THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that is what I meant.
M. DUBOST: I shall, therefore, consider as established provisionally the
proof that Germany, in its internment camps and in its concentration
camps, pursued a policy tending towards the annihilation and
extermination of its enemies, while at the same time creating a system
of terror which it exploited to facilitate the realization of its
political aims.
Another aspect of this policy of terror and extermination appears when
one studies the war crimes committed by Germany on the persons of
prisoners of war. These crimes, as I shall prove to you, had two
motives, among others: To debase the captives as much as possible in
order to sap their energy; to demoralize them; to cause them to lose
faith in themselves and in the cause for which they fought, and to
despair of the future of their country. The second motive was to cause
the disappearance of those of them who, by reasons of their previous
history or indications given since their capture, showed that they could
not be adapted to the new order the Nazis intended to set up.
With this aim, Germany multiplied the inhuman methods of treatment
intended to debase the men in her hands, men who were soldiers and who
had surrendered, trusting to the military honor of the army to which
they had surrendered.
The transfer of prisoners was carried out under the most inhumane
conditions. The men were badly fed and were obliged to make long marches
on foot, exposed to every kind of punishment, and struck down when they
were tired and could no longer follow the column. No shelter was
provided at the halting places and no food. Evidence of this is given in
the report on the evacuation of the column that left Sagan on 28 January
1945 at 12:30 p.m.
THE PRESIDENT: Where shall we find it?
M. DUBOST: It is in the document book submitted by M. Herzog. It is the
report on the evacuation of the column that left Sagan on 28 January
1945. It is Document Number UK-78, submitted under Exhibit Number RF-46.
A column of 1,357 British soldiers, including soldiers of all ranks,
started out on 28 January 1945 for Spremberg.
THE PRESIDENT: Possibly this is the first document in your document book
which has been handed up to us.
M. DUBOST: That is right, Mr. President. I shall now read to you the
document on the evacuation of the Sagan Camp from 28 January to 4
February 1945. As the Tribunal has not the copy before it, I pass to
Document Number UK-170, Exhibit Number RF-355.
THE PRESIDENT: I am just telling you that I rather think this may be the
document, if it begins with “1,357 English prisoners of war. . . .” Does
it begin in that way?
M. DUBOST: Yes. The document which you have before you, Mr. President,
deals with the transfer of British prisoners. The one about which I
wished to speak and from which I wanted to read to you dealt with the
transfer of French prisoners. I think that it is not necessary for me to
lengthen the session by showing the Tribunal that the British and the
French prisoners were treated in the same fashion. I shall, therefore,
restrict myself to your document.
“1,357 British war prisoners of all ranks marched out of Stalag
Luft III in columns on 28 January 1945, and were thereafter
marched for distances varying from 17 to 31 kilometers a day to
Spremberg, where they were entrained for Luckenwalde. Food,
water, medical supplies, and adequate accommodation were more or
less nonexistent throughout the trip. At least three prisoners
. . . had to be left at Muskau. . . .”
On the bottom of the page, three lines before the end:
“On the 31st they covered the distance of 31 kilometers to
Muskau. It is small wonder that at this stage three men,
Lieutenants Kielly and Wise, and Sergeant Burton collapsed and
had to be left in the hospital at Muskau.”
Page 2 at the end of the document:
“On the march, apart from the Red Cross parcel already referred
to, the only rations issued to the men were one-half loaf of
bread and one issue of barley soup for each. The supply of water
is described as ‘haphazard’. . . . No fewer than 15 of them
escaped during the march.”
Now a statement by M. Bondot:
“The camp conditions of the Franco-Belgian column were even more
rigorous. The camps were organized in a manner which was
contrary to all the rules of hygiene. The prisoners were crowded
into a very narrow space. They had no heat or water. There were
30 to 40 men to a room in Stalag III-C.”
M. Boudot’s statement is to be found in the report on prisoners and
deportees which was also handed to you the other day by M. Herzog. I
believe that the Tribunal has kept its documents of last Thursday . . .
THE PRESIDENT: We have kept those documents, but if we had them on the
Bench before us you would not be able to see us.
M. DUBOST: Similar statements are found in the Red Cross reports.
Berger, who was in charge of prisoner-of-war camps under Himmler from 1
October 1944, admitted in the course of his examination that the food
supply of prisoners of war was entirely insufficient. The Tribunal will
find on Page 3 of the document book, which is before it, an extract from
Berger’s examination. Second paragraph:
“I visited a camp south of Berlin, the name of which I cannot
remember at the moment. I shall perhaps remember later. At that
time it was obvious to me that the food conditions were
absolutely inadequate and a violent argument between Himmler and
myself arose. Himmler was violently opposed to continuing the
distribution of packages of the Red Cross in the prisoner-of-war
camps at the same rate as before. As for me, I thought that in
this case we should be faced with serious problems regarding the
men’s health.”
We present Document Number 826-PS as Exhibit Number RF-356. This
document was issued by the Führer’s headquarters and is a report on a
visit to Norway and Denmark. It is on Page 7 of your document book,
Paragraph 3:
“All the prisoners of war in Norway receive only sufficient food
to keep them alive without working. The felling of timber,
however, makes such physical demands on these prisoners of war
that, if the food remains the same, a considerable decline in
production must soon be expected.”
This note applies to the situation of the 82,000 prisoners of war held
captive in Norway, 30,000 of whom were employed on very hard
construction work which was being carried out by the Todt organization.
This is found in the first paragraph of Page 7.
I now present to the Tribunal a document, Number 820-PS, Page 9 in the
document book. It deals with the establishment of prisoner-of-war camps
in the regions exposed to aerial bombardment. It was issued by
headquarters. It is dated 18 August 1943. It was sent by the
Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force to the Supreme Command of the
Wehrmacht. We submit it as Exhibit Number RF-358, and we shall read to
the Tribunal Paragraph 3:
“The Commander-in-Chief, Air General Staff, proposes to erect
prisoner-of-war camps in the residential quarters of cities, in
order to obtain a certain protection thereby.”