“It is the 25th of November 1943, a Thursday. The 10 o’clock
class is drawing to an end. As I come out of the room, a student
posted at a window in the hall signals me to approach and shows
me in the inner court in front of the Department of Physics a
Wehrmacht soldier with helmet, boots, a submachine gun in his
arm, mounting guard. ‘Let us try to flee.’ Too late. At the same
moment, wild cries arise from all directions—the corridors, the
stairways are filled with the sound of heavy boots, the clanking
of weapons, fierce cries, a frantic shuffling. A soldier rushes
down the hall shouting, ‘Everybody in the courtyard—tell the
others.’ Naturally, everyone understood.”
Second passage:
“One of our people, Paul Collomp, was cold-bloodedly murdered
with a shot in the chest, and an eyewitness confirms the fact.
Alas, it is only too true. Asked to leave the Secretariat where
he was, Collomp no doubt obeyed too slowly to suit the
policeman, for the latter gave him a violent blow on the back;
instinctively, our colleague turned around, and the other then
fired a shot directly into his chest. Death was almost
immediate, but the body was left lying there alone until that
evening. Another rumor reached us. We didn’t know from where. A
colleague in Protestant Theology, M. Eppel, was apparently also
shot down, in his own house, where they had gone to look for
him. He received, as was later learned, several bullet shots in
the abdomen but miraculously recovered and even survived the
horrors of Buchenwald Camp.”
As I indicated to the Tribunal this morning, I wish to say that the
Prosecution has no proof that such crimes were due to a German
governmental order; but I believe that it is nevertheless interesting to
advise the Tribunal of this last episode in the German undertakings
against the University of Strasbourg, for the episode constitutes the
sequel and, in a sense, the climax of the preceding incidents. We have
seen, indeed, that German procedure began at first regularly and that
after these regular procedures it reached the stage of recourse to the
police. Brutality and violation accompanied this recourse.
I wish to advise you that this document which I have just read bears the
Document Number RF-712 (bis).
I come now to the second part of this subject, which is the imposition
of German standards. The leaders of the Reich began by organizing a
specifically German administration. I already indicated a while ago the
appointment of Gauleiter as heads of the civil administration. I
continue on this point by producing as Document Number RF-713 the
Ordinance of 28 August 1940, _Official Gazette_ of the Reich, 1940, Page
22. The Ordinance is entitled: “Concerning the Introduction of the
German Regime in Alsace.” I shall not read this Ordinance. I simply
indicate that its object is to put into effect, from 1 October 1940 on,
the German municipal regime of 30 January 1935.
The text and the organization show that the territories annexed were
reorganized on the basis of German administrative concepts. At the head
of each district (arrondissement) we no longer have a French subprefect
but a Landkommissar, who has under his orders the different offices of
Finance, Labor, School Inspection, Commerce, and Health. The large
towns, the chief towns of arrondissements and even of cantons, were
endowed with a Stadtkommissar instead of, and replacing, the mayors and
elected counsellors, who had been eliminated. The judicial offices were
attached to the court of appeals in Karlsruhe. The economic departments
and, in particular, the chambers of commerce were run by the
representatives of the chambers of commerce of Karlsruhe for Alsace and
of Saarbrücken for Moselle.
After having germanized the forms of administrative activity, the
Germans undertook to germanize the staffs. They nominated numerous
German officials to posts of authority. They attempted, moreover, on a
number of occasions, to make the officials who had remained in office
sign declarations of loyalty to the Germans. These attempts, however,
met with a refusal from the officials. They were therefore renewed on a
number of occasions in different forms. We have recovered from the
archives of the Gauleiter of Strasbourg 8 or 10 different formulas for
these declarations of loyalty. I shall produce one of these for the
Tribunal, by way of example.
This is Document Number RF-714. It is the formula for the new
declaration which the officials are obliged to sign if they wish to
retain their positions:
“Name and first name, grade and service, residence.
“I have been employed from —— 1940 to this date in the public
service of the German administration in Alsace. During this
period I have had, from my own observation as well as from the
Party and the authorities, verbally and in writing, occasion to
learn the obligations of a German official and the requirements
which are exacted of him from a political and ideological point
of view. I approve these obligations and these requirements
without reservation and am resolved to be ruled by them in my
personal and professional life. I affirm my adherence to the
German people and to the National Socialist ideals of Adolf
Hitler.”
Along with the administration, properly speaking, the Nazis set up in
Alsace the parallel administration of the National Socialist Party, as
well as that of the Arbeitsfront, which was the sole labor organization.
German currency legislation was introduced in Alsace on 19 October and
in Lorraine on 25 October 1940. The Reichsmark became thenceforth the
legal means of payment in the annexed territory. The German judicial
organization was introduced by a series of successive measures leading
up to the decree of 30 September 1941 concerning the simplification of
the judicial organization in Alsace. I produce this ordinance as
Document Number RF-715, without reading it.
In regard to the teaching system, the German authorities established a
series of regulations and ordinances which were aimed at assuring the
unification of the Alsatian school system with the German teaching
system. I shall simply mention the dates of the principal texts, which
we produce as documents, and which are of a public nature, since they
were all published in the _Official Gazette_ of the Reich in Alsace.
Here are the main texts:
Document Number RF-717, regulation of 2 October 1940.
Document Number RF-718, ordinance of 24 March 1941 on elementary
teaching in Alsace.
Document Number RF-719, ordinance of 21 April 1941 concerning the
allocation of subsidies for education in Alsace.
Document Number RF-720, ordinance of 11 June 1941 on obligatory
education in Alsace.
I now quote a series of measures ordering the introduction in Alsace and
Lorraine of German civil law, German criminal law, and even procedure. I
shall quote as the most important, under Document Number RF-721, the
ordinance of 19 June 1941 concerning the application of the provisions
of German legislation to Alsatians. I should like to read the first
paragraph of Article 1 because it contains an interesting item:
“Article 1:
“1. The legal relationships of persons who acquired French
citizenship under the Appendix to Articles 51 to 79 of the
Versailles dictate and of those who derive their nationality
from those persons, in particular in the domain of personal and
family law, are governed by the legislation in force in the
former Empire, in accordance with the law of the country of
origin, insofar as this legislation applies to the country of
origin.”
A similar ordinance was drawn up for Lorraine, Document Number RF-722,
ordinance of 15 September 1941 concerning the application of German
legislation to personal and family status in Lorraine. _Official
Bulletin_ of the Reich, Page 817.
I should like to quote, indicating the titles and references, the
principal measures which have been introduced in penal matters:
Document Number RF-723, notice of 14 February 1941 relative to the penal
dispositions declared applicable in Lorraine by virtue of Section 1 of
the second ordinance concerning certain transitory measures in the
domain of justice.
Document Number RF-724, ordinance of 29 October 1941 relative to the
introduction into Alsace of the German legislation of penal procedure
and of other penal laws.
Document Number RF-725, ordinance of 30 January 1942 relative to the
introduction into Alsace of the German penal code and other penal laws.
I do not wish to read this text which is long, but I should like to draw
the attention of the Tribunal to two features which show that the
Germans introduced into Alsace the most extraordinary provisions of
their penal law, conceived from the point of view of the National
Socialist regime. The Tribunal will thus see, in this Document Number
RF-725, Page 1 under Number 6 of the enumeration, that the law of 20
December 1934, repressing perfidious attacks directed against the State
and the Party and protecting Party uniforms, was introduced into Alsace,
as well as the ordinance of 25 November 1939, under Number 11 of the
enumeration, completing the penal provisions relating to the protection
of the military power of the German people.
As concerns public freedom, the Germans eliminated from the beginning
the right of association; and they dissolved all existing associations.
They intended to leave free room for the Nazi system, which was to be
the only and obligatory association.
I shall quote in the same way a number of documents, with the titles of
these public texts:
Document Number RF-726, regulation of 16 August 1940, dissolving the
youth organizations in Alsace.
Document Number RF-727, regulation of 22 August 1940, setting up a
supervising commission for associations in Lorraine.
Document Number RF-728, regulation of 3 September 1940, providing for
the dissolution of teachers’ unions. I point out, in regard to this
Document RF-728, that the last article provides an exception in favor of
the organization called “Union of National Socialist Teachers.”
Document Number RF-729, regulation of 3 September 1940, providing for
the dissolution of gymnastic societies and of sports associations in
Alsace. I should like to read Article 4 of this Document RF-729:
“My Commissioner of Physical Culture will take, in regard to
other gymnastic societies and sports associations in Alsace, all
necessary provisions in view of their re-integration into the
Reich’s National Socialist Union for Physical Culture.”
Following up these measures of Germanization, we now encounter two texts
which are very characteristic and which I produce as Documents Numbers
RF-730 and RF-731. Of Document Number RF-730 I read simply the title,
which is significant: “Ordinance of 7 February 1942 Relative to the
Creation of an Office of the Upper Rhine for Genealogical Research.” I
shall likewise read the title of Document Number RF-731, “Regulation of
17 February 1942 Concerning the Creation of the Department of the Reich
Commission for the Strengthening of Germanism.”
I indicated a moment ago to the Tribunal that the Party had been
established in Alsace and in Lorraine in a way that was parallel with
the administration in Germany. I shall produce in this connection
Document Number RF-732, which is a confidential note of the National
Socialist Workers Party of the province of Baden dated Strasbourg, 5
March 1942. This document belongs likewise to the series found in the
files of the Gauleitung of Strasbourg. It bears as a heading,
“Gaudirektion—Auxiliary Bureau of Strasbourg.” If it please the
Tribunal, I shall read the beginning of this document:
“Evaluation of recruiting possibilities of the Party, its
subdivisions and related groups in Alsace.
“In the framework of the drive of 19 June organized for the
recruiting of party members, the Kreisleiter in collaboration
with the Ortsgruppenleiter have to investigate Alsatians above
the age of 18, even if their membership is not yet to be
obtained within this drive which may be”—the word “which” was
omitted in the text—“considered for prospective membership of
the Party, its sections, and affiliated organizations and which
men between the age of 17 and 48 could be actively employed in
the Party or in its subdivisions. In order to gain a numerical
survey, these investigations should also comprise all persons
already enrolled in the Party, in the Opferring”—this is the
collecting organization of the Party—“in the sections, and
affiliated organizations.
“The Kreisleiter may call upon the collaboration of the
Kreisorganisationsleiter”—these are the organizing directors of
the section—“and of the Kreispersonalamtsleiter”—the personnel
information offices of the sections—“In spite of this work the
19 June drive for recruiting members should not suffer but must
be carried on by all possible means and gain the goal set by the
Gauleiter at the given date.
“The results of the screening of the population are to be
compiled in five lists, namely: List 1a; List 1b; List 2a; List
2b; Control list.”
I shall skip over the following paragraphs, which are rather long and
purely administrative, and I shall continue on Page 2 of the document,
Paragraph 9:
“Since it is the aim of the National Socialist movement to
embrace all Germans in a National Socialist organization in
order to mould and direct them in compliance with the intentions
of the Movement, 90 percent of the population will have to
figure on Lists 1a and b and 2a and b, while on the Control List
only those shall be named who, on account of racial inferiority
or asocial or anti-German attitude are considered unworthy of
belonging to an organization, are not deemed worthy of
membership in Party organizations.”
I shall now enter upon the two most serious questions which are directly
interconnected, questions which, on the one hand, concern nationality
and, on the other hand, military recruiting.
The German policy in the matter of nationality reveals a certain
hesitation, which is related to the German policy in regard to military
recruiting. Indeed, the German leaders seem to have been swayed by two
contradictory trends. One of these trends was that of bestowing the
German nationality on a large number of people, in order to impose the
corresponding obligation for military service. The other trend was that
of conferring nationality only with discrimination. According to this
viewpoint it was considered, first of all, that the possession of
nationality was an honor and should to some extent constitute a reward
when conferred on those who had not previously possessed it. On the
other hand, nationality confers on its possessor a certain special
quality. In spite of the abolition of all democracy, it gives that
person a certain influence in the German community. It should,
therefore, be granted only to persons who give guarantees in certain
regards, notably that of loyalty; and we know that, from the German
point of view, loyalty is not only a matter of mental attitude and
choice but that it also applies to certain well-known physical elements,
such as those of blood, race, and origin.
These are the two opposed trends in the German policy of conferring
nationality. This is how they develop:
At first—and up to the month of August 1942—the Reich, not yet
requiring soldiers as urgently as it did later, deferred the
introduction of compulsory recruiting. Along with this they also
deferred any action to impose German nationality on the population
generally. During this earlier period the Nazis did not resort to
compulsory recruiting but relied simply on voluntary recruiting which,
however, they tried to render more effective by offering all kinds of
inducements and exercising pressure in various ways.
I shall not go into details regarding these German procedures for
voluntary recruitment. I should like simply to give, by way of example,
the subject matter of Document Number RF-733. It is an appeal posted in
Alsace on 15 January 1942 and constitutes one of the appendices of the
governmental report, which was submitted previously under Document
Number UK-72. In this document, I shall read simply the first sentence
of the second paragraph:
“Alsatians: Since the beginning of the campaign in the East,
hundreds of Alsatians have freely decided to march as
volunteers, side by side with the men of the other German
regions, against the enemy of civilization and European
culture.”
For anyone who knows German propaganda and its technique of
exaggeration, the term “hundreds” which is used in this document
immediately betrays the failure of the Nazi recruiters. “Hundreds” may
obviously be translated by “tens,” and it must be admitted that this was
a very poor supply for the Wehrmacht.
During the period that I am speaking of the Nazis practiced, in regard
to nationality, a policy similar to their policy in recruiting military
forces, that is, a policy of selective nationalization. They appealed
for volunteers for German nationality. It is desirable to quote in this
regard an ordinance of 20 January 1942, a general ordinance of the
Reich, not a special one for the annexed territories.
This ordinance in its first article increases the possibilities of
naturalization, which until then had been extremely limited, in
accordance with the Reich statute book. In Article 3 it gives the
following provision: (This ordinance is not produced in the document
book, for it is an ordinance of the German Reich and, therefore, a
public document.)
“The Reich Minister of the Interior may, by means of a general
regulation, grant German nationality to categories of foreigners
established on a territory placed under the sovereign power of
Germany or having their origin in such territory.”
In connection with this earlier period it is necessary to stress that
natives of Alsace-Lorraine who did not become German citizens did not
retain their French nationality. They are all considered as German
subjects. They are qualified in the documents of the period as “members
of the German community (Volksdeutsch),” and are consequently liable for
German labor service. I submit Document Number RF-734 in this
connection, “Regulation of 27 August 1942, on Compulsory Military
Service and on Labor Service in Alsace.” I shall return to this document
presently with regard to military service, but I would like to quote now
the passages relative to service in the Hitler Youth, one of which bears
an earlier date, the ordinance of 2 January 1942 for Alsace and
ordinance of 4 August 1942 for Lorraine.
The German policy regarding nationality and military recruiting reaches
its turning point in the month of August 1942. At this moment, on
account of military difficulties and the need for extensive recruiting,
the Germans instituted compulsory military service in Lorraine by an
ordinance of 19 August 1942 and in Alsace by an ordinance of 25 August
1942. These two ordinances, relative to the introduction of compulsory
military service, constitute Document Number RF-735, ordinance for
Lorraine, and Document Number RF-736, ordinance for Alsace.
At the same time, the Germans promulgated an ordinance of 23 August 1942
on German nationality in Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg. This text is
the subject of a circular issued by the Reich Minister of the Interior,
which constitutes Document Number RF-737. These provisions are the
following:
“Full rights of nationality are acquired by natives of Alsace
and Lorraine and Luxembourgers of German origin:
“When they have been or will be called upon to serve in the
armed forces of the Reich or in SS armed formations;
“when they are recognized as having acted as good Germans.”
As concerns the expression “of German origin,” which is used in these
texts, this concerns Alsatians and Lorrainers who have become French
either through the Treaty of Versailles or subsequently on condition of
having previously been German nationals or having transferred their
domicile from Alsace or Lorraine to the territory of the Reich after 1
September 1939; and, finally, children, grandchildren, and spouses of
the preceding categories of persons are likewise considered as of German
origin.
Lastly, it was anticipated that the Alsatians, Lorrainers, and
Luxembourgers who did not acquire German nationality absolutely could
obtain it provisionally.
I should like to mention, to complete this question of nationality, that
an ordinance of 2 February 1943 gave details as to the German
nationality laws applicable in Alsace, and that an ordinance of 2
November 1943 likewise conferred German nationality upon persons who had
been in concentration camps during the war.
The German texts indicate that, on the one hand, German nationality was
imposed upon a great number of persons; and, on the other hand, that
Alsatians and Lorrainers who were French were forced to comply with the
exorbitant and truly criminal requirements of military service in the
German Army against their own country. These military obligations were
constantly extended by the calling-up of successive classes, as far as
the 1908 class.
These German exigencies provoked a solemn protest on the part of the
French National Committee, which in London represented the Free French
Government authority. I should like to read to the Tribunal the text of
this protest, which is dated 16 September 1942, and which I submit as
Exhibit Number RF-739. I shall read only the three paragraphs of the
official protest, which constitute the beginning of this document of the
Information Agency in London.
“After having proclaimed, in the course of the war, the
annexation of Alsace and of Lorraine, banished and robbed a
great number of the inhabitants, and enforced the most rigorous
measures of Germanization, the Reich now constrains Alsatians
and Lorrainers—declared German by the Reich—to serve in the
German armies against their own compatriots and against the
allies of France.
“The National Committee, defender of the integrity and of the
unity of France and trustee of the principle of the rights of
peoples, protests, in the face of the civilized world, against
these new crimes committed in contempt of international
conventions against the will of populations ardently attached to
France. It proclaims inviolable the right of Alsatians and of
Lorrainers to remain members of the French family.”
This protest could not have been unknown to the Germans, for it was read
and commented on over the radio by the French National Commissioner of
Justice, Professor René Cassin, on a number of occasions.
In regard to this solemn protest on the part of France, I shall allow
myself to quote the justifications, if one may use this term, which were
furnished in a speech by Gauleiter Wagner delivered in Colmar on 20 June
1943. This quotation is drawn from the _Mühlhäuser Tageblatt_ of 21 June
1943. In view of its importance I shall not deal with it simply as a
quotation, but I produce it as a document and submit it as Document
Number RF-740. The clerk has been given this paper. I read the
explanations of Gauleiter Wagner, as they are reproduced in this
newspaper under the title “Alsace will not Stand Aloof”:
“The decisive event for Alsace in 1942 was therefore the
introduction of compulsory military service. It cannot be my
intention to justify legally a measure which strikes so deeply
at the life of Alsace. There is no reason for this either. Every
decision which the Greater Reich is taking, here is motivated
and cannot be attacked as to its juridical and its _de facto_
form.”
Naturally, the Alsatians and Lorrainers refused to accept the criminal
orders of the German authorities, and they undertook to avoid these by
every means. The Nazis then decided to compel them by means of merciless
measures. The frontiers were strictly guarded, and the guards had orders
to fire on the numerous recalcitrants who attempted to escape across the
border. I should like to quote in this connection a sentence from a
newspaper article, which appeared in the _Dernières Nouvelles de
Strasbourg_ of 28 August 1942. This is Document Number RF-741. This
article deals with the death of one of these men who refused to serve in
the German Army, and it concludes with the following sentence: “We
insist most particularly on the fact that it is suicidal to attempt to
cross the frontier illegally.”
Naturally, judicial penalties were applied with great severity and in a
large number of cases. I do not consider that I should bring to the
Tribunal all the instances of these cases, which would take too long;
but I should like simply to insist on the principle that governed this
form of repression.
I shall quote first of all a document which is entirely characteristic
of the conception which the German administration had of justice and of
the independence of judicial power. This is Document Number RF-742. It
is a part of a series of documents discovered in the files of the
Gauleitung. It is a teletype message dated Strasbourg, 8 June 1944,
addressed by Gauleiter Wagner to the Chief of the Court of Appeals in
Karlsruhe. I shall read Paragraph 2 of this document, which is on Page 1
of the same document:
“Especially in Alsace it is required that the sentences for
refusal of military service should be intimidating. But upon
those trying to evade military service, for fear of personal
danger, this intimidating effect can be produced only by the
death penalty, the more so, as an Alsatian bent upon escaping
military service by emigration counts generally on an early
victory of the enemy and, therefore, in case of conviction with
punishment other than death, with a near cancellation of the
penalty. The death penalty is, therefore, to be applied in all
cases in which after 6 June 1944 an evasion of military service
is attempted by illegal emigration, irrespectively of any other
legal practice used in Germany proper.”
But I wish to indicate that the consideration of personal risk, even
that of being killed at the frontier or condemned to death, was not
sufficient to make the people of Alsace and Lorraine acknowledge the
obligation for military service. Thus the Nazis decided to have recourse
to the only threat which could be effective, the threat of reprisals
against families. After 4 September 1942, there appeared in the
_Dernières Nouvelles de Strasbourg_ a notice entitled “Severe Sanctions
Against Those Who Fail to Appear Before the Revision Council.” An
extract from this notice constitutes Document Number RF-743. I shall
read from it:
“In the case mentioned above it has been shown that parents have
not given proof of authority in this regard. They have thus
proved that they do not yet understand the requirements of the
present time, which can tolerate in Alsace only reliable
persons. The parents of the above-named young men will therefore
shortly be deported to the Aleichem in order to re-acquire, in a
National Socialist atmosphere, an attitude in conformity with
the German spirit.”
Thus the deportation of families was decreed, not to punish a definite
insubordination, but to punish failure to appear before the recruiting
board.
In order to avoid repeated readings, I shall now present to the
Tribunal, under the heading of Document Number RF-744, the ordinance of
1 October 1943, to check failure to perform military service (_Official
Bulletin_ of the Reich for 1943, Page 152). I shall read the first two
articles:
“Article 1: The chief of the civil administration in Alsace may
deny residence in Alsace to deserters and to persons who fail to
fulfill their military obligations or those of the compulsory
labor service, as well as to members of their families. This
prohibition entails, for persons of German origin whom it may
affect, transplantation to Reich territory by the
Plenipotentiary for the Reich, Reich Commissioner for the
Preservation of German Nationality. Measures to be taken in
regard to property, seizure, indemnity, _et cetera_, are
prescribed in the ordinance of 2 February 1943, concerning
property measures to be applied in the case of persons of German
origin transferred from Alsace to Reich territory.
“Paragraph 2: Independently of the preceding measures, criminal
proceedings may be instituted under the penal code for violation
of the provisions of the penal laws.”
THE PRESIDENT: Exactly what did “souche allemande” mean? How far did it
go?
M. FAURE: The term “souche allemande” applies, as indicated in
connection with the preceding text, to the following categories of
persons: In the first place, persons who were in Alsace and Lorraine
before the Treaty of Versailles and who became French by the treaty;
persons whose nationality before 1919 was German are considered as of
German origin, as well as their children, their grandchildren, and their
spouses. This affects the great majority of the population of the three
departments.
I continue reading Paragraph 2 of the first article of Document Number
RF-744.
“Independently of the foregoing measures, penal prosecutions may
be brought for violation of the provisions of the penal laws.”
According to Article 52, Paragraph 2, of the Reich Penal Code, members
of the family who bring proof of their genuine efforts to prevent or
dissuade the fugitive from committing his act or avoiding the necessity
of flight shall not be punishable.
These abominable measures, the obligation of denunciation, punishment
inflicted upon families, permitted the German authorities to carry out
the enlistment of Alsatians and Lorrainers, which for many of them had
fatal consequences and which was for all of them a particularly tragic
ordeal.
I must finally indicate, to conclude this part, that the Germans
proceeded to the mobilization of women for war work. I produce a
Document Number RF-745, the ordinance of 26 January 1942, completing the
war organization of labor service for the young women of Lorraine.
Then we find an ordinance of 2 February 1943, Document Number RF-746,
concerning the declaration of men and women for the accomplishment of
tasks pertaining to national defense. (_Official Bulletin_ of the Reich,
1943, Page 26.) This ordinance concerns Alsace.
The following Document, Number RF-747, deals with Lorraine. This is an
ordinance of 8 February 1943 concerning the enrollment of men and women
for tasks relating to the organization of labor. The Tribunal will note
that the ordinance concerning Alsace used the expression “tasks of
interest to national defense,” whereas the ordinance relative to
Lorraine specifies simply “tasks concerning the organization of labor”;
but in principle these are the same. Article 1 of this second ordinance,
Document Number RF-747, refers to the ordinance of the General Delegate
for the Organization of Labor, relative to the declaration of men and
women for tasks of interest to national defense, et cetera. This is a
question of making not only men, but also women, work for the German war
effort. I shall read for the Tribunal an extract from a newspaper
article which comments on this legislation and likewise on the measures
which Gauleiter Wagner proposed to undertake in this connection. This
constitutes Document Number RF-748, taken from the newspaper _Dernières
Nouvelles de Strasbourg_, dated 23 February 1943.
“In his speech at Karlsruhe Gauleiter Robert Wagner stressed
that measures of total mobilization would be applied to Alsace
and that the authorities would abstain from any bureaucratic
working method. The Alsatian labor offices have already invited
the first category of young women liable for mobilization to
fill out the enlistment form.
“In principle, all women who until the present have worked only
at home, who have had to care only for their husbands, and who
have no other relatives, shall work a full day. Many married men
who until now had never offered to help their wives with the
household work will be obliged to put their shoulder to the
wheel. They will work in the household and do errands. With a
little goodwill, everything will work out. Women who have
received a professional education shall be put, if possible, to
tasks that relate to their professions, on condition that they
have an important bearing on the war effort. This prescription
applies only to all feminine professions which imply care given
to other persons.”
Here again a rather comical or clumsily worded presentation should not
prevent one from perceiving the odious character of these measures,
which obliged French women to work for the German war effort.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for ten minutes.
[_A recess was taken._]
M. FAURE: Mr. Dodd would like to speak to the Tribunal concerning a
question he wishes to put to the Tribunal.
MR. DODD: Mr. President, I ask to be heard briefly to inform the
Tribunal that the affiant Andreas Pfaffenberger, whom the Tribunal
directed the Prosecution for the United States to locate, if possible,
was located yesterday and he is here in Nuremberg today. He is available
for the cross-examination which, if I remember correctly, was requested
by Counsel for the Defendant Kaltenbrunner.
THE PRESIDENT: Was his affidavit read?
MR. DODD: Yes, Your Honor, it was.
THE PRESIDENT: It was read, and on the condition that he should be
brought here for cross-examination?
MR. DODD: Yes, Sir. He asked for him to be brought, if I recall it.
THE PRESIDENT: Does counsel for Kaltenbrunner wish to cross-examine him
now—I mean, not this moment—does he still wish to cross-examine him?
DR. KAUFFMANN: I believe that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner does not need
the testimony of this witness. However, I would have to take this
question up with him once more, for up till today it was not certain
that Pfaffenberger would be in court, and if he is to be cross-examined
and to testify, I believe Kaltenbrunner would have to be present at the
hearing.
THE PRESIDENT: It seems somewhat unfortunate that the witness should be
brought here for cross-examination and that then you should be saying
that you don’t want to cross-examine him after reading the affidavit. It
seems to me that the reasonable thing to do would be to make up your
mind whether you do, or do not, want to cross-examine him; and I should
have thought that would have been done and he would have been brought
here, if you want to cross-examine, and not brought here if you did not
want to cross-examine. Anyway, as he has been brought here now, it seems
to me that if you want to cross-examine him you must do so. Mr. Dodd,
can he be kept here for some time?
MR. DODD: He can, Your Honor, except that he was in a concentration camp
for 6 years; and we have to keep him here under certain security, and it
is somewhat of a hardship on him to be kept too long. We would like not
to keep him any longer than necessary. We located him with some
difficulty with the help of the United States Forces.
DR. KAUFFMANN: In perhaps 2 or 3 days we might wish to cross-examine;
perhaps two or three days.
THE PRESIDENT: I imagine that if after the affidavit had been read that
you demanded to cross-examine him and that he has therefore been
produced—well, in those circumstances it seems to me unreasonable that
you should ask that he should now be kept for 2 or 3 days when he is
produced. Mr. Dodd, would it be possible to keep him here until Monday?
MR. DODD: Yes, he can be kept here until Monday.
THE PRESIDENT: We will keep him here until Monday, and you can
cross-examine as you wish, Dr. Kauffmann. You understand what I mean;
when an affidavit has been put in and one of the Defense Counsel said
that he wants to cross-examine, he ought to inform the Prosecution if,
after reading and considering the affidavit, he finds that he does not
want to cross-examine him; they ought to inform the Prosecution so as to
avoid all the cost and trouble of bringing a witness from some distance
off. Do you follow?
DR. KAUFFMANN: I will proceed with the cross-examination on Monday.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
M. FAURE: Mr. President, I would ask the Tribunal whether they would
agree to hear the witness Emil Reuter at this point?
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
[_The witness, Emil Reuter, took the stand._]
What is your name?
EMIL REUTER (Witness): Reuter, Emil.
THE PRESIDENT: Emil Reuter, do you swear to speak without hate or fear,
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
[_The witness repeated the oath in French._]
THE PRESIDENT: Raise the right hand and say, “I swear.”
REUTER: I swear.
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down.