[Page 63]

THE PRESIDENT: Certainly.

Do the prosecution wish to make any application to the Tribunal?

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: I have eight documents to put in. My Lord, they are documents which it is intended to refer to in the final speech and accordingly I would not propose to do more than just to indicate their nature to the Tribunal and put them in very quickly. I have a list of them which I will hand up first. It may be convenient to see their nature.

THE PRESIDENT: Are they documents which have not yet been offered in evidence?

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: Yes, my Lord; I am offering them in rebuttal.

THE PRESIDENT: You have a list here?

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: Yes, my Lord; my Lord, the first document.

THE PRESIDENT: Have they been communicated to the defendants' counsel?

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: No, my Lord; I have copies here.

The first document, 1519-PS, contains orders for the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war. My Lord, that is not strictly offered in rebuttal, but the Tribunal has had before it a document, EC-338, which was put in as Exhibit USSR 356. That document consisted of a commentary by Admiral Canaris on these orders, and your Lordship may remember the document. Defendant Keitel had made certain notes on it on which he was cross-examined, the reference in the shorthand notes being pages 7219 to 7223. My Lord, it seems appropriate that the actual orders should be before the Tribunal and not merely the commentary.

My Lord, that will be Exhibit GB 525, and the Tribunal will see, it consists of a covering letter from the defendant Bormann to Gauleiters and Kreisleiters, covering the OKW letter signed by General Reinicke, the head of the Prisoners of War Department, and then there follow the actual regulations.

THE PRESIDENT: Has not this been in before?

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: My Lord, I am told not. What was put in was the commentary on this document which was by Admiral Canaris. It was included - this document was included in the Keitel Document Book, but it was not formally put in.

THE PRESIDENT: I see. You mean it will be GB

[Page 64]

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: My Lord, the second document, D-912, will be Exhibit GB 526. This is a series of broadcasts from German stations between 6th September and 22nd October, 1939, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation and dealing with the Athenia.

My Lord, I offer that document in view of the defendant Raeder's evidence. The Tribunal will remember that, according to him, the article on the 23rd October in the Volkischer Beobachter came as a complete surprise. The reference in the shorthand notes is 9832, Page 9832.

My Lord, it also arises out of the questions, I think, put to the Tribunal - put by the Tribunal to the defendant Fritzsche, and it confirms his evidence that broadcasts blaming Mr. Winston Churchill for being responsible for the sinking of the Athenia started at the early part of September and went right on through the month. Actually, these broadcasts, the Tribunal will see - the first on 6th September. I might read perhaps one sentence in the second line:

"The German Press refutes the accusations of the British Press that a German submarine had sunk the Athenia. Churchill, as one of his first actions, ordered the Athenia to be sunk in order to stir up anti-German feeling in the USA."

The next document, 3881-PS, is an extract from the proceedings before the People's Court on 7th and 8th August, 1944, when seven defendants were tried for the attempt on Hitler's life. My Lord, I am only putting in a translated extract, but the photostat copy is in fact a complete record - I should have said that what is before the Tribunal is only a translation of certain extracts, but the exhibit contains the complete record of the proceedings. My Lord, I -

THE PRESIDENT: Unless we have it translated, we shall not be able to have it in evidence.

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: My Lord, we do not intend to refer to more than the translated extracts.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

COLONEL PHILLIMORE: I Only said that for the benefit of defence counsel, who may wig to look elsewhere.

My Lord, I put that in in view of the defendant Jodl's evidence that it was only because British generals obeyed orders that the German generals were now being tried. And the passages - the sense of the passages is that the President of the People's Court is refusing to accept the defence of superior orders put forward by the defendants. My Lord, that will be Exhibit GB 527.

My Lord, the next document, D-181, which I offer as Exhibit GB 528, is a letter by a Gauleiter to Gaumtsleiters, Gauinspektors, and Kreisleiters on the subject of the law of hereditary health, and sterilisation on the ground of imbecility. It is an important document m connection with the defendant Frick, and I put it in in view of the statements made on his behalf by his counsel, to the effect that Frick had no control over the political police and that Himmler's subordination to him was purely nominal.

My Lord, there are a number of references in the letter to the fact that the decree - and indeed its administration - was the responsibility of the defendant Frick.

My Lord, the next document is of a similar nature, it is M- 151, and I offer it as Exhibit GB 529. It consists of three letters on the subject of the murder of mental

[Page 65]

The second, dated the 10th, is a letter from the Minister of Justice acknowledging the complaint and saying that it has been passed to the defendant Frick.

And the third, of the same date, is the Minister's letter to his colleague passing the complaint to him.

My Lord, the next document is again on the same subject. It is M-152, and I offer it as Exhibit GB 530. It consists of four letters.

The first, dated 19th July, 1940, is addressed to the defendant Frick as Reich Minister of the Interior, by Bishop Wurm, the Provincial Bishop of the Wurttemberg Evangelical Provincial Church. My Lord, it again sets out the mass of complaints he is receiving, and then goes on to deal with the wickedness of the practice which is apparently going on.

The second letter, dated 23rd August, is a letter to the Minister of Justice referring to the letter sent to the defendant Frick.

The third, of 5th September, is a letter to the defendant Frick reminding him of the previous letter of 19th July to which no reply had been received.

And the next letter of 6th September is a parallel communication again to the Minister of Justice.

Finally, on the 11th of September, the last page of the document, there is a minute on the Minister of Justice's file indicating that an official of the Ministry had informed the Bishop's Dean, presumably Dean Kemka, that the matter was entirely one for the defendant Frick.

My Lord, the next document, D-455, which I offer as Exhibit GB 531, is a pamphlet - the next document, my Lord, is a pamphlet prepared by the German Military Government authorities in Belgium. It comes from the files of the German War Office, the OKH, and it is entitled, "Belgium's Contributions to Germany's War Economy" and is dated 1st March, 1942.

My Lord, I offer it in view of the general evidence that German occupation was benevolent, and that - the Tribunal has heard, again and again, the suggestion that they did a great deal of good to the countries they occupied. This document is a very graphic illustration of the falsity of that evidence and suggestion.

My Lord, if I might take the Tribunal very quickly through it, at Page 3 is a chart of the population figures in terms of employees, and it shows that more than half the working population was working for Germany. Of the 1,800,000 workers and employees m Belgium, 901,280 were employed with the German armed forces and in the German interests.

My Lord, at Page 4 is a comparison between Belgium, Holland and France in terms of percentage of workers employed as slave labour.

My Lord, at Page 5 is a statement of the production figures of the Belgian contribution to Germany, in, I think it is the 7th line, it is summed up: Output to the value of 1.2 milliard Reichsmark.

Page 6, there is a comparison between the coal taken from Belgium and the same amount produced in the year in the Ruhr.

At Page 8 there is a similar comparison of iron, with the total amount of iron used in the West Wall.

Page 9, cement; Page 10, textiles; Page 11, metals.

There is a statement there which contains a sentence about the summing up of what had been taken out

[Page 66]

"It was possible to achieve these results only by exhausting the last reserve of the country."

At Page 13 there is a statement about the contribution to transport, and a chart on Page 14.

At Page 15, it is shown that the contributions in money exceeded the total earned income of the Belgian workers for the last year.

At Page 16, there are figures with regard to the quantity of gold taken for safe keeping in the Reichsbank.

Page 18 deals with shares, a comparison with the total share capital of I.G. Farben, the comparison being seven hundred million Reichsmark as against the share capital of I.G. Farben of eight hundred million.

Then there is a statement with regard to rations, showing that Germany ha imported food into Belgium, but that, despite that, the rationing was the lowest of all Western countries.

And finally, on the last page, there is an indication of the change in the Belgian rations by comparison between those of 1938 and under the benevolent rule of the German Military Government of 1941. My Lord, it speaks for itself.

My Lord, the last Document, D-524, is a similar pamphlet referring to France. It comes from the same source, and I offer it as Exhibit GB 532.

My Lord, owing to a breakdown in electric power, I have not been able to finish photostating the English copies, but I will hand them in, if I may, subsequently and for the moment I hand up German photostats.

My Lord, I offer it in view of the defendant Sauckel's evidence, to the effect that the total slave labour figure was not more than five million. My Lord, at Pages 8 and 9 of this document, the Tribunal will see the slave labour position of Germany at the end of 1943, so that to this must be added slave labour drawn in during 1944. My Lord, it amounts to just under seven million, of which 1,462,00 were prisoners of war, so that the figure of slave labour at the date was slightly over five million; that is, slave labour excluding prisoners of war was slightly over five million, and to that, as I say, one must add the increase during 1944.

My Lord, on Page 8 are the figures and comparisons:

Men, civilians, 3,631,000;

Prisoners of war, 1,462,000;

Women, 1,714,000.

And then the figures are given according to countries of origin.

And on Page 9 is merely an illustration, in colour.

My Lord, the rest of the pamphlet merely gives figures illustrative of what was taken from France, very similar to those in the case of Belgium. And I do no propose to take the Tribunal through it unless it is desired that I should do so.

My Lord; I think I gave that an exhibit number, GB 532.

My Lord, those are all the documents that I have to offer. I understand my friend, Mr. Dodd, has some.

MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: May it please the Tribunal, at the time of the cross examination of the defendant Hermann Goering, we confronted him with a document numbered 378-PS. It was recorded as Exhibit USA 782. It was the report o the second meeting of the Reich Defence Council. Goering acknowledged the authenticity of the minutes as presented to him in the German text. But the document at that time had not been translated, and consequently it was not possible

[Page 67]

I would now like to read from the record that part which we consider extremely important as rebuttal of testimony received from several of the defendants.

On the face of it it is a circular letter, dated 10th July, 1939, from the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, on the subject, "Second Meeting of the Reich Defence Council".

One hundred copies were prepared, and our copy is the 84th. It is labelled "Most Secret", and merely transmitted in the name of the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, the enclosed document to the following parties, among others. I shall name only the ones to which we have attached some importance:

The Fuehrer's Deputy, the Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Ministerprasident Field-Marshal Goering, the Reich Ministry and Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, the Foreign Office, the General Plenipotentiary for Reich Administration (nine copies including copies for the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry for Church Affairs, and the Reich Office for Planning). Also copies were sent to the General Plenipotentiary for Economy, including copies for the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ministry of Labour, the Chief Forester, and the Commissioner for Price Control; to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, Motor Transport and Roads, and the Ministry of Railways, the Post Ministry, the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda, the Reichsbank Directorate, The General Inspector of German Roads, the armed forces, including nine copies for the OKH, five copies for the OKM, the Reich Minister for Air and the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, a number of other copies being enclosed.

The enclosure is a report of the second meeting of the Reich Defence Council held on a date to which we attach importance, the 23rd day of June, 1939.

"Place: Large Conference Room of the Reich Air Ministry.

Commencement: 1110.

Termination: 1355.

President: Ministerprasident General Field-Marshal Goering.

Persons present: - "

[ Previous | Index | Next ]

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor