Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-21/tgmwc-21-200.06
Last-Modified: 2000/11/16

Q. And just below there is a stamp of the 72nd Division,
27th November, 1941, Diary No. 1C, and at the left it
appears to have been issued by Army High Command 1 t at Army
Headquarters, 20th November, 1941. Secret. I quote:

  "Since the 22nd June the German people have been engaged
  in a life-and-death struggle against the Bolshevist
  system.
  
  This struggle is not being carried on against the Soviet
  armed forces alone in the established form laid down by
  European rules of warfare.
  
  Behind the front, too, the fighting continues. Partisan
  snipers dressed as civilians attack single soldiers and
  small units, and try to disrupt our supplies by sabotage
  with mines and infernal machines. Bolshevists left behind
  keep the population, freed from Bolshevism, in a state of
  unrest by means of terror, and attempt thereby to
  sabotage the political and economic pacification of the
  country. Harvests and factories are destroyed and the
  city population in particular is thereby ruthlessly
  delivered to starvation.
  
  Jewry constitutes the middleman between the enemy in the
  rear and the remainder of the Red armed forces which is
  still fighting and the Red leadership. More strongly than
  in Europe it holds all the key positions in the political
  leadership and administration, controls commerce and
  trade, and further forms the nucleus for all unrest and
  possible uprisings.
  
  The Jewish-Bolshevist system must be exterminated once
  and for all. Never again must it encroach upon our
  European living-space.

                                                   [Page 72]

  The German soldier has therefore not only the task of
  crushing the military potential of this system. He comes
  also as the bearer of a racial concept and as the avenger
  of all the cruelties which have been perpetrated on him
  and on the German people.
  
  The fight behind the lines is not yet being taken
  seriously enough. Active co-operation of all soldiers
  must be demanded in the disarming of the population, the
  control and arrest of all roving soldiers and civilians
  and the removal of Bolshevist symbols.
  
  Every instance of sabotage must be punished immediately
  with the severest measures, and all signs thereof must be
  reported.
  
  The food situation at home makes it essential that the
  troops should as far as possible be fed off the land, and
  that furthermore the largest possible stocks should be
  placed at the disposal of the homeland. Particularly in
  enemy cities a large part of the population will have to
  go hungry. Nevertheless nothing which the homeland has
  sacrificed itself to contribute may, out of a misguided
  sense of humanity, be given to prisoners or to the
  population unless they are in the service of the German
  Wehrmacht.
  
  The soldier must appreciate the necessity for the harsh
  punishment of Jewry, the spiritual bearer of the
  Bolshevist terror. This is also necessary in order to nip
  in the bud all uprisings, which are mostly attributable
  to Jews.
  
  It is the task of leaders at all levels to keep
  constantly alive the meaning of the present struggle.
  Support for the Bolshevist fight behind the front by way
  of thoughtlessness must be prevented.
  
  It is to be expected of the non-Bolshevist Ukrainians,
  Russians and Tartars that they will be converted to the
  New Order. The non-participation of numerous alleged anti-
  Soviet elements must give place to a definite decision in
  favour of active co-operation against Bolshevism. Where
  it does not exist it must be forced by suitable measures.
  
  Voluntary -co-operation in the reconstruction of occupied
  territory is an absolute necessity for the achievement of
  our economic and political aims.
  
  It has as its condition a just treatment of all non-
  Bolshevist sections of the population, some of whom have
  for years fought heroically against Bolshevism.
  
  The ruling of this country demands from us results,
  strictness with ourselves and submergence of the
  individual. The bearing of every soldier is constantly
  under observation. It can make enemy propaganda
  ineffective or give it a springboard. If the soldier in
  the country takes from the peasant the last cow, the
  breeding sow, the last chicken or the seed, then no
  restoration of the economy can be achieved.
  
  In all measures it is not the momentary success which is
  decisive. All measures must, therefore, be judged by
  their effectiveness over a period of time.
  
  Respect for religious customs, particularly those of
  Mohammedan Tartars, must be demanded.
  
  In pursuance of these concepts there are other measures
  besides to be carried out by the later administration.
  The enlightenment of the population by propaganda,
  encouragement of personal initiative, e.g., by prizes,
  extensive detailing of the population towards fighting
  the partisans and expansion of the local auxiliary police
  must be given more significance.
  
  For the achievement of this object the following must be
  demanded:
  
  Active co-operation of soldiers in the fight against the
  enemy in the rear.
  
  No soldier to go about alone at night.
  
  All motor vehicles to be equipped with adequate armament.
  
  A self-assured but not overbearing attitude from all
  soldiers.
  
  Restraint towards prisoners and the other sex.
  
  No waste of food.
  
  Severest action to be taken:
  
                                                   [Page 73]

  Against despotism and self-seeking.
  
  Against lawlessness and lack of discipline.
  
  Against every transgression of the honour of a soldier."

And it appears that it is to be distributed right down to
the regiments and independent battalions.

Q. Did you not issue that order as a result of the
suggestion which came to you with the Reichenau order? The
resemblance between the two is, to say the least, striking
and the date is about the same.

A. I must say that this order escapes my memory entirely.
According to the signature and particularly what is
contained in the last part, I must assume that the order is
genuine and was issued by me. Whether it was given on the
strength of the Reichenau order or not I cannot possibly
tell you now. But I do want to point out to you that if it
says here that the system must be exterminated, then that is
extermination of the Bolshevik system but not the
extermination of human beings.

I must further point out to you that nowhere is there
mention of collaboration with the SD, a collaboration which,
because of the lack of knowledge we had of the doings of the
SD, was out of the question in this area. I must point out
to you the demands which I made of my soldiers - namely,
that they must not take the last cow away from the farmers,
that they must respect religious customs, that they must
respect the other sex and that, on the other hand, they
naturally must not be careless of the danger of partisans,
as unfortunately the German soldier always was. I point out
to you that any wilfulness and any self-seeking is expressly
prohibited, also any barbarism, any lack of discipline, and
most of all any breach of the honour of a soldier.

Q. You were asked about the General Reichenau order before
the Commissioner, were you not? You were asked, and I read
on Page - I will have to find the page, your Honour. I have
a typed copy here, your Honour, without the final page
reference.

Were you questioned before the Commissioners as follows:

  "You know the order of General Reichenau in which he
  stated that there should be no consideration shown to the
  civilian population? Did you see the order, and did it
  have any influence whatever on your attitude and that of
  your troops to the civilian population?"

And you answered:

  "We were informed of this order upon the suggestion of
  the Fuehrer, but none of the other leaders were of the
  same opinion as Reichenau, and it was never carried out,
  especially in my area."

You had not forgotten the Reichenau order, had you?

A. I had quite forgotten the Reichenau order until, it
appeared amongst the documents here and I have no
recollection especially of his order of mine. After all,
that is not surprising, because that is a number of years
ago, and during these years I have signed hundreds, if not
thousands, of orders, and I cannot possibly remember every
detail.

Q. Did you sign a lot of orders like this one? Is that why
you have such difficulty remembering it?

A. No, I certainly have not signed a lot of orders like this
one, but I have signed a lot of other orders. Particularly,
I had to write and read a large number of reports and if I
forgot this order, a fact which I admit, it is not
surprising. I only know that this order, at any rate, as
opposed to the Reichenau order, very, strongly emphasises
the demands which I made for decent behaviour on the part of
my soldiers. That, after all, is the important point.

Q. You remember the Reichenau order, and you remember that
it was suggested that you pass it down, and the only thing
you have forgotten is that you did?

A. No, I said that I only remembered the Reichenau order
when I came here, when it was shown to me among other
documents, and when I was before

                                                   [Page 74]

the Commission, also that, try as I might, I did not
recollect giving that order. If I had done so, I would most
certainly have mentioned it, because the first part of the
order is absolutely contrary to my conceptions.

Q. You think that you wrote the second part and not the
first?

A. I did not write the order at all myself. Very probably
the order was shown to me in draft and then I signed it. If
the first part mentions the fight against the system and the
extermination of the system as well as the fight against the
Jews as the supporters of the Partisan movement, in the last
analysis, it had its proper justification. But all that has
nothing to do with the fact that Jews were to be
exterminated. They were to be excluded, and the system was
to be removed. That is the point that matters.

Q. I think you told the Tribunal a few minutes ago that you
did not even know that Jews were likely to be opposed to the
new administration. It looks as if you very definitely wrote
that for the attention of your soldiers, does it not?

A. No, I did not know that, and this order that Jews were to
be exterminated cannot possibly recall it to my memory,
because it does not mention a word about the Jews being
exterminated. It merely says that the system is to be
exterminated.

Q. I call your attention to the paragraph: "The soldier must
appreciate the necessity for harsh punishment of Jewry, the
spiritual bearer of the Bolshevist terror. This is also
necessary in order to nip in the bud all uprisings, which
are mostly attributable to Jews."

Now, I ask you, witness, the Einsatzkommandos could not have
liquidated Jews without the soldiers knowing something about
it, could they? Is that true?

A. It was perfectly possible, because as Ohlendorf has
described it the shootings of the Jews were camouflaged as
"resettlement." The Jews were taken to desolate places and
were shot and buried there, so that it is quite certain that
the commanding authorities had no knowledge of that.
Naturally, it is possible that some soldier or other, quite
by accident, may have seen such an execution, and there is
in fact evidence of it. I remember in the Russian Indictment
the description by an engineer, who was present during such
-a shooting, I believe in the Ukraine in the vicinity of
Schitomir or Rovno, and described it in most horrible terms.

One can only ask why that man did not report it to the
command post. The answer is that the fear of the SS was such
that this man, instead of reporting this dirty business,
kept it to himself and now comes out with it. At that time -
it was not in my zone, but somewhere else - had he gone to
some high military command post and described these events,
then I am convinced that the commander in question would
have intervened, and then, of course, we would also have
heard of it. But the fact is that we did not hear about it.

GENERAL TELFORD TAYLOR: One more question on this subject,
your Honour.

BY GENERAL TELFORD TAYLOR:

Q. Witness, is it not true that this order is very carefully
drawn so that the troops would understand and, shall we say,
sympathise with what the Einsatzkommandos were doing in the
way of mass extermination of Jews?

A. You mean my order?

Q. Yes.

A. No. There can be no question of my ever having urged my
troops, even between the lines, to co-operate in such
methods. How could I have concluded by stressing the
soldier's honour?

GENERAL TELFORD TAYLOR: My Lord, the prosecution has no
further questions of this witness.

THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.

(The Tribunal adjourned until 1000 hours, 12th August, 1946.)

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