VON RIBBENTROP: No, I cannot, for the moment, remember any details. In
any case I know that Frenchmen were arrested. Just how far this depended
on us, at that time, I do not know. It was, I think, in 1944, shortly
before the invasion that the Führer issued an order to the effect that a
large number of important French members of the resistance movement were
to be arrested on the spot, and I believe that we were advised
accordingly. It is also possible that we co-operated in this action to a
certain extent, but I cannot remember any details.
It was a question of arresting those elements who would kindle the flame
of the Resistance Movement in the event of an invasion, and would attack
the German armies in the rear. But I cannot give you any more
particulars now.
M. FAURE: I ask that you be shown a document which will be submitted as
Exhibit Number RF-1506 (Document Number RF-1506). It is an affidavit by
Dr. H. Knochen. I shall read some passages from this document.
“At the end of 1943—it must have been in December—there was a
conference at the Foreign Office on arrests to be made in
France. As I was in Berlin, I was also summoned to it. Present
at this conference were: The Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop;
the State Secretary Von Steengracht; Ambassador Abetz; another
member of the Foreign Office, whose name I do not know; the
Chief of the SIPO and the SD, Dr. Kaltenbrunner; the Higher SS
and Police Leader in France, Oberg; and representing the
Military Commander-in-Chief was his Chief of Staff Colonel
Kossmann, if my memory serves me right.
“The Minister stated the following: The Führer expects in France
more attention to be paid in the future than hitherto. The enemy
force must not be allowed to increase. Therefore all German
services will have to carry out their duties more meticulously.”