Archive/File: imt/nca/supp-b/nca-sb-02-reinecke.01-03 Last-Modified: 1997/12/10 Q. Well, can you remember any time when you ever opposed anything that Mueller said? A. I can only say again that all of us were very distressed about this thing and how it was working out. However, it was ordered and thus it had to be carried out. Q. You weren't distressed about it. A. Yes. Q. What did you do about it? A. I couldn't do anything against it. Q. You didn't try to do anything, did you? You have just heard Lahousen say what you did about it, which was to support Mueller. A. If two different departments did not agree, then the normal thing would have been that Admiral Canaris, as the representative of his office, would have gone to Keitel and told him, "It doesn't work out like that." And then Keitel would have settled the difficulty. Q. Now we will ask Lahousen about that. General Lahousen: I want to make a statement here. That is just what happened. Admiral Canaris had been to see Keitel to make representations about just what had happened; that is, about the contents of these orders: (a) as far as international law was concerned -- that is, about the customs of international law; and (b) about the lunacy of this order. He made very strong representations about it. I received directives from Canaris before I went to this conference. The purpose of that was to provide you, Mr. Reinecke, with a golden bridge, so to speak. I was to give you all the facts upon which to build, and I was going to give you all the material support possible. Instead of taking this opportunity, you relied upon Mueller. General Reinecke: Well, the way I look at it, I must have already received Keitel's opinion, because I can't imagine anything else. General Lahousen: Your personal position was very harsh, in particular; it came out in the expressions which were used at the [Page 1616] time and which I don't remember exactly any more, and therefore I can't repeat them. However, they are in that notation that I made in the document; that is, your personal expressions about these questions. To General Reinecke by Col Amen: Q. Do you deny anything which Lahousen says? A. It is difficult to deny it. Q. I don't care whether it is easy or difficult; do you or don't you? A. If he remembers those things, then it must have been like that. General Lahousen: I can only tell the truth as to just how it happened. A. If he put it down in a document -- at nay rate, I can't remember it. Q. Then you don't dispute it; is that right? A. Well, if he noted it down like that, then what can I -- well, I remembered it differently. Q. Do you dispute it or don't you? (Witness shrugs his shoulders.) Don't just shrug your shoulders; do you dispute it or don't you? A. If he says it happened like that and he noted it down on paper, then it must be correct. I myself could not fix it as positively as all that. Q. But you don't dispute it? A. No. To General Lahousen by Col. Amen: Q. Now, I want to ask Lahousen if it isn't a fact that these orders for the treatment of Russian prisoners of war were the subject of constant discussion in the General Staff? A. I believe yes. I don't happen to know of any concrete instances, but I must suppose that this subject -- which had created a terrific reaction within the armed forces -- was discussed many times at various places. Q. And is there any question but what the reaction was a very strong one? A. No. I know that the reaction was especially strong from the front; that is, especially the commanders and those in a position of command at the front. I have already stated in my first interrogations that several of these commanders refused to transmit these orders any further, [Page 1617] but I am sorry that I cannot name them. I remember very well that Canaris undertook a trip at once, or at least a very short time after this order had been issued, to see the Supreme Commanders and to ascertain their opinions as to this order. Then Canaris told me about this, and that is where I derived the foundation for what I just told you. Q. Now, what was Reinecke's position at the time of this conference? A. He was the Chief of the General Office of the Armed Forces. Q. And what was his responsibility at that time insofar as the prisoners of war were concerned? A. I can't say that positively, but I can only deduce something from the presence of Colonel Breier, who belonged to your Department. General Reinecke: Yes, he did. A. And from the fact that you presided over this conference, I had to conclude thus, that you were concerned very much with this question -- that is, the responsibility -- without being able to say concretely just how the organization was at that time. Q. Well, how did Reinecke happen to be at the conference, so far as you know? A. He was presiding over it, and I even believe that he called it. He called it in order to comment on and explain these orders. Q. So that if he suggests that he did not know anything about these orders first-hand, that does not conform with the facts as they appeared at the conference? A. That is absolutely out of the question. To General Reinecke by Col. Amen: Q. Do you agree with that? A. No, I don't agree. Perhaps I may explain this again clearly. As I said before, as far as I remember, when I came back from the front I called this conference. All these orders for the treatment of Russian prisoners were not given by me, but they all came from the Leadership Staff of the Armed Forces without my participation. This also appears in this order -- and this was after we had issued the outlines. It says here: "The outlines given by the OKW for the occupied areas." That proves quite clearly that the original order came from Keitel and the Fuehrer, and was signed by Warlimont to the General Staff of the Army, because all the camps were under their jurisdiction and the measures had to be taken their. Then gradually, after the prisoners of war came un- [Page 1618] der our jurisdiction, we were forced to take a certain position on that problem.
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