“I should like to emphasize one thing. We must not be too
soft-hearted when we hear that 17,000 have been shot. These
persons who have been shot are also victims of the war.... Let
us now remember that all of us who are meeting together here
figure in Mr. Roosevelt’s list of war criminals. I have the
honor of being Number 1. We have thus, so to speak, become
accomplices in terms of world history”.
Your name is second on the list of those present at the conference. Do
you not consider that Frank must have had sufficient grounds to number
you among the most active of his accomplices in crime?
BÜHLER: About such statements of the Governor General I have already
said all that is necessary.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Then you ascribe this to the Governor General’s
temperament?
THE PRESIDENT: Witness, that is not an answer to the question. The
question was, do you consider yourself to be one of those criminals?
BÜHLER: I do not consider myself a criminal.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: If you do not consider yourself a war criminal,
will you perhaps recollect who personally—I emphasize the word
“personally”—actively participated in one of Frank’s most cruel orders
with regard to the Polish population? I am talking about the decree of 2
October 1942. Were you not one of the participants?
BÜHLER: Which measures? Which decree? I should like to be shown it.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I am talking about the decree signed 2 October
and published 9 October 1943, Exhibit Number USSR 335, (Document Number
USSR-335), the decree about the creation of the so-called courts-martial
conducted by the Secret Police.
BÜHLER: The draft of this decree did not come from my office.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Does this mean that you deny participation in
rendering that cruel decree effective?
BÜHLER: Yes, the decree comes from the Police.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The passage I should like to quote, Mr.
President, is on Page 35, of our document book, and in Paragraph 4 of
the English translation.
[_Turning to the witness._] Did you not, together with Dr. Weh, at a
time when even Frank was undecided about signing, succeed in persuading
him to do so and bring into force a decree of a frankly terrorist nature
to legalize tyranny by the Police?
I quote Page 142 of the minutes on the conference with State Secretary
Dr. Bühler (he evidently means you) and with Dr. Weh, concerning the
order issued by Dr. Weh for combating attacks on the German work of
reconstruction in the Government General:
“After some brief statements by the State Secretary Dr. Bühler
and Dr. Weh, the Governor General withdraws his objections and
signs the drafted decree.”
Was it not you?
BÜHLER: I request the interpreter to repeat the question.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I am asking you: Was it you who persuaded Frank
to sign that decree as quickly as possible?
BÜHLER: No.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Does that mean that the entry is false?
BÜHLER: No.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: In that case, how am I to understand you, if
this is “no” and the other is “no”?
BÜHLER: I can explain that to you exactly. The draft for this decree had
been submitted to the Governor General by SS Oberführer Bierkamp who had
recently been assigned to the Government General. The Governor
General...
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Will you please...
THE PRESIDENT: [Interposing] He is in the middle of his answer. You must
let the man answer. What were you saying? You were saying the draft had
been made by somebody?
BÜHLER: This draft had been submitted to the Governor General by
Bierkamp who had just recently come to the Government General. The
Governor General returned this draft and had it revised in the
legislative department. When it was presented to the Governor General,
the Governor General’s doubts were whether the legislative department
had revised it or not. I do not assume material responsibility for this
draft, and I did not have to.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: You simply explained to Frank that the project
of the decree had been sufficiently worked over by the competent
technical department?
BÜHLER: Yes, by the legislative department.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: And after that the Governor General signed the
decree?
BÜHLER: Obviously.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Were you not the person who, at the meeting of
23 October 1943, when a letter from Count Ronikier, a person evidently
known to you, was discussed, referred to the practical interpretation of
this cruel decree of 2 October and stated that the application of the
decree would in the future favor the camouflaging of the murder of
hostages by giving the shootings of hostages the semblance of a legal
sentence? Were you that person?
BÜHLER: I ask that the question be repeated. I understood only part of
it.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Were you the person who, at the meeting of 23
October 1943, stated that the application of the decree of 2 October
would, in the future, favor the camouflaging of the shooting of
hostages, since it would give them the semblance of a legal sentence?
BÜHLER: It is not quite clear to me. May I repeat what I understood?
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: If you please.
BÜHLER: You want to ask me whether I was the one who, on the occasion of
a conference on the 23rd of October 1944...