“France also had taken measures against the Jews which were
extremely useful. They were only temporary, because here, too,
final solution would be the deportation of the Jews to the East.
He, the Reich Foreign Minister, knew that in Italian military
circles, and occasionally among German military people too, the
Jewish problem was not sufficiently appreciated. It was only in
this way that he could understand an order of the _Comando
Supremo_ which, in the Italian occupation zone of France had
canceled measures taken against the Jews by the French
authorities acting under German influence. The Duce contested
the accuracy of this report and traced it back to the French
tactics of causing dissension between Germany and Italy.”
Now I shall ask you a question: A short while ago you told us that you
wanted to make all the Jews emigrate to Madagascar. Is Madagascar in the
Eastern reservations mentioned in the document?
VON RIBBENTROP: About what? I have not understood.
M. FAURE: You were talking in this document of deporting Jews to the
reservations in the Eastern territories, and a short while ago you spoke
to us of settling the Jews in Madagascar. Is Madagascar meant here?
VON RIBBENTROP: No, that was the Führer’s plan. This document refers to
the fact that a large-scale espionage system had been discovered, I
believe, in France. The Führer sent me while I was on a journey to Italy
and told me to speak to Mussolini and see to it that in cases of Jews
involved in these acts of sabotage and espionage, the Italian Government
or the Italian Army did not intervene to prevent this measure. Also I
should like to state definitely that I knew, and it was also the
Führer’s plan, that the European Jews were to be resettled on a
large-scale either in Madagascar, North Africa, or in reservations in
the East. This was generally known in Germany. That is all that we are
concerned with here, and I also knew that some very unpleasant things
had occurred at that time and that the Führer was convinced that all of
them could be attributed to Jewish organizations in the south of France,
I believe. I now recollect very well that at the time I discussed the
matter with Mussolini and begged him to adopt suitable measures since
these Jews were furnishing all the information to the English and
American Intelligence Services. At least that was the information which
the Führer was constantly receiving.
M. FAURE: You said, did you not, that all Jews were to be deported to
the Eastern reservations? Is that correct? Please reply “yes” or “no”.
VON RIBBENTROP: Whether I was in favor of it?
M. FAURE: Germany deported all the Jews from German territory and
territories occupied by her to Eastern reservations. That is true, is it
not?
VON RIBBENTROP: I do not know the contents of the document in detail. I
do not know what I myself said in detail. But at any rate I knew that
the Führer had ordered that the Jews of the occupied territories in
Europe were to be transported to reservations in the East and resettled
there. That I did know. The carrying out of these measures, however, was
not my task as Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Foreign Office, but I
did know that it was the Führer’s wish. In this connection, I remember
that I received an order from him to discuss the matter with the Italian
Government so that they too would introduce corresponding measures
regarding the Jewish problem. That applied to other countries as well,
where we had to send telegrams quite frequently, so that these countries
should solve the Jewish question.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Faure, did you read to the witness the second
paragraph beginning: “Further, the Reich Foreign Minister dealt with the
Jewish question...”?
M. FAURE: Yes, Mr. President, the second paragraph. That is the
paragraph which I have just been reading.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you read the third one, but I did not know you read
the second one too. You read the second one too, did you? Very well.