every individual member of the Wehrmacht, the SS, and the police immediately to shoot down on the spot terrorists and saboteurs who are caught in flagrante delicto. Whosoever shall be captured later is to be transferred to the nearest local service of the Security Police and of the SD. The sympathizers, specifically women, who are not taking a direct part in the struggle, are to be placed at work."
We know what that means. We know the regime of labor in concentration camps. But I shall proceed with reading the document of the letter of trans mittal of this order, paragraph four.
This paragraph is a commentary on the order itself.
THE PRESIDENTS Hasn't this been read before?
M. DUBOST: It has never been read, Mr. President.
This is F-673 of the Wiesbaden Armistice Commission. "The present judicial procedure against any act of terror or sabotage or any other crime committed by civilian individual non-Germans in occupied territories, and which places in danger the security and the rapidity of the execution of the occupying power, is to be suspended. This compliance has to be withdrawn. The execution need no longer be ordered. The order as well as the files are to be turned over to the Security Police and the SD." indicated on page seven, is accompanied by one last comment on page eight. The penultimate paragraph.
"The non-German civilian individuals in the non-occupied territories who should endanger the security or the rapidity of the application of the occupying power in a manner other than through terror and through sabotage action are to be turned ever to the SD." This order is signed "Keitel." himself with the order of his Fuehrer. It has led to the execution of numerous innocent individuals, because anyone who is suspected to be a terrorist - this will be striking innocent onces even more than it will terrorists. Moreover, the comment from Keitel exceeds even Hitler's own order. Keitel applied the stipulation emanating from Hitler, on page nine of your document book, to a hypothetical case which has not been anticipated there, to wit:
"Attempts committed by non-German civilians in occupied territories which endanger the security or the rapidity of application of the occupying power." This is from the General himself. It is a political act which has nothing to do with the conduct of operations. It is a political act which compromises and binds him and brings him to participate in the development, the extension of the Hitlerian policy; inasmuch as the interpretation of an order from Hitler is within the spirit of the order perhaps, but beyond the scope of the order.
These instructions were applied. Document F-574 on page ten of your document book, which is placed before you under No. 393, is a testimony from someone by the name of Goldberg, who was staff sergeant in Chalon before the liberation of that city. He was captured by the patriots and interrogated by them by the divisional commissar, who was in charge of the judiciary police of the region. The defendant will certainly not reproach us for having had him examined by a subaltern police officer. He comes from the region of Dijon, and he interrogated this witness. The witness declared, page twelve, at the bottom of the page:
End of May 1944. Without having seen any written order on this subject, the Sicherheitspolizei of Chalon had the right to pronounce capital punishment and to have the sentence executed without these concerned having appeared before a tribunal and without the case having been submitted for the approval of the commander in Dijon. This is the chief of the SD in Chalon, that is to say, by the name of Kruger, who had every necessary authority to make such decision. There was no opposition so far as I know on the part of the SD of Dijon, which allows me to conclude that this procedure was according to the regulations and was the consequence of instructions which were not officially communicated to me but which emanated from higher authorities."
The execution was inspired by members of the SD. The names are given by the witness, but they are not of particular interest to this Tribunal, which is only concerned with the punishment of principle culprits, those who gave orders and from whom orders emanated.
Now, where these orders applied in the various countries of the West: Dutch Government -- page 15 -- three days after the attempt against Rauter, we may read:
"Dutch patriots were assassinated by the German political police." has been submitted to you, but the specific passage to which I refer has not been read.
The witness continues, at page 16 of your Document Book: "A member of the police, whose name is unknown to me, and who told me that this execution was vengeance as a result of the attempt against Rauter, told me also that hundreds of terrorists" -- and this is at the top of page 16 -- "hundreds of terrorists had been executed."
In the penultimate paragraph of page 17, another witness stated: "About 6 o'clock in the evening it was a German who gave the orders to execute the Dutch patriots." This is the next to the last paragraph: "About 6 o'clock in the evening I went to my office and there I received the order to have 40 prisoners shot." inquiries, who were Canadian officers, state the conditions under which the corpses were discovered. I don't believe that the Tribunal will want me to read this passage. the shooting of these Dutch patriots, which completes the report of 4 June, 194 The execution was carried out upon order from Kolitz; 198 prisoners were transported.
Munt defends himself for having favored the execution of the Dutch patriots, but he says that it was impossible for him to prevent it, in view of the order from higher sources which he had received.
On page 22, next to the last paragraph, Munt states: "After an attack against two members of the Wehrmacht on two consecutive days -- on this occasion they were both wounded while their rifles were taken away from them-my chief insisted upon having 15 Dutch citizens shot; 12 were shot. Book. It is still included in F-224, which comprises the documents resulting from the inquiries made by the Dutch Government. This is a decree concerning the proclamation of summary justice for the Netherlands Occupied territories. It is signed by the Defendant Seyss-Inquart, and therefore we must go up to his echelon when we seek the principal responsibility for these summary executions of patriots in Holland.
From this decree we emphasize paragraph 1:
"I proclaim, for the Netherlands Occupied Territories, in its entirety, summary police justice, which shall enter into force immediately. Simultaneously, I order that each one abstain from any kind of agitation which might disturb public order and the security of public life."
"The top leader of the SS and of the police will take every step deemed necessary by him for the maintenance or the restoration of public order, or for the security of public life."
The following paragraph:
"In the execution of his task he can deviate from the law in force."
The words "summary police justice" do not deceive us. This is purely and simply a matter of murder, inasmuch as the police is authorized, in executing its functions, to deviate from the law in force. ordinates who assassinated Dutch patriots with regard to German law, is the very condemnation of Seyss-Inquart. that on the 2nd of May -- and this is page 32 of your Document Book -- a summary police tribunal pronounced the death sentence against ten Dutch patriots.
death sentence on ten other Dutch patriots. All of them were executed. tribunal pronounced the condemnation to death of a patriot, and he was executed appears superfluous to cite before you now. The Tribunal may refer to the last only, which is especially interesting. We nay consider it for a moment; it is at page 46 of your Document Book. That is the report of the Identification Service of the Netherlands, according to which, while it was not possible to make known at that time the number of Dutch victims, or the number of burghers who were shot by the military units of the occupying power, we can state now that a total of more than 4,000 of them were executed. places where the corpses were discovered. dured by Holland and the sacrifices in human life which were made by Holland in our common cause, which needs to be stated because that is the consequence of the criminal orders of the Defendant Seyss-Inquart. submitted under 394, and you will find it on page 48 of your Book. It is a report drawn up by the Belgian Commission on War Crimes, which deals only with the crimes committed by the German troops at the time of the liberation of Belgian territory, September 1944. These crimes were all committed against Belgian patriots who were fighting against the German Army. It is not merely a question of executions, but ill-treatment and tortures as well are involved.
Page 50: "At Graide a camp of the secret army was attacked. Five corpses were frightfully mutilated when they were discovered." That is the first paragraph at the top of page 50. "The Germans utilized bullets, the tips of which had been sawed off. Some of the bodies had been pierced with bayonets. Two of the prisoners were beaten with sticks before being finished with a pistol shot."
The sixth paragraph: "At Foret, on 6 September, several hundred men of the Resistance were billeted in the Chateau de Foret.
The to carry out a repressive operation.
A certain number of members of the Resistance, who were not armed, sought to flee.
Some were brought down; others succeeded in reaching the castle, not having been able to go through the cordon of German troops; others were finally made prisoners.
The Germans came behind the Resistance whom they had taken as prisoners.
After two hours the fighting stopped for lack of ammunition.
The Germans promised safety to those who surrendered.
Some of the prisoners were loaded on the lorry; the tortured.
The castle was set on fire, and the corpses, sprinkled with gasoline, were also set on fire.
Twenty men perished in this massacre; fifteen others had been killed in the course of combat."
The examples are numerous. This testimony to heroic Belgium was necessary.
It was necessary that there should be recalled here
THE PRESIDENT: What page?
M. DUBOST: Page 55 of the document book--that a similar the police, was in operation in Norway.
It was an SS Tribunal.
More than 150 Norwegians were condemned to death. That is the next Mr. Cappelen, who came before you to say what his country and his of this presentation.
We therefore can assert that the victims of In France the question should be carefully examined.
The Tribunal the battle.
Undoubtedly, in spite of the warning given by the Allied situation.
In many instances the thought was that they were Franc Tireurs, and it is admitted that they could be condemned to death;395, is to be found on page 62 of your document book.
It states shot 30 patriots with a submachine gun.
Then, to finish them, they and hurled them on the bodies, with a little dirt.
The chests and of Fontainebleau.
