REUTER: This census must have taken place in 1942.
M. FAURE: After the census the Germans realized that there was no
majority, and not even any considerable part of the population which was
desirous of being incorporated into the German Reich. However, did they
continue to apply their measures of annexation?
REUTER: Measures tending to Germanization and later to the annexation of
the country were continued, and later on they were even reinforced by
further new measures.
M. FAURE: Am I to understand, therefore, that during the application of
these measures the Germans could not be ignorant of the fact that the
Luxembourg population was opposed to them?
REUTER: There can be no doubt at all on this question.
M. FAURE: Can you tell us whether it is correct that the German
authorities obliged members of the constabulary force and the police to
take an oath of allegiance to the Chancellor of the Reich?
REUTER: Yes. This was forced upon the constabulary corps and the police
with very serious threats and punishments. Recalcitrants were usually
deported, if I remember rightly, to Sachsenhausen; and on the approach
of the Russian Army all or a part of the recalcitrants who were in the
camp were shot. There were about 150 of them.
M. FAURE: Can you tell us anything concerning the transfer—I believe
the Germans call it “Umsiedlung”—of a certain number of inhabitants and
families living in your country?
REUTER: The transplanting was ordered by the German authority of
Luxembourg for elements which appeared to be unfit for assimilation or
unworthy of, or undesirable for, residence on the frontiers of the
Reich.
M. FAURE: Can you indicate the approximate number of people who were
victims of this transplanting?
REUTER: There must have been about 7,000 people who were transplanted in
this manner, because we found in Luxembourg a list mentioning between
2,800 and 2,900 homes or families.
M. FAURE: These indications are based on knowledge you received as
President of the Chamber of Deputies?
REUTER: Not exactly, the list was found in Luxembourg; it is still
deposited there and the Office of War Criminals took cognizance of it,
like all the judicial authorities in Luxembourg.
M. FAURE: Can you state, M. Reuter, how the people who were transplanted
were informed of this measure concerning them, and how much time they
had to be ready?
REUTER: In general, the families to be transplanted were not given
notice in advance, officially, at least. About 6 o’clock in the morning
the Gestapo rang at the door, and they notified those who were selected
to be ready for departure within 1 or 2 hours with a minimum of luggage.
Then they were taken to the station and put on a train for the camp to
which they were at first to be sent.
M. FAURE: Can you tell us whether these measures were applied to people
whom you know personally?
REUTER: I know personally a very large number of people who were
transplanted, among them members of my own family, a great number of
colleagues of the Chamber of Deputies, many members of the Bar, many
magistrates, and so forth.
M. FAURE: In addition to these transplantations, were there also
deportations to concentration camps? This is another question.
REUTER: Yes, there were deportations to concentration camps which
everyone knew about. The number of such deportations in the Grand Duchy
may be approximately four thousand.
M. FAURE: M. Reuter, it has been established, through their ordinances,
that the German authorities prescribed compulsory military service. I
will not ask you, therefore, any question on this particular point.
However, I would like to ask you whether you are able to state,
approximately, the number of Luxembourg citizens who were enrolled in
the German Army.
REUTER: The young people who were incorporated into the German Army by
force belonged to 5 classes, beginning with the class of 1920. The
number is about eleven thousand to twelve thousand, at least. A certain
number of them, I think about one-third, succeeded in avoiding
conscription and became refractory. Others later deserted the German
Army and fled to other countries.
M. FAURE: Can you indicate the approximate number of Luxembourgers who
died as a result of their forced enlistment?
REUTER: At the end of September 1944 we had 2,500 dead. Searches have
continued and at present I think we have established the names of at
least 3,000.
M. FAURE: The sanctions that had been provided to force the enlistment
of the Luxembourgers, were they very severe?
REUTER: These sanctions were extremely severe. First of all, the young
people who were refractory were pursued and hunted by the police and by
the Gestapo. Then they were brought before various types of Tribunals,
in Luxembourg, France, Belgium, or Germany. Their families were
deported; the family fortune was generally confiscated. The penalties
pronounced by the Tribunals against these young people were very severe.
The death penalty was general, or else imprisonment, forced labor, or
deportation to concentration camps. Some of them were released later on,
but there were some who were shot as hostages after having been
released.
M. FAURE: I would like to ask one last question. Do you think it is
possible that the measures which constituted a _de facto_ annexation of
Luxembourg could have been unknown to the persons who belonged to the
Reich Government, or to the German High Command?
REUTER: I believe that it is hardly possible that such a situation could
have been unknown to the members of the Reich and the supreme military
authority. My opinion is based on the following facts: First of all, our
young people, when mobilized by force, frequently protested at the time
of their arrival in Germany by invoking the fact that they were all of
Luxembourg nationality, and that they were the victims of force, so that
the military authorities must have been informed of the situation in the
Grand Duchy.
In the second place, several Ministers of the Reich—among them,
Thierack, Rust, and Ley—visited the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and
could see for themselves the situation of the country and the reaction
of the population; other high political personalities of the Reich, such
as Bormann and Sauckel, also paid visits.
Finally there were German decrees and ordinances concerning the
denationalization of certain categories of Luxembourg citizens. These
ordinances bore the signature of the Minister of the Reich. The
executive measures implementing these ordinances were published in the
_Official Gazette of the Reich Ministry of the Interior_ under the
signature of the Minister of Interior Frick with the indication that
these instructions were to be communicated to all the superior Reich
authorities.