Forty-Second Day:
Thursday, 24rd January, 1946
[Page 127]
This is doubly important. This constitutes a direct and
crushing charge against Keitel; but Keitel is the German
General Staff. Now this organisation is indicted and you see
by this document that this indictment is justified, as the
German General Staff dabbled in the criminal policy of the
German Cabinet.
In the case of France, the general orders of Keitel were
adopted by Stulpnagel in his order of September 30th, 1941,
better known in France under the name of "Code of Hostages,"
which repeats and specifies in detail the previous orders,
namely that of 23 August, 1941. This order of 30 September
1941, is of major importance to anyone who wishes to prove
under what circumstances French hostages were shot. This is
why I shall be obliged to read large extracts. It defines,
in paragraph 3, the categories of Frenchmen who
[Page 128]
THE PRESIDENT: What is the number of this document?
M. DUBOST: 1588-PS. Paragraph 1 concerns the seizure of
hostages. I read:
On the morning of 21 August 1941, a member of the German
Armed Forces was killed in Paris, as a result of a
murderous attack.
I therefore order that:
1. All Frenchmen held in custody of whatever kind by the
German authorities, or on behalf of German authorities
in France, are to be considered as hostages as from 23
August.
2. If any further incident occurs, a number of these
hostages, to be determined according to the gravity of
the attempt, are, to be shot.
On 19 September 1941 by an announcement to the
Plenipotentiary of the French Government, I ordered the
Military Commander in France, that, as from 19 September
1941, all the male French who are under arrest of any
kind by the French authorities, or who are taken into
custody because of communist or anarchist agitation, are
to be kept under arrest by the French authorities also,
on behalf of the Military Commander in France.
On the basis of my notification of 22 August 1941 and of
my order of 19 September 1941 the following groups of
persons are therefore hostages:
(b) All Frenchmen who are kept in detention of any kind
whatsoever by the French authority on behalf of the
German Authorities. This group includes:
(bb) All Frenchmen on whom the French penal
authorities impose terms of imprisonment at the
request of the German military courts;
(cc) All Frenchmen who are arrested and kept in
custody by the French authorities on behalf of the
German authorities or who are being handed over by the
Germans to French authorities with the demand to keep
them under arrest.
3. Release from detention: Persons who were not yet in
detention on 22nd August 1941 or on 19th September 1941,
but who were arrested later on or are still being
arrested, are hostages as from the date of detention if
the other conditions apply to them.
The release of arrested persons, authorised on account
of expiration of sentences, lifting of the order for
arrest, or for other reasons, will not be affected by my
announcement of 22 August 1941. Those released are no
longer hostages.
In as far as persons are in detention of any kind with
the French authorities for communist or anarchist
activity, their release is possible, as I have informed
the French Government, only with my approval." [Page 129]
M. DUBOST : It is a summary of paragraph 6. I will read you
all the text, if you will bear with me for a moment. It is a
text of capital importance and cannot very well be
summarised.
Paragraph 6, Page 4
The district commanders, therefore must make a selection
for their own districts from the total number of people
in detention (hostages) who from a practical point of
view may be considered for execution, and who are to
entered on a list of hostages. These lists of hostages
serve as a basis for the proposals to be submitted to me
in the case of an execution.
1. According to the observations made so far, the
perpetrators originate from communist or anarchist
terror-gangs. The district commanders are therefore to
select from those in detention (hostages), persons who,
because of their communist or anarchist views in the
past, or their positions in such organisations, or their
former attitude in other ways are most suitable for
execution. One must take into consideration when making
a selection, that the intimidating effect of the
shooting of hostages is all the greater, on the
perpetrators themselves, and on those persons who, in
France or abroad bear the spiritual respionsibility - as
instigators or by their propaganda - for acts of terror
and sabotage, the more the persons shot are widely
known. Experience shows that the instigators and the
political circles interested in these attacks, are not
concerned about the lives of obscure followers, but are
more likely to be concerned about the lives of their own
former officials. Consequently, we must place at the
head of these lists:
(c) Persons who have proved by their attitude that
they are particularly dangerous (for example: attacks
on members of the Armed Forces, acts of sabotage,
possession of arms).
(d) Persons who collaborated in the distribution of
leaflets."
In conformity with paragraph (b) of this article, we shall
see that the Germans shot a number of intellectuals,
including Solomon and Politzer, in 1941 and 1942, in Paris
and the provincial towns.
I shall come back to these executions later, when I give you
examples of German atrocities committed in relation to the
policy of hostages in France.
3. Racial Germans of French nationality, who are
imprisoned for communist or anarchist activity may be
included in the list. Special attention must be drawn to
their German origin on the attached form.
[Page 130]
5. The lists have to record for each district about 150
persons, that of the Command of Greater Paris about 300
to 400 persons. The district chiefs should always record
on their lists those persons who had their last
residence or permanent domicile in their districts,
because those to be executed should as far as possible
be taken from the district where the act was committed."
7. In the French text:
Proposals for execution:
"In case of an incident which necessitates the shooting
of hostages, within the meaning of my announcement of 22
August 1941, the district chief in whose territory the
incident happened is to select from the list of hostages
persons whose execution he wishes to propose to me. In
making the selection he must, from the personal as well
as local point of view, draw from persons belonging to a
circle which is presumed to include the guilty."
The proposal must contain the names and number of the
persons proposed for execution, i.e. in the order in
which the choice is recommended."
I beg your Lordship's pardon. I have sent for the German
text to be handed over to the interpreters. If you will
allow me, I shall read you the translation in French. If you
consider it necessary, we shall subsequently give time for
the German interpreters to read the text in German.
THE PRESIDENT: Is the Belgian document worded in
substantially the same terms as the document you have just
read?
M. DUBOST: Exactly.
THE PRESIDENT: Then I do not think you need to read that.
M. DUBOST: As you wish. Then it will not be necessary,
either, to read in its entirety the warning of Seyss-Inquart
concerning Holland.
I think that by referring to these exhibits in your document
book, you will extract some pieces of evidence which will
only confirm what I read to you of Stulpnagel's order.
For Norway and Denmark there is a teletyped letter from
Keitel to the Supreme Command of the Navy, dated 30 December
1944, which you will find in the document book as Exhibit 48-
C, I read the end of paragraph 1:
[Page 131]
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, do I understand that in Belgium,
Holland, in Norway, and in Denmark there were similar orders
or decrees with reference to hostages?
M. DUBOST: I mean to read those concerning Belgium, Holland
and Norway. For Belgium, for instance, you will find at Page
6 of the French text, document 683-F, which is the official
document of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, headed,
"In the future, the population must expect that, if
attacks are made on members of the German Army or the
German Police, and the culprits are not arrested, a
number of hostages proportionate to the gravity of the
offence, five at a minimum, will be shot if the attack
causes death. All political prisoners in Belgium are with
immediate effect to be considered as hostages."
M. DUBOST: They are more or less in the same form, Mr.
President. I shall submit them because they constitute the
proof of the systematic repetition of the same methods to
obtain the same results, that is, to cause terror to reign
in all the occupied countries of the West. But if the
Tribunal considers it constant and established that these
methods were systematically used in all the Western regions,
naturally I shall spare you the reading of documents which
are monotonous, and which repeat in substance what was said
in the document relating to France.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps you had better give us references to
the documents which concern Belgium, Holland, Norway and
Denmark.
M. DUBOST: Yes, Mr. President. So I repeat: for Belgium -
Document 683-F, Page 6, decree of Falkenhausen of 19
September 1941, submitted as Exhibit RF 275, as constituting
the official report of the Kingdom of Belgium against the
principal war criminals.
The second document is 46-C, corresponding to UK-42 (24
November 1942) submitted under Exhibit RF 276.
For Holland, a warning by Seyss-Inquart, which you may feel
it necessary for me to read, since Seyss-Inquart is one of
the defendants.
For Holland, Document 224-F, warning of Seyss-Inquart.
The population of these communities must expect that
reprisals will be taken against private property, and
that houses or whole blocks will be destroyed."
M. DUBOST: I am told, Mr. President, that this document has
not been bound with the Dutch report. I shall file it at the
end of the hearing, if I may.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
[
Previous |
Index |
Next ]
Home ·
Site Map ·
What's New? ·
Search
Nizkor
© The Nizkor Project, 1991-2012
This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.
As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.
(Part 3 of 7)
[M. DUBOST continues]
"22 August 1941, I issued the following announcement:
At the end of this paragraph you will read this sentence:
(a) All Frenchmen who are kept in detention of any kind
whatsoever by the German authorities, such as police
detention, imprisonment on remand or penal detention.
(aa) All Frenchmen who are kept in detention of any
kind whatsoever by the French authorities because of
communist or anarchist activities;
(c) Stateless inhabitants who have already been living
for some time in France are to be considered as
Frenchmen within the meaning of my notification of 22
August 1941. "Among those Frenchmen who may be drawn on by the German
military command, a list can be made out of the hostages
to be executed immediately in the event of an incident."
THE PRESIDENT: Which paragraph are you reading?
"If an incident occurs which, according to my
announcement of 22 August 1941 necessitates the shooting
of hostages, the execution must immediately follow the
order.
(Allow me to comment, gentlemen. There never were any
anarchist organisations represented in Parliament, in
either of our chambers, and this paragraph (a) could only
refer to former deputies and officials of the communist
organisations of whom we know, moreover, that some were
executed by the Germans as hostages).
(a) Former deputies and officials of communist or
anarchist organisations.
One idea is dominant in this selection: "We must punish the
elite."
(b) Persons who have supported the spreading of
communist ideas by word of mouth or writing
(preparing of leaflets) - Intellectuals.
2. Following the same directives, a list of hostages is
to be prepared from amongst the prisoners of de Gaullist
sympathies.
Last sentence of paragraph 5:
"The lists are to be kept up to date. Particular
attention is to be paid to new arrests and releases."
I omit a paragraph.
"For execution, only those persons who were already
under arrest at the time of the crime may be proposed
for execution.
And, at the very end of Paragraph VIII we read:
"When the bodies are buried, the communal burial of a
large number in the same cemetery is to be avoided, in
order not to create centres which, now or later, might
form nuclei for anti-German propaganda. Therefore, if
necessary, the burials must be carried out in different
places."
Parallel to this document, concerning France, there exists
in Belgium an order of Falkenhausen of 19 September 1941,
which you will find on Page 6 of the official report on
Belgium, Document F 643, which I shall submit as Exhibit RF
275.
"Every ship-yard worker must know that any act of
sabotage occurring within his sphere of activity entails
for him personally, or for his relatives, if he
disappears, the most serious consequences."
Page 2 of Document 870-PS:
"4. 1 have just received a teletype from Field Marshal
Keitel requesting
And Terboven, who wrote this sentence, added: (and it is he
who condemns Marshal Keitel)
"This request only makes sense and will only be
successful if I am actually allowed to perform executions
by firing squad."
All these documents will be submitted.
"Brussels, 29 November 1941, 1 rue de Turin" .... "Decree
of Falkenhausen of 17 September, 1941." It is from
Paragraph 5, in the middle of Page 6.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, I did not want you to read these
documents if they are substantially in the same form as the
document you have already read.
"For the destruction or the damaging of railway
installations, telephone cables, and post offices, I
shall make responsible all the inhabitants of the
community in the area which the act is committed.
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid I do not know where you are
reading. Which paragraph are you reading?