Forty-Third Day:
Friday, 25rd January, 1946 [Page 155]
The Tribunal would wish that all original documents should
be filed with the General Secretary of the Tribunal, and
that when they are being discussed in Court the original
documents should be present in Court at the time.
DR. BABEL (Counsel for the SS): I have been informed that
General Giraud and his family were, in fact, deported to
Germany upon the orders of Himmler, but that they were
treated very well, were billeted in a villa, and were
brought back to France in good health; also that things went
well with them and that they are still well today. I do not
see -
THE PRESIDENT: Counsel, forgive me for interrupting you. But
the Tribunal is not now considering the case of General
Giraud and his family. Are you unable to hear?
What I was saying was that you were making some application
in connection
[Page 156]
DR. BABEL: I was of the opinion that what I had to say might
bring about an explanation by the prosecution, and might
expedite the trial in that respect. That was the purpose of
my inquiry.
THE PRESIDENT: Was that what you stated? ...I am merely
pointing out to you that we are not now considering General
Giraud's case.
DR. BABEL: Yes.
M. DUBOST: If the Tribunal will permit me to continue ? It
seems to me necessary to come back to the proof which I
propose to submit. I must show that through uniformity of
methods, of torture used in each bureau of the German
Police...
THE PRESIDENT: Have you finished the document we have just
admitted?
M. DUBOST: Yes, Mr. President; I have completed this and I
will now read from other documents. But first I would like
to sum up the proofs which I have to submit this morning by
reading these documents.
I said that I was going to demonstrate how, through the
uniformity of ill-treatment inflicted by all branches of the
German Police upon prisoners under interrogation, we are
faced with a realisation of a common will, of which we
cannot give you direct proof, as we did yesterday, regarding
hostages, by bringing you papers signed by Keitel, but at
which we shall arrive by a way just as certain; for this
uniformity of methods implies a uniformity of will, which we
can only attribute to the very head of the police, that is
to say, the German Government itself, to which the
defendants belonged.
This Document 555-F, from which I have just read, refers to
the ill-treatment of prisoners at Fort Montluc in Lyons.
I pass to Document 556-F, which we shall submit as Exhibit
RF 303, which relates to the prison regime at Marseilles,
and which follows the Document 555-F, in the document book.
The Tribunal will note that this is an official record taken
by the Military Security Service of Vaucluse, concerning the
atrocities committed by Germans against political prisoners,
and that this record includes the written deposition of M.
Mousson, chief of an intelligence service who was arrested
on 16 August 1943 and then transferred on 30 August 1943 to
St. Pierre prison at Marseilles. In the last paragraph of
the first page of this document we read:
[Page 157]
M. Francheteau was thus treated for four days out of
six. In some cases, patient was not tied. If he fell
they would pick him up by his hair, and go on."
(b) Beating as above was not usual, but M. Claeys has
friends who have seen electric tortures. One electric
wire was attached to the foot and another wire was
placed in different parts of the body.
6. Torture was all the more horrible as the Germans, in
many cases, had no clear ideas as to what information
they wanted, and just tortured aimlessly." [Page 158]
On Page 7, the fifth paragraph, you will find:
As a result of ill-treatment in Eastern Prussia I was
obliged to have my eyes looked after. Having been taken
to an infirmary, a German doctor put drops in my eyes. A
few hours later, after painful suffering, I became
blind. After spending several days in the prison of
Fresnes I was sent to the clinic of Quize-Vingt in
Paris. Professor Guillamat examined me, and certified
that my eyes had been burned by a corrosive agent."
Document 571-F, which we submit as Exhibit RF 307, of which
we shall only read one four-line paragraph - page thirty-
six, third paragraph from the bottom in the German text,
fourth paragraph of page twenty - runs as follows:
I was arrested 22 February 1944 at Mouscron in Belgium
by the Gestapo, who were dressed in civilian clothing.
During the interrogation they wore military uniform."
Arrested May 2, 1944, at Armentieres I arrived at the
Gestapo headquarters, 18 Rue Francois Debats, in La
Madeleine, about three o'clock the same day. I was
subjected to interrogation on two different occasions.
The first time, for about an hour, I had to lie on my
stomach, and received about 120 lashes with an oxhide
whip. The second interrogation lasted a little longer.
The same thing followed: I was laid on my stomach and
lashed. As I would not talk, they stripped me and put me
in the 'bathtub.'
[Page 159]
Page 48, the testimony of M. Guerin, first paragraph, eighth
line.
Friday, 16 June, the same thing took place only for an
hour and a half, for I could stand it no longer, and
they took me back to my cell on a stretcher.
Saturday, the tortures began with even more severity. At
last I was obliged to confess my sabotage, for the
brutes stuck needles in my arms. After that they left me
alone until 10 August; then they had me called to the
office and told me I was condemned to death. I was put
on a train of deportees going to Brussels, from which I
was freed on 3 September by Brussels patriots.
The Tribunal will find, on Page 58 - Page 36 in the German
text - at the
[Page 160]
Immediately, they handcuffed me and took me to be
interrogated. Getting no reply, they slapped me in the
face with such force that I fell from my chair. Then
they whipped me with a rubber hose, full in the face.
This interrogation began at 10 o'clock in the morning
and ended at 11 o'clock that night. I must tell you that
I had been pregnant for three months." [
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(Part 2 of 7)
"Transferred to Marseilles, St. Pierre prison on 30
August 1943, placed in room P, 25 metres long, 5 metres
wide. We are crammed in, as many as 75 and often 80. Two
straw mattresses for three. Repulsive hygienic
conditions: lice, fleas, bed-bugs, tainted food. For no
reason at all comrades are beaten and put in cells two
or three days without food."
Following page, fourth paragraph
"Taken into custody again 15 May in a rather brutal way
I was imprisoned in the prison of Ste. Anne and ..." 5th
paragraph: "Living conditions in Ste. Anne: deplorable
hygiene; food supplied by National Relief Society."
Next page, second paragraph:
"Living conditions in Petites Beaumettes: Food, just
enough to keep one alive; no parcels Red Cross gives
many, but we receive few.
The prison of Poitiers ." It concerns (I repeat) - prisons
entirely under control of the Germans. The prison of
Poitiers, Document 558-F, which we submit as Exhibit RF 304.
Attached to the last page of this document is a report from
the Press Section of the American Information Service in
Paris, dated 18th October 1944. The Tribunal should know
that all these reports
"M. Claeys was arrested 14 December 1943, by the Gestapo
and kept in custody in the "Pierre Levee" Prison until
26 August 1944. While in jail he asked for a mattress,
as he had been wounded in the war. He was told that he
would get it if he confessed. He had to sleep on straw
of only one inch thickness. Seven men in one room 4m x
2m x 2.80m. use of WC twice a day only. Twenty days
without leaving of cell. WC was a great discomfort to
him because of wounds. The Germans refused to do
anything about it."
Paragraph 4 (b).
"Another prisoner weighed 120 kilograms and lost 30
kilograms in a month. Was kept in isolation cell for a
month. Was tortured there and died of gangrene of legs
due to wounds caused by torture. Died after ten days of
agony, alone and without help."
Under paragraph 5 (a), the methods of torture:
"Victim was kept bent up with his hands round his right
leg. Was then thrown on the ground and beaten for twenty
minutes. If he fainted, they would throw a pail of water
in his face. This was to make him speak.
Page two.
"At other times the victim was put naked in a special
punishment cell, and his hands were tied to an iron
grating above his head. He was then beaten until he
talked.
And at the very end, the five last lines.
"One torture consisted in hanging up the victim by the
hands, which were tied behind the back until the
shoulders were completely dislocated. Afterwards the
soles of the feet were cut with razor blades, and then
the victim was made to walk on salt."
The Prisons of the North: This is Document 560-F, which
follows in your document book and is submitted as Exhibit RF
305. It also comes from the American War Crimes Commission.
On Page 1, under the letter "A" you will read:
"A general report of Professor Paucot on the atrocities
committed by the Germans in Northern France and in
Belgium. The report covers, the activities of the German
police in France: in Arras, Bethune, Lille Valenciennes,
Malo les Bains, La Madeleine, Quincy, Loos; in Belgium:
Saint Gilles, Fort de Huy, and Camp de Belveroo. This
report is accompanied by seventy-three depositions of
victims. From examination of these testimonies the fact
emerges that the brutal barbarity of methods used during
the interrogations was the same as in the various places
cited."
This synthesis which I have read to you is from the American
report. It seems to me unnecessary to stress this as it is
confirmed on the first page. The Tribunal can read further
on Pages 4, 5, 6 and 7 a detailed description of the
"A prisoner captured while trying to escape was left in
his cell to the fury of police dogs who tore him to
bits."
On Page 17, second paragraph of the German text there is
reproduced the report of M. Prouille, which, as an
exception, I shall read, because of the nature of the facts.
"Condemned by the German Tribunal to eighteen months of
imprisonment for possessing arms and after having been
in the prisons of Arras, Bethune and Loos, I was sent to
Germany.
Under number 561-F, I shall read a document from the
American War Crimes Commission, which we submit as Exhibit
RF 306. The Tribunal will find on Page 2, proof in that M.
Herrera was present at tortures inflicted on numerous
persons, and saw a Pole, by the name of Riptz, have the
soles of his feet burned. Then his head was split open with
an axe. After the wound healed he was shot. Quoting again:
"Commander Grandier, who had had a leg fractured in the
war, was threatened by those who conducted the
interrogations that they would fracture his other leg.
This was carried out. When he was half mad as a result
of a hypodermic injection, the Germans did away with
him."
We do not care to take more of your time than necessary, but
it is quite proper that the Tribunal should know these
American official documents in their entirety, as all of
them show in a very exact way the tortures carried out by
the various German police services in numerous regions of
France, and give evidence as to the similarity of methods
used.
"M. Robert Vanessche, of Tourcoing, states:
I omit a paragraph.
"I was interrogated for the second time at Cand in the
main German prison, where I remained thirty-one days.
There I was shut up for two or three hours in a sort of
wooden coffin where one could breathe only through three
holes in the top."
Page 38 of the same document:
"M. Remy, residing at Armentieres, states:
The names of two of the torturers follow, but are of no
concern to us here. We are merely trying to show that the
torturers everywhere used the same methods. This could only
have been done in execution of orders given by their chiefs.
"As I refused to admit anything, one of the
interrogators put my scarf around my mouth to stifle my
cries. Another German policeman took my head between his
legs, and two others, one on each side of me, began to
beat me with a club on my loins. Each beat me twenty-
five times; each time I got up. This session lasted two
hours. The next morning they began again, and it lasted
as long as the day before. These tortures were inflicted
upon me because on 11 November, I, with my comrades of
the Resistance, had taken part in a manifestation, by
placing a wreath on the memorial to those who fell in
the war of 1914-18."
Page 48, page 29 of the German text. Report of M. Alfred
Deudon. Paragraph three. Here is the ill-treatment which was
inflicted upon him.
"18 August sensitive parts were struck with a hammer. 19
August was passed under water. 20 August my head was
placed in a squeezing apparatus. 21 and 24 August I was
chained day and night. 26 August I was chained day and
night and hung by the arms."
Page 49; Page 30 of the German text. Report of M. Delltombe,
arrested by the Gestapo 14 June 1944. Paragraph two:
"Thursday, 15 June, at eight o'clock in the morning, I
was taken to the torture cellar. There they demanded
that I confess the sabotage which I had carried out with
my group, and denounce my comrades and disclose our
hiding place. Because I did not, the torture commenced.
They made me put my hands behind my back. They put on
special handcuffs and hung me by my wrists. Then they
beat me with an oxhide whip, principally on the loins
and in the face. That day the torture lasted three
hours.
Page 56:
Women were subjected to the same treatment as men, To
the physical pain the sadism of the torturers added the
moral anguish, especially mortifying for a woman or a
young girl, of being stripped nude by her torturers.
Pregnancy did not save them from lashes. When brutality
brought about a miscarriage they were left without any
care, exposed to all the hazards and complications of
these criminal abortions."
This is the text of the summary drawn up by the American
officer who carried out this investigation.
"Having looked into my handbag, they found three
identification cards. Searching my room, they discovered
the pads and stamp of the Kommandantur and German
workman passes which I had succeeded in stealing from
them the day before."