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THE PRESIDENT: The number of the page came through to me as
one hundred and 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, if we acknowledge the truth of the facts
presented by the French, exceeds by far in scope any purely
police action against isolated outlaws .... "

THE PRESIDENT: Is this from 673? Are you reading from 673?

M. DUBOST: Excuse me, Mr. President, this document is not
before the Tribunal, and I shall not quote it.

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a convenient time to
break off.

(A recess was taken).

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, M. Dubost.

M. DUBOST: The few minutes recess has afforded me the
opportunity now to submit a passage from Document F-673
(Exhibit RF 392) which I cited 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, if we acknowledge the
truth of the facts presented by the French exceeds by far in
scope any purely police action against isolated outlaws. On
the enemy side we have organisations which absolutely refuse
to accept the sovereignty of the Vichy Government, and which
also, from the point of view of numbers as well as of
armament and command, can almost be considered to be troops.
It has been reiterated that these revolutionary units
consider themselves as being a part of the forces fighting
against Germany.

General Eisenhower has designated the terrorists who are
fighting in France as 'Troops under my orders.' It is
against such troops" (on the original is written in red
pencil "unfortunately not only") "that preventive measures
are directed."

This document shows us that when in action the French Forces
of the Interior, as well as all French forces in the Western
occupied countries, were considered as troops by the German
Army.

THE PRESIDENT: I see that it may be useful for the record.
It is in the document book on the extermination of innocent
populations, on Page 167.

M. DUBOST: I thank you, Mr. President.

The patriots who were consequently considered by the German
Army as constituting regular troops, were they then treated
as soldiers? No.

The order of Falkenhausen is proof thereof. They were either
to be killed on the spot and, after all, that is the fate of
a combatant, or else delivered to the Sipo, or to the SD,
and tortured to death by units free of any legal constraint,

                                                  [Page 309]

in the manner demonstrated by Document 835-PS, which has
already been submitted as Exhibit USA 527. and by F-673,
Page 6 in your document book, which is now before you as
Exhibit RF-392.

THE PRESIDENT: What page?

M. DUBOST: Six of your document book.

THE PRESIDENT: Of the same document book?

M. DUBOST: This is the only document book that we are
referring to now Mr. President, "Terrorist Action against
Patriots", F-673, on Page 6 of the book which is now before
you. The whole of that document has already been submitted
as Exhibit RF-392. 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 its entirety as Exhibit
RF 392 after classifying it in the French archive as number
673. Whenever we refer to Document 673 it will be one of the
documents in this big German book.

  "Letter from the Fuehrer's headquarters, 18 August 1944,
  thirty copies, copy number twenty-six. Top secret.
  Subject.
  
  (1) Action against terrorists and saboteurs in occupied
  territories.
  
  (2) Jurisdiction over non-German civilians in occupied
  territories."

"(1) In the enclosure," says the writer of this letter, " we
are transmitting a copy of the order of the Fuehrer of 30
July 1944 ". This order of the Fuehrer of 30 July 1944 will
be found on Page 9 of your document book. Here is the order,
Page 9,
paragraph three.

  "I therefore order the troops and every individual member
  of the Wehrmacht, the SS and the police, immediately to
  shoot on the spot terrorists and saboteurs who are caught
  red-handed. (2) Whoever is captured later is to be
  transferred to the nearest local office of the Security
  Police and SD. Sympathisers, particularly women, who are
  not taking direct part in these hostile acts are to be
  put to work."

We know what that means. We know the working conditions in
concentration camps. But I shall proceed to read the text of
the letter covering this order, paragraph four. This
paragraph is a comment on the order itself.

THE PRESIDENT: Has this not been read before?

M. DUBOST: It has never been read, Mr. President.

This is F-673 of the Wiesbaden Armistice Commission.

   "Pending judicial proceedings against any act of terror
   or sabotage, or any other crime committed by non-German
   civilians in the occupied territories which endangers
   the security or the state of tactical readiness of the
   occupying power, are suspended. Indictments are to be
   withdrawn. The carrying out of sentences is not to be
   ordered. The accused and the records are to be turned
   over to the nearest office of the Security Police and
   SD."

This order, which is to be transmitted to all commanding
generals, as indicated on Page 7, is accompanied by one last
comment on Page 8, the penultimate paragraph.

   "Non-German civilians in the occupied territories who
   endanger the security or state of tactical readiness of
   the occupying power in a manner other than through acts
   of terrorism and sabotage are to be turned over to the
   SD." This order is signed by Keitel.

By this comment, which we have just read to you, Keitel has
associated himself in spirit with the order of his Fuehrer.
He has brought about the execution of numerous innocent
individuals, for the uncontrolled killing of any one
suspected of being a terrorist affects not only the
terrorists but the innocent, and affects the innocent more
than the terrorists. Moreover, Keitel's

                                                  [Page 310]

comment goes even beyond even Hitler's own order. Keitel
applied Hitler's stipulation, - on Page 9 of your document
book - to a hypothetical case which had not been foreseen,
to wit:

   "Acts committed by non-German civilians in occupied
   territories which endanger the security of state of
   tactical readiness of the occupying power."

This is from the General himself. It is a political act
which has nothing to do with the conduct of war. It is a
political act which compromises and involves him. It makes
him participate in the development and extension of the
Hitlerian policy; for it is the interpretation of an order
from Hitler, within the spirit of the order, perhaps, but
beyond its scope.

Instructions were given to the Sipo and the SD to execute
without sentence. These instructions were carried out.
Document F-574 on Page 10 of your document book, which is
placed before you as Exhibit RF 393, is testimony by a
certain Goldberg, an adjutant to the Security Service in
Chalon sur Saone before the liberation of that city. He was
captured by the patriots and interrogated by the divisional
commissar who was Chief of the Regional Office of Criminal
Investigation (Police Judiciaire) at Dijon. The defence will
certainly not reproach us for having had him examined by a
junior police officer. It was the same chief of the Regional
Office of Criminal Investigation for the Dijon region who
had interrogated this very witness. The witness declared,
Page 12, at the bottom of the page:

   "At the end of May 1944, without my having seen any
   written order on this subject, the Security Police of
   Chalon had the right to pronounce capital punishment,
   and to have the sentence carried out without those
   concerned having appeared before a Tribunal, and without
   the case having been submitted for approval to the
   commander in Dijon. It is the Chief of the SD in Chalon,
   that is, Kruger, who had all necessary authority to make
   such a 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 regular and was the
   result of instructions which were not officially
   communicated to me but which emanated from higher
   authorities."

The execution was carried out 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 the major criminals, those
who gave orders and from whom orders emanated.

How were these orders applied in the various countries of
the West?

In the case of Holland, we have the following testimony in a
report given by the Dutch Government. I read from Page 15 of
that report:

   "Three days after the attempt against Rauter, I
   witnessed the execution of several Dutch patriots by the
   German green (political) police."

This Dutch document is classified in the French file as F-
224, and it has been submitted to you, but the specific
passage to which I refer has not been read.

The witness continues, on Page 16 of your document book:

   "I spoke to a master sergeant of the green (political)
   police, whose name is unknown to me, and he told me that
   this execution was revenge for the attempt against
   Rauter. He told me also that hundreds of Dutch
   terrorists had been executed in accordance with the
   order."

In the penultimate paragraph of Page 17, another witness
stated:

   "About 6 o'clock in the evening" - this is the German
   who gave the orders  to execute the Dutch patriots -
   "when I went to my office, I received the order to have
   40 prisoners shot."

On Page 19, at the very bottom of the page, the
investigators, who were

                                                  [Page 311]

Canadian officers, state the circumstances under which the
corpses were discovered. I do not think that the Tribunal
will wish me to read this passage.

On Page 21 the Tribunal will find the report of Munt,
completing and correcting his report of 4 June on the
execution of Dutchmen after the attempt against Rauter.

The execution was carried out upon order from Kolitz; 198
prisoners were involved. Munt denies having sanctioned the
execution of the Dutch patriots, but says that it was
nevertheless impossible for him to prevent it, in view of
the orders from higher sources which he had received.

On Page 22, penultimate paragraph, the same Munt states:

   "After an attack against two members of the Wehrmacht on
   two days in succession in which both were wounded and
   robbed of their rifles, my chief insisted that 15 Dutch
   citizens be shot; 12 were shot."

An important document is to be found on Page 30 in your
document book. It is included in Document F-224, which
comprises the documents relative to inquiries made by the
Dutch Government. This is a decree concerning the
proclamation of summary justice for the Occupied
Netherlands. It is signed by the defendant Seyss-Inquart.
Therefore one must go to him when one seeks the chief
responsibility for these summary executions of patriots in
Holland.

From this decree we stress paragraph 1:

   "I proclaim summary police justice for the whole of the
   Occupied Netherlands, and this will take effect
   immediately.
   
   At the same time I order that all must abstain from any
   kind of agitation which might disturb public order and
   the security of public life."

I omit a paragraph.

   "The senior officer of the SS and of the police will
   take every step deemed necessary by him for the
   maintenance or restoration of public order or the
   security of public life."

The following paragraph:

   "In the execution of his task he can deviate from the
   existing law."

Summary police justice! These words do not deceive us. This
is purely and simply a matter of murder, in that the police
is authorised, in executing its functions, to deviate from
the existing law. This decree which Seyss-Inquart signed,
and which, gave impunity to his subordinates, who murdered
Dutch patriots, is his very condemnation.

In accordance with this decree the Tribunal will see that on
2 May - this is Page 32 of your document book - a summary
police court pronounced the death sentence against ten Dutch
patriots.

Another summary police court pronounced the death sentence
on ten other Dutch patriots. All of them were executed -
this is on Page 34 of your document book.

On the next page, still in application of the same decree,
you will see that a summary police court pronounced the
death sentence on a patriot, and he was executed.

This Document, F-224, comprises a very long list of similar
acts, which seem to me superfluous to cite. The Tribunal may
refer to the last only, which is especially interesting. We
may consider it for a moment; it is on Page 46 of your
document book. This is the report of the Identification and
Investigation Service of the Netherlands, according to
which, while it was not possible to make known at that time
the number of ordinary citizens 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. The
details of the executions, with the places where the corpses
were discovered, follow.

                                                  [Page 312]

This constitutes only a very fragmentary aspect of the
sufferings endured by Holland and the sacrifices in human
life which she made in our common cause. That needs to be
stated because it is the consequence of the criminal orders
of the defendant Seyss-Inquart.

In the case of Belgium, the basic document is the French
Document F-685, submitted as Exhibit RF 394, and you will
find it on Page 48 of your document book. It is a report
drawn up by the Belgian War Crimes Commission, 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 of ill-
treatment and tortures as well.

   Page 50: "At Graide a camp of the secret army was
   attacked. 15 corpses were discovered to have been
   frightfully mutilated." That is the first paragraph at
   the top of Page 50. "The Germans employed bullets with
   sawn off tips. Some of the bodies had been pierced with
   bayonets. Two of the prisoners had been beaten with
   cudgels before being finished off with a pistol shot."

The prisoners were soldiers taken with weapons in hand and
in battle, belonging to those units which officially,
according to documents formerly cited to you, were
considered by the German General Staff as from that time on
as being combatants.

   The sixth paragraph: "At Foret, on 6 September, several
   hundred men of the Resistance were billeted in the
   Chateau de Foret. The Germans, having been warned that
   they were going into action, decided to carry out a
   repressive operation. A certain number of unarmed
   members of the Resistance tried to flee. Some were shot
   down; others succeeded in getting back to the castle,
   not having been able to break through the cordon of
   German troops; others were finally made prisoners. The
   Germans advanced with the Resistance prisoners in front
   of them. After two hours the fighting stopped for lack
   of ammunition. The Germans promised to spare the lives
   of those who surrendered. Some of the prisoners were
   loaded on a lorry; others, in spite of the promise, were
   massacred after having been tortured. The castle, and
   the corpses, sprinkled with petrol, were set on fire.
   Twenty men perished in this massacre; fifteen others had
   been killed during the fight."

The examples are numerous. This tribute to heroic Belgium
was necessary. It was necessary that there should be
recalled here what we owe to these combatants of the secret
army, and the price paid by it.

With regard to Luxembourg, we have a document given to us by
the Ministry of Justice of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,
which is UK-77, already submitted as Exhibit RF 325, which
the Tribunal will find on page 53 of the document book.


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