dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
M. QUATRE: I am sorry, Mr. President. On 5 May 1942, addressing himself to Belgium and France in particular, Keitel ordered hostages to be taken and executed in these two countries. They were to be chosen from the nationalists, the democrats, and the communists. This is Exhibit Number RF-1433 (Document Number 1590-PS), the original of which is now in the hands of the Prosecution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which will not fail to submit it in the course of its presentation. This order merely confirms previous directives, since orders given in August and September 1941 by General Von Stulpnagel, Commander-in Chief in France, already concerned the execution of hostages. This is Exhibit Number RF-1434 (Document Number 1588-PS) submitted 29 January 1946 by the French Prosecution under Exhibit Number RF-274. To impose order in the occupied territories and to protect the members of the German Army from attempted violence, Keitel did not hesitate to violate the stipulations of Articles 46 and 50 of the Hague Convention, which forbid the use by the occupying power of all means of coercion or collective reprisals and which, on the contrary, impose respect for the lives of individuals. These were not isolated cases of violation; the same things are repeated in all the occupied countries. These preventive arrests were built up into a system. They are well suited to the goal that the High Command had set itself: That of assuring in this manner a certain attitude on the part of the population which should be advantageous from a military point of view. The terms of Exhibit Number RF-1433, which I have just quoted, are perfectly definite: " . . . the military commanders should always have on hand a certain number of hostages of various political leanings.... "It is important that these should include personalities in the public eye....
M. QUATRE: "In cases of attempted violence, hostages belonging to the same group as the guilty person are to be shot." The reign of terror thus instituted was to reach its climax in the regulations for applying the Nacht und Nebel decree, issued by Keitel on 12 December 1941. This is Exhibit Number RF-1436, which I submit today as Document Number 669-PS. If the Tribunal will allow me, I shall read a few characteristic lines indicating Keitel's intentions. THE PRETEENS; I think we had it more than once already.
M. QUATRE: I apologize, Mr. President, and I shall go on. This is the starting point of the deportations to which France, among other countries, has contributed in such a great degree. It is unnecessary to labor the point. You know the treatment inflicted upon these women and men, torn from their homes in contempt of every law; and the atrocities committed on them are present to all our minds. Let us likewise call attention to Exhibit Number RF-1437 (Document Number UK-20) submitted 9 January 1946 as Exhibit Number GB-163. That is an order of 26 May 1943, signed on his behalf, in which Keitel prescribed in Paragraph 3 that detailed investigations are to be made in given cases regarding the relatives of Frenchmen fighting for the Russians, if these relatives reside in the occupied zone of France. If the investigation reveals that these relatives have helped to facilitate their flight from France, severe measures are to be taken. On 22 September 1943 the High Command of the Armed Forces, this time over Jodl's signature, sent the Commander-in-Chief in Denmark a telegram interesting from two points of view. It is Exhibit Number RF-1438 (Document Number UK-56) already submitted on 31 January 1946, under Exhibit Number RF-335. The first paragraph authorizes the enrollment of Danish nationals in the military formations of the occupying army, in SS formations. Apart from being injurious to the honor of the individuals, it contravenes the terms of the preamble of the Hague Convention, which stipulates that, in cases not included in the regular provisions, the population and the belligerents must remain under the safeguard of the laws of humanity and the exigencies of the public conscience. This attempt at Germanization ignored completely the exigencies of the public conscience. As for the second paragraph of this telegram ordering the Jews to be deported from Denmark to Germany, that is the application of the general principle of the deportation of Jewish populations which was to lead to their utter extermination.
M. QUATRE: The Tribunal is sufficiently informed on this point, so it is unnecessary to labor it. I now come to the unwarranted devastation and destruction of cities, towns, and villages (Page 20 of my brief). The policy of terrorism carried on by the German armies in France against the resistance movement, against the Free French Forces, broke all bounds when the occupying power took steps, not against the members of the resistance forces themselves, but against the inhabitants of villages and towns suspected of harboring these resistance forces or giving them aid. I quote in this connection from a brochure put out by the High Command of the German Armed Forces under the date of 6 May 1944, which bears the signature of the Defendant Jodl in the name of the Chief of the OKW. This is Exhibit Number RF-1439, formerly Document Number F-665, submitted '31 January 1946 under Exhibit Number RF-411. Paragraph 161 of this notice reads as follows: "The cleaning up of villages suspected of concealing bands needs experience. The forces of the Security Service and the rural Secret Police are to be employed. The real helpers of the bands are to be identified and the most rigorous measures taken against them. Collective measures against the populations of entire villages, including the burning of the places in question, can be ordered only in exceptional cases and then only by divisional commanders, SS leaders, or chiefs of police." (Page 21 of my brief.) But what the Defendant Jodl had ordered as an exceptional measure became the general rule in France in the spring and in the summer of 1944. Actions which had been exceptional when this order was signed now took on the. aspect of large-scale operations, ordered and carried out in violation of the law of nations by army units assisted by the forces of the Security Service and the rural secret police. On the pretext of investigating or making reprisals against local resistance elements, German officers and men scrupulously carried out the orders given by the Chief of the Operations Staff.
M. QUATRE: It was in this way that the withdrawal of German armies in France was marked by dead towns such as those which bore the names of Oradour-sur-Glane, Maille, Cerizay, Saint-Die, and Vassieux-en-Vercors. Jodl is responsible for these' "mopping-up" operations, which began with the most arbitrary arrests and went on by progressive stages to torture, the wholesale massacre of men, women, old people, and children-even infants in arms-and the looting and burning of the villages themselves. No distinction was made among the inhabitants; all of them, even the babies, were "genuine auxiliaries." Never have the necessities of war justified such measures, all of which constituted violations of Articles 46 and 50 of the Hague Convention. I come now (Page 23 of my brief) to the mobilization of civilian workers and to the deportation of civilians for forced labor. The decree appointing Sauckel Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation, under date of 21 March 1942, is signed by Hitler, Lammers, Chief of the Reich Chancellery, and the Defendant Keitel. This is Exhibit Number RF-1440 (Document Number 1666-PS) submitted by the American Prosecution on 12 December 1945 under Exhibit Number USA-208. The first paragraph provides for the recruiting of all available civilian labor for employment in the German war industry and particularly in the armament industry. All unemployed workers in Germany, the Protectorate, the Government General,' and all the occupied territories were liable for this. This constitutes a violation of Article 52 of the Hague Convention.
M. QUATRE: On 7 November 1943, in the course of the speech to which we have already alluded, the Defendant Jodl, speaking of the tasks incumbent upon the populations of German-occupied territories, declared in Exhibit Number RF-1431 (Document Number L-172) which I quoted some time ago: "In my opinion the time has come when we must have no scruples in taking stern and resolute measures in Denmark, Holland, France, and Belgium in order to force thousands of unemployed to work on fortifications, which is more essential than any other work. The necessary orders have already been given." Sauckel would not have expressed himself otherwise. Jodl also champions this requisitioning of services to utilize the potential labor of the western occupied territories for military purposes in the exclusive interest of Germany. It matters little that the Hague Convention prohibits such procedure. For him, too, total warfare and the triumph of Germany. take precedence over respect for international conventions or the customs of war. I now come to the responsibility of the Defendant Keitel in the sphere of economic spoliation and looting of art treasures. I shall be extremely brief. I point out to the Tribunal three documents which have already been submitted to it. I simply refer to them: Exhibit Number RF-1441 submitted yesterday by my colleague of the Economic Section under Exhibit Number RF-1302, and Exhibit Number RF-1400 (Document Number 137-PS) submitted 18 December 1945 by the American Prosecution under Number USA-379, and finally Exhibit Number RF-1443 (Document Number 138-PS), submitted yesterday under Exhibit Number RF-1310. In regard to this, I shall merely submit to the Tribunal today a short letter consisting of five lines, addressed by Keitel to Rosenberg, Chief of the Einsatzstab. This is Exhibit Number RF1444, (Document Number 148-PS) which reads as follows: "Most Honored Reich Minister.
M. QUATRE: "In reply to your letter of 20 February I inform you that I have instructed the High Command of the Army to make the necessary arrangements with your delegate for the work of your special units in the operational area." It can therefore be said that Rosenberg's activities received the continued support and assistance of the Army from the very first and in this way Keitel also made a personal contribution to the looting of the art treasures of France and the western countries. These measures were at first invested with an appearance of legal justification. They did not take place, according to Keitel, by virtue of a right to take, but simply as a guarantee for future peace negotiations. But these measures quickly degenerated into a general plundering of the art treasures of all kinds possessed by these western countries, in violation of the stipulations of Articles 46, 47, and 56 of the Hague Convention, which forbid the confiscation of private property and the pillage or seizure of works of art and science by the members of the occupying army. I have now reached the last main part of my brief, which concerns (Page 28) the violations of conventions and laws of war relating to prisoners of war. In this field, in particular, Keitel and Jodl have made themselves guilty of peculiarly unwarrantable measures, contrary to the laws of war. To begin with, they have violated Article 6 of the Appendix to the Hague Convention, which stipulates that "work carried out by war prisoners shall not be excessive and shall have no connection with war operations." Now, in a memorandum signed on his behalf, dated 31 October 1941, Keitel, as Chief of the OKW, forces Russian prisoners of war, interned in the Reich, to perform work connected with war operations. This is proved by Exhibit Number RF-1445 (Document Number EC-194) submitted by the American Prosecution on 12 December 1945, under Exhibit Number USA-214.
M. QUATRE: In this text Keitel expresses himself thus: "The Fuehrer has just ordered that even the labor capacity of Russian prisoners of war must be placed at the disposal of the German war economy on a large scale." That is the signal for the immediate setting up of a program for incorporating these prisoners into the German war economy. It is true that in 1941, this document concerns only Russian prisoners of war; but from 21 March 1942, the incorporation of all war prisoners into the German war industry, and more especially the armament industry, is put into practice. The decree signed by Hitler appointing Sauckel Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation, to which reference already has been made, provides, likewise, for the use of all prisoners of war in the German armaments industry. This is shown by Document RF-1440, which reveals the violation of Articles 27, 31, 32, and 33 of the Geneva Convention. One month later, on 20 April 1942, Sauckel expressed himself thus, in his mobilization program for the labor forces, Exhibit Number RF-1446 (Document Number 016-PS) submitted 11 December 1945 by the American Prosecution, under Exhibit Number USA-168: "It is absolutely necessary to make the fullest possible use of all prisoners of war and to employ the greatest possible number of new civilian workers, both men and women, if the labor program in this war is to be realized." In this way Sauckel succeeded in incorporating 1,658,000 prisoners of war into the war economy of the Reich by 6 February 1943, as he announced in a speech made at Posen. This is shown by Exhibit Number RF-1447 (Document Number 1739-PS\, submitted on 8 January 1946 by the French Prosecution under Exhibit Number RF-10. The 1,658,000 prisoners of war were the following: Belgians, 55,000; French, 932,000; British, 45,000; Yugoslavs, 101,000; Poles, 33,000; Russians, 488,000; Others, 4,000; Total: 1,658,000.
M. QUATRE: The fact that such a large contingent was put at the disposal of the German war economy implies perfect collusion between Sauckel's labor services and Keitel, who, in his capacity of Chief of the High Command, was responsible for this reservoir of manpower and the use to which it was put. These flagrant violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions were later accompanied by measures inspired or authorized by the defendants, which were even more serious because they no longer violated only the war prisoners' rights as such but also involved physical assaults on their persons, which might even cause their deaths. These violations have a bearing, first of all, on the violation of 'security (Page 32 of my brief). Exhibit Number RF-1448, (Document Number 823-PS), submitted 30 January 1946 under Exhibit Number RF-359 offers us a report drawn up by the office of the Operations Staff for the Chief of the High Command. It relates to the establishment of camps for British and American Air Force prisoners in German bombed towns. The Operations Staff of the Luftwaffe proposed this arrangement so that the presence of these air force prisoners might protect the population of the cities concerned against possible attacks by the British and American Air Forces and in order to transfer all the existing camps for air force prisoners to these places. Jodl approved this measure on behalf of the General Staff of the High Command, considering that if it was limited to the establishment of new camps, it would not be contrary to international law. If we did not know the reason underlying this decision we might believe, like the Defendant Jodl, that it does not run counter to international law. But this measure, as the first lines of this document specify, is above all an indirect means of safeguarding the German urban population. The Allied war prisoners are only a means of warding off possible air attacks; and to attain this end no hesitation is shown in aggravating their condition by exposing them to the dangers of war.
M. QUATRE: This is a grave violation of the obligation regarding the safety of prisoners imposed by Article 9 of the Geneva Convention upon the power detaining prisoners of war. Keitel writes only two words on the- first page of the document-"No objections"-and adds his initials. I now come (Page 34) to the measures taken against escaped prisoners. The nature of these measures later became particularly serious, as is shown by Exhibit Number RF-1449 Document Number 1650-PS), submitted on 13 December 1945 by the American Prosecution under Number USA-246. The Tribunal is sufficiently informed as to this and it is not necessary, I think, for me to read it. This document reveals the "Aktion Kugel" which was designed to put a stop to the escapes of officers and noncommissioned officers. Its only purpose was to turn escaped prisoners over to police organizations. This is the Sonderbehandlung mentioned in orders and reports, but this "special treatment," as you know, is nothing more or less than extermination. . Yet, in the terms of Article 47 and succeeding articles of the Geneva Convention, only disciplinary punishment in the form of arrest can be inflicted by the detaining power on escaped prisoners of war. Keitel did not hesitate to abandon these methods for more radical means.
DR. OTTO NELTE (Counsel for Defendant Keitel): The French prosecutor is about to refer to a document which is in the document book under RF-711 and has been presented to the Court under Document RF-1450. This document is marked as a summary of an interrogation of General Westhoff, and it forms a particularly grave charge against the Defendant Keitel. It concerns the shooting of R.A.F. officers who had escaped from the Camp of Sagan. I protest against, the use of this document in evidence for the following reasons:
THE PRESIDENT: [Turning to M. Quatre.] Well, what do you say to the various points raised' by Dr. Nelte?
M. QUATRE: Mr. President, I recognize the soundness of the request by the Defense and I shall be in a position at the end of this session to produce before the Tribunal the complete minutes of the interrogation of General Westhoff, accompanied by an affidavit by Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe. I regret not being able to produce them at the moment. I received these minutes late for certain reasons and I thought it better not to add them to my document book.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal considers that the document which you have submitted to us cannot be admitted. It is a mere resume. The Tribunal thinks, also, that it can allow the interrogatory to be used only if a copy of it is handed to the defendants' counsel and the witness who made the interrogatory is submitted to the defendants' counsel for cross-examination, if they wish to cross-examine him. Otherwise you must call General Westhoff and examine him orally. Is that clear? I will repeat it if you like. The document you have submitted to us is rejected. You can either call General Westhoff as a witness, in which case, of course, he will be liable to cross-examination; or you can put in the interrogatory after you have supplied a copy of it to Defense Counsel, and then General Westhoff, who made the interrogatory, will be liable to cross-examination by the Defense Counsel.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Would the Tribunal allow me to intervene for one moment? The document to which my learned friend referred a moment ago as having been certified by myself is a report of the United Nations War Crimes Commission, which I received from the Chairman, Lord Reith, and certified as such a report. It therefore, in my respectful submission, becomes admissible under Article 21 of the Charter . It is not merely a transcript of the interrogation. That is the document to which my learned friend referred and that is available and can be procured quite shortly.
THE PRESIDENT: I quite understand, yes. The Tribunal allows the objection of Dr. Nelte. It considers that the document which has been submitted is not a governmental document within Article 21 of the Charter and is therefore rejected. The Tribunal adheres to the decision which I announced just before we adjourned, namely, that if the Prosecution desires to do so, they can produce the interrogation of which the document submitted to them is understood by them to be a resume; and if they do so, then they must produce the witness, General Westhoff, for cross-examination by the defendant's counsel. In the alternative, they can produce and call General Westhoff himself and then, of course, he will be liable to cross-examination by the defendants' counsel.
M. QUATRE: I take notice of the Tribunal's decisions and I should like to state that as I am eager not to lose time, and much time has already been lost in the course of today's session, we shall not make use of this document now, nor shall we call General Westhoff. I shall simply request the Tribunal to note that we reserve the right to call General Westhoff, if necessary, when the defendants are cross-examined. May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: You may.
M. QUATRE: I had reached, Gentlemen, Page 36 of my brief, concerning the treatment of Allied airmen who were prisoners. This point had already been discussed at some length before you.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps I ought to say that the Tribunal will be willing to sit this evening until half past five, in order that the case against the Defendant Hess may be concluded; but it is very important that the case should be concluded tonight, against the Defendant Hess, because the Soviet Prosecution will require the whole day for their presentation tomorrow.
M. QUATRE: Mr. President, I shall be very brief. I shall pass straight on to my conclusion. I shall say nothing about the treatment of Allied airmen. You know the circumstances, as well as the treatment of commando troops, and I once more beg the Tribunal's pardon for having unintentionally spoken at such length. I shall now conclude. It is definitely the conception of criminal intention which was present in the drafting of the orders and directives which we have just examined. The reality of the acts perpetrated as a result of these decisions cannot be denied, nor should we overlook or underestimate this moral element, qualified by French penal law, to use the formula of an eminent jurist as "knowledge on the part of the agent of the illicit character of the acts performed by him." The two defendants were fully cognizant of the illicit nature of orders which they knew would be scrupulously carried out. With Keitel and Jodl the systematic rejection of the laws and customs that mitigate the horrors of war and the setting up, as a matter of principle, of the most barbarous practices, are the reflection of the norms and precepts of National Socialism and its leader, for whom all international rules, all conventions, any ethical code represented an intolerable restraint, an obstacle to the goal to be attained, inasmuch as they interfered with the higher interests of the German community. It is not a matter of indifference to know whether Keitel and Jodl were urged by personal ambition or whether, true to the pan-German tradition of the German General Staff, they yielded to the National Socialist frenzy in the hope of one day seeing the arrogant pretensions of Germany fully realized. The most important point in our opinion is the personal contribution which they consciously and voluntarily made to the enterprise of destruction carried out by the Third Reich. For 10 years Keitel was the "king pin" of the German Army and from 1936 onward Jodl did not cease to be his collaborator.
M. QUATRE: Before the war they worked to promote the war, and during the war they deliberately flouted the rules of law and justice, the sole safeguards of fighting men, held the dignity of mankind in utter contempt, and thus failed to do their duty as soldiers. Nacht und Rebel, the Kugel Aktion, the Sonderbehandlung, the destruction of our cities-all this will be forever associated with the names of these men, and particularly with the name of Keitel who dared to proclaim that human life was less than nothing. And at this moment we cannot prevent our thoughts from turning towards the innumerable absent ones who for that reason sacrificed their lives.