Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-05/tgmwc-05-47.02
Last-Modified: 1999/10/05

THE PRESIDENT: Go on, M. Dubost. As I say, do it slowly.

DR. STAHMER: It is not correct that we received it three
days ago. We found this pile in our room yesterday evening.
We really have not had the time to number these pages. As I
say, this was in our room only yesterday evening or this
morning.

THE PRESIDENT': Let us go on, now, M. Dubost, and go slowly
in describing the identification of the document.

M. DUBOST: We shall pass to Document F-357, which will be
submitted as Exhibit RF 381, which is on Page 120 in the
French document book. This document deals with the carrying
out of general orders concerning the execution of prisoners
of war. It contains the testimony of a German police officer
who was made prisoner on 25 May 1945 and who (on Page 127,
paragraph before the last, underscored lines in the French
text) declares:

   "All war prisoners whom we might have in our possession,
   however that might have happened, were to be killed by
   us instead of being handed over to the nearest Wehrmacht
   post as had been done until then."

This has to do with an order which was given in the middle
of August 1944.

The witness continues:

   "This execution was to be carried out in a deserted
   spot."

On Page 128, the same witness gives, paragraph 3, the names
of the Germans who had executed war prisoners.

We shall now submit Document 1634-PS, which will become
Exhibit RF 382. The Tribunal will find it on Page 129 in
their document book. It is a document which has not yet been
read, which relates to the murder of 129 American

                                                  [Page 304]

war prisoners, carried out by the German Army in a field
South west and West of Baignes, in Belgium, on 17 December
1944 during the German offensive.

Page 129, bottom of the page. The author of this report
summarised the facts.

   "The American prisoners are brought together near the
   cross-roads. A few soldiers, whose names are indicated,
   rush across the field toward 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.
   They are also survivors."

Third paragraph:

   "The artillery and machine-gun fire on the column of
   American vehicles continued for about ten to fifteen
   minutes, and then two German tanks and some half-track
   vehicles came down the road from the direction of
   Weismes. Upon reaching the intersection, these vehicles
   turned South on the road toward St. Vith. The tanks
   directed machine gun fire into the ditch along the side
   of the road in which the American soldiers were
   crouching, and upon seeing this, the other American
   soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their arms
   over their heads. The surrendering American soldiers
   were then required to march back to the road
   intersection, and while doing this, and as they passed
   by some of the German vehicles then on Highway N-23,
   German soldiers on these vehicles took from the American
   prisoners of war such items as wrist watches, rings and
   gloves. The American soldiers were then assembled on the
   St. Vith road in front of a house standing on the
   Southwest corner of the intersection. Other German
   soldiers who had arrived at the road intersection in
   tanks and half-track vehicles, further searched some of
   the captured Americans at this place and also took
   valuables from them."

Top of Page 131, before the end of the paragraph:

   "An American prisoner was questioned and led with his
   other comrades to the crossroads just referred to."

Third paragraph:

   "At about this time some German light tank or half-track
   vehicles attempted to manoeuvre into position on the
   road so that their cannon would be directed at the group
   of American PW's gathered in the field approximately
   twenty to twenty-five yards from the road. I again omit
   four lines. "Some of these stopped when they came
   opposite the field in which the unarmed American PW's
   were standing in a group, with their hands up in the air
   or clasped behind their heads. A German soldier,
   believed to be a non-commissioned officer, in one of
   these vehicles which stopped, raised and pointed a
   pistol and took deliberate aim and fired into the group
   of American PW's. One of the American soldiers fell.
   This was repeated a second time and another American
   soldier in the group fell to the ground. At about this
   time, machine guns on two of the vehicles on the road
   started to fire into the group of American PW's in the
   field. All, or most of the American soldiers dropped to
   the ground and stayed there while the firing continued
   for two or three minutes. Most of the individuals in the
   field were hit by this machine gun fire. The German
   vehicles on the road then moved on toward the South and
   were followed by more vehicles which also came from the
   direction of Weismes and as these latter vehicles came
   opposite the field in which the American soldiers were
   lying, they also fired with small arms from the moving
   vehicles at the prostrate bodies in the field."

Page 132, first paragraph:

   "Some German soldiers, evidently from the group of those
   who were
   
                                                  [Page 305]
   
   on guard at the intersection, then walked among the
   group of American PW's who were still in the original
   position in the field, and also among those who had run
   away for a short distance, and shot with pistol or
   rifle, or clubbed with a rifle butt or other heavy
   object, any of the individual American soldiers who
   still showed any sign of life. In some instances, it is
   evident that American PW's were shot at close range
   squarely between the eyes, in the temple, or the back of
   the head."

This act constitutes an act of pure terrorism, the shame of
which will remain with the German Army, for nothing
justified it. These prisoners were un-armed and had
surrendered.

The Tribunal authorised me yesterday to present the
documents on which the French accusation is based for
establishing the guilt of Goering, Keitel, Jodl, Bormann,
Frank, Rosenberg, Streicher, Schirach, Hess, Frick, the OKW,
OKH, OKL, the Reich Cabinet, and the Nazi Leadership Corps,
as well as the SS and the Gestapo, in the atrocities
committed in the camps. I shall be very brief. I have very
few documents to present in addition to those which have
already been presented.

The first places Kaltenbrunner under accusation. It is the
American Document L-35 which the Tribunal will find on Page
266 of the document book concerning concentration camps,
i.e., the second book. This document has not been submitted.
Paragraph 3, Page 246, is the testimony of Rudolf Mildner,
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 SD, Dr. Kaltenbrunner, or, as deputy, the Chief
   of Amt IV, SS Gruppenfuehrer Muller."

I submit this as Exhibit RF 383.

Concerning Goering we submit American Document 343-PS, Page
203 of document book 11. This is a letter from Field Marshal
Milch to Wolff. On Page 204, this letter concludes with the
phrase:

   "I express to the SS the special thanks of the Commander-
   in-Chief of the Luftwaffe for the considerable aid they
   have rendered."

Now, from the preceding one can conclude that these thanks
refer to the biological experiments of Dr. Rascher. Thus,
Goering is involved in these.

The German SS Medical Corps is implicated also. This one can
gather from Document 1635-PS, which has not yet been handed
to the Tribunal, which becomes Exhibit RF-385, which the
Tribunal will find in the annex of the second document book.
These are extracts from reviews on microscopic and
anatomical research. They deal with experiments made on
persons who died suddenly, although in good health. The
circumstances of their death are described by the
experimenters in such a way that no reader can be in any
doubt as to what they were.

With the authorisation of the Tribunal, I shall read a few
brief extracts. Page 132, at the top of the document which
we submit to the Tribunal:

  "The thyroid glands. 21 persons between 20 and 40 years
  of age were examined. They had been in supposedly good
  health, but suddenly died."

The following paragraph

"The persons in question, 19 men and 2 women, until their
death had all lived for several months under the same
conditions both of housing and food. At the end the food
they were given consisted chiefly of hydrocarbons."
"Replacement Products and Examination Methods": (this is the
title) "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."

                                                  [Page 306]

In examining these documents, the Tribunal will see that
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 fooled, since the accounts of the SS
doctors' experiments in the camps were published in this
way.

A last document is F-185, A and B, which refers to an
experiment with poisoned bullets, carried out on 11 August
1944, in the presence of SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding, and
Dr. Widmann; Page 187 of the second document book concerning
concentration camps. These two documents are submitted as
Exhibits RF 386 and 387. The Tribunal will find on Page 187
the description of this experiment, in which the victims are
persons sentenced to death, where,
in fact . . .

THE PRESIDENT: The document has been read already, I think.

M. DUBOST: F-185 is a French document.

THE PRESIDENT: But I cannot help that. It has been read
already, I think.

M. DUBOST: I beg the Tribunal's pardon. I did not realise
that. It is a document from the French archives. However,
Mr. President, I doubt if the Tribunal has heard Document
185 B, which is by the French Professor, May, a surgeon.
This document will become Exhibit RF 386, and, on Page 222,
second paragraph, Professor May, Fellow of Surgery, to whom
the pseudo-scientific documents to which I alluded a while
ago were submitted - the reports from scientific reviews on
experiments - wrote :

"The wickedness and the stupidity of the experimenters
amazed me. The symptoms of aconite poisoning have been known
from time immemorial. This poison is sometimes employed by
certain savage tribes to poison their war arrows. It is
unheard of that observations on the anticipated result of
experiments should be presented in such a pretentious style,
observations, by the way, which are completely inadequate
and childish or that these could be signed by a 'Doz,', that
is to say, a professor."

We now submit Document F-278A, as Exhibit RF 388. The
Tribunal will find it on Page 75. It involves Keitel. It is
a letter signed: " By order of the High Command of the
Wehrmacht, Dr. Lehmann." It is addressed on 10 February 1942
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it incriminates him.
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
decree of the Fuehrer are to have no communication of any
kind with the outside world. They must, therefore, neither
write themselves, nor receive letters, parcels or visits.
The letters, parcels and visits are to be refused, with the
remark that all communications with the outside world is
forbidden."

The High Command shares the point of view of the recipient
of this letter, expressed in his letter of 31 January 1942,
according to which access of Belgian lawyers to Belgian
prisoners shall not be permitted.

We now submit Document 682-PS, Page 134 of the second
document book, which becomes Exhibit RF 389. This document
involves the German Government and the Reich Cabinet. It is
a record of a conversation between Dr. Goebbels and
Thierack, Minister of Justice, on 15 September 1942, from
13.00 hours to 14.15 hours.

"With regard to the destruction of asocial elements Dr.
Goebbels is of the opinion that the following groups should
be exterminated: Jews and Gypsies unconditionally, Poles who
have to serve 3-4 years of penal servitude, and Czechs and
Germans who are sentenced to death or penal servitude for
life or to protective custody (Sicherungsverwah rung) for
life. The idea of extermination through work is the best
..."

                                                  [Page 307]

We stress this last phrase which shows, in the German
Government itself, the will to "extermination through work."

THE PRESIDENT: Has that document been read before?

M. DUBOST: This document does not seem to have been read
before. We made enquiries of the American Delegation.

THE PRESIDENT: Read the last two lines.

M. DUBOST: "The idea of extermination through work is the
best."

The last document that we shall submit in regard to the
concentration camps is F-662, which becomes Exhibit RF 390.
Pages 77 and 78, second document book. This document is the
testimony of M. Poutiers, living in Paris, Place de
Breteuil, who points out that the prisoners in the commandos
of Mauthausen Ebens worked under the direct control of
civilians, the SS dealing only with the supervision of the
prisoners. This witness, who was in numerous work commandos,
testifies that all were controlled by civilians, and only
supervised by the SS, and that, thus, the inhabitants of the
country, during the movement of the labourers to and from
work, could observe their misery, which confirms the
testimony which has already been given before the Tribunal.

We shall summarise the progress of the German criminal
policy in the West: At the beginning of the occupation:
Violation of Article 50: execution of hostages, but creation
of a pseudo "law of hostages" to justify these executions in
the eyes of the populace of the occupied countries.

In the years that follow; contempt for the rights of the
human being increases. It becomes complete in the last
months of the occupation. At that time arbitrary
imprisonment, parodies of trials, or executions without
trials were a daily practice.

The sentences, the Tribunal will remember, are no longer put
into effect in cases of acquittal or reprieve; those
acquitted by German tribunals, who should be released are
deported and die in concentration camps.

At the same time there develops and grows in strength the
organisation of Frenchmen who remain on the soil of France
and refuse to let their country die. At  this stage German
terrorism intensifies against them, increasing from month to
month. What follows is the description of the terroristic
repression by the Germans 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.

From the time when Germany understands that its policy of
collaboration is doomed to failure, that its policy of
hostages only exasperates the fury of the people whom it is
trying to subdue, instead of modifying its policy with
regard to the citizens of the occupied countries, it
intensifies the terror which already reigns over them, and
tries to justify itself by saying it is an anti-Communist
campaign.

The Tribunal recalls Keitel's order; The tribunal
understands what one must think of this pretext. All the
French, all the citizens of Europe, without any distinction
of party, profession, religion, or race who were involved in
resistance against Germany, were mingled in the graves, in
the collective charnel houses into which the Germans threw
them after their extermination.

But this confusion is deliberate, it is calculated, it
justifies to a certain degree this arbitrariness of
repressive measures, this arbitrariness of which we have
already had evidence in Document F-278, Page 4 of the
document book, which we submit as Exhibit RF 391, dated 12
January 1943, signed "Falkenhausen"

THE PRESIDENT: Which document book is it?

M. DUBOST: "Terrorist action against Patriots," Document F-
278, Page 4, second paragraph:

   "In the future, persons who are found in possession of
   explosives
   
                                                  [Page 308]
   
   and fire arms without valid authorisation, may be
   immediately shot without trial."

This order and others analogous to it continue to be
executed even after the Allied landing in Western Europe.
These orders are even executed against organised forces in
Belgium as well as in France, although the Germans
themselves to a certain extent considered these forces as
troops. This can be verified by reference to Document F-673,
Page 167, third paragraph.

THE PRESIDENT: That is in a different book, I am afraid, is
it not?

M. DUBOST: We are now dealing with the terrorist actions
against patriots, and it is in the document book entitled
"Terrorist Action Against Patriots."

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