Morning Session
MARSHAL: Your Honors, Defendants Kaltenbrunner and Streicher will be absent from this morning’s session.
M. DUBOST: Your Honors, yesterday I was reading from an official French document, which appears in your document book under the title “Report of the Ministry for Prisoners of War and Deportees.” It concerned the seizure by the Germans of Jewish children in France, who were taken from private houses or public institutions where they had been placed.
With your permission I will come back to a statement which I had previously made concerning the execution of orders, given by the German General Staff with the approval of the German Minister for Foreign Affairs, to arrest all French generals and, in reprisal, to arrest, as well, all the families of these generals who might be resistants, in other words, who were on the side of our Allies.
In accordance with Article 21 of the Charter the Tribunal will not require facts of public knowledge to be proved. In the enormous amount of facts which we submit to you there are many which are known but are not of public knowledge. There are a few, but nevertheless certain, facts which are both known and are also of public knowledge in all countries. There is the famous case of the deportation of the family of General Giraud, and I shall allow myself to recall to the Tribunal the six principal points concerning this affair. First: We all remember having learned through the Allied radio that Madame Giraud, wife of General Giraud . . .
THE PRESIDENT: What is it that you are going to ask us to take judicial knowledge of with reference to the deportation of General Giraud’s family?
M. DUBOST: I have to ask the Tribunal, Mr. President, to apply, as far as these facts are concerned, Article 21 of the Charter, namely, the provision specifying that the Tribunal will not require facts to be proved which are of public knowledge.
Secondly, I request the Tribunal to hear my statement of these facts which we consider to be of public knowledge for they are known not only in France but in America, since the American Army participated in these events.
THE PRESIDENT: The words of Article 21 are not “of public knowledge” but “of common knowledge.” It is not quite the same thing.
M. DUBOST: Before me now I have the French translation of the Charter. I am interpreting according to the French translation: “The Tribunal will not require that facts of public knowledge (“notoriété publique”) be proved.” We interpret these words thus: it is not necessary to bring documentary or testifying proof of facts universally known.
THE PRESIDENT: You say “facts universally known”; but supposing, for instance, the members of the Tribunal did not know the facts? How could it then be taken that they were of common knowledge? The members of the Tribunal may be ignorant of the facts. At the same time it is difficult for them to take cognizance of the facts if they do not know them.
M. DUBOST: It is a question of fact which will be decided by the Tribunal. The Tribunal will say whether it does or does not know that these six points which I shall recall to it are correct.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will retire.
[A recess was taken.]
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal is of opinion that the facts with reference to General Giraud’s deportation and the deportation of his family, although they are matters of common knowledge or of public knowledge within France, cannot be said to be of common knowledge or of public knowledge within the meaning of Article 21, which applies generally to the world.
Of course, if the French Prosecutors have governmental documents or reports from France which state the facts with reference to the deportation of General Giraud, the question assumes a different aspect and if there are such documents the Tribunal will, of course, consider them.
M. DUBOST: I must bring proof that the crimes committed individually by the leaders of the German police in each city and in each region of the occupied countries of the West, were committed in execution of the will of a central authority, the will of the German Government, which permits us to charge all the defendants one by one. I shall not be able to prove this by submitting German documents. That you may consider it a fact, it is necessary that you accept as valid the evidence which I am about to read. This evidence was collected by the American and French armies and the French Office for Inquiry into War Crimes. The Tribunal will excuse me if I am obliged to read numerous documents.
This systematic will can only be proved by showing that everywhere and in every case the German policy used the same methods concerning patriots whom they interned or detained. Internment or imprisonment in France was in civilian prisons which the Germans had seized, or in certain sections of French prisons which the Germans had requisitioned, which they occupied, and which all French officials were forbidden to enter. The prisoners in all these prisons were subject to the same regime. We shall prove this by reading to you depositions of prisoners from each of these German penal institutions in France or the western occupied countries. This regime was absolutely inhuman. It just allowed the prisoners to survive under the most precarious conditions.
In Lyons, at Fort Montluc, the women received as their only food a cup of herb tea at 7 o’clock in the morning and a ladle of soup with a small piece of bread at 5 o’clock in the evening. This is confirmed by Document Number F-555, which you will find the eleventh in your document book, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-302. The first page of this document, second paragraph, is an analysis of the depositions which were received. It is sufficient to refer to this analysis. I shall take a few lines from the following deposition. The witness declares:
“. . . on their arrival at Fort Montluc, the prisoners who were taken in the round-up by the Gestapo on 20 September 1943 were stripped of all their belongings. The prisoners were treated in a brutal fashion. The food rations were quite inadequate. The women’s sense of decency was not respected.”
This testimony was received at Saint Gingolph, 9 October 1944. It refers to the arrests made at Saint Gingolph, which were carried out in the month of September 1943. The witness relates:
“The young men returned from the interrogation with their toes burned by means of cotton-wool pads which had been dipped in gasoline; others had had their calves burned by the flames of a blow torch; others were bitten by police dogs . . . .”
DR. RUDOLF MERKEL (Counsel for the Gestapo): The French Prosecution submits here documents which do not represent sworn affidavits. They are statements which do not show who took them. As a matter of principle I formally protest against these mere testimonies of persons who were not on oath. They cannot be admitted as proof at this Trial.
THE PRESIDENT: Is that all you have to say?
DR. MERKEL: Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: We will hear M. Dubost answer.
M. DUBOST: Mr. President, the Charter, which goes so far as to admit evidence of public knowledge, has not fixed any rules as to the manner in which this evidence, being submitted to you as proof, shall be presented. The Charter leaves the Tribunal to decide on this or that document. The Charter leaves the Tribunal free to decide whether such or such method of investigation is acceptable. The way in which these investigations have been carried out is regular according to the customs and usages of my country. As a matter of fact, it is usual for all official records of the police and gendarmerie to be accepted without the witnesses being under oath. Moreover, according to the stipulations of the Charter, all investigations made to disclose war crimes should be held as authentic proof. Article 21 says:
“The Tribunal shall not require proof of facts of common knowledge but shall take judicial notice thereof. It shall also take judicial notice of official governmental documents and reports of the United Nations, including the acts and documents of the committees set up in the various Allied countries for the investigation of war crimes, and the records and findings of military or other Tribunal of any of the United Nations.”
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, is the document that you are reading to us either an official government document or a report, or is it an act or document of a committee set up in France?
M. DUBOST: This report, Mr. President, comes from the Sûreté Nationale. You can verify that by examining the second sheet of the copy which you have in your hand, at the top to the left: Direction Générale de la Sûreté Nationale. Commissariat Special de Saint Gingolph. Testimony of witnesses.
THE PRESIDENT: May we see the original document?
M. DUBOST: This document was submitted to the Secretary of the Tribunal. The Secretary has only to bring that document to you.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. Is this a certified copy?
M. DUBOST: It is a copy certified by the Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, I am told that the French Prosecutors have all the original documents and are not depositing them in the way it is done by the other prosecutors. Is that so?
M. DUBOST: The French Prosecutors submitted the originals of yesterday’s session, and they were handed over this morning to Mr. Martin.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we wish to see the original document. We understand it is in the hands of the French Secretary. We should like to see it.
M. DUBOST: I have sent for it, Mr. President. This document is a certified copy of the original, which is preserved in the archives of the French Office for Inquiry into War Crimes. This certification was made, on the one hand, by the French Delegate of the Prosecution—you will see the signature of M. de Menthon on the document you have—on the other, by the Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Justice, M. Zambeaux, with the official seal of the French Ministry of Justice.
THE PRESIDENT: It does appear to be a governmental document. It is the document of a committee set up by France for the investigation of war crimes, is it not?
M. DUBOST: Mr. President, it is a document which comes from the Office of National Security (Direction Générale de la Sûreté Nationale), which was set up in connection with an investigation of War Crimes as prescribed by our French Office for Inquiry into War Crimes. The original remains in Paris at the War Crimes office, but the certified copy which you have was signed by the Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice in Paris.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, M. Dubost, I was not upon the question of whether it was a true document or not; the question I was upon was whether or not it was, within Article 21, either a governmental document or a report of the United Nations, or a document of a committee set up in France for the investigation of War Crimes; and I was asking whether it is, and it appears to be so. It is, is it not?
M. DUBOST: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to add anything to what you have said?
M. DUBOST: No, I have nothing to add.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, Dr. Merkel, you may speak.
DR. MERKEL: I should only like to stress briefly that these statements which are presented here are not statements of an official government agency and cannot be considered as governmental records. Rather, they are only minutes which have been taken in police offices and thus can in no way be authentic declarations of a government or of an investigating committee. I emphasize once more that these declarations, which have certainly been taken—partially at least—in minor police precincts, have not been made under oath and do not represent sworn statements; and I have to protest firmly against their being considered as evidence here.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to add anything?
DR. MERKEL: No.
THE PRESIDENT: Who is M. Binaud?
M. DUBOST: He is the Police Inspector of the Special Police, who was attached to the Special Commissariat of Saint Gingolph.
I must correct an error made by the Defense Counsel, who said this was a minor police office. This was a frontier post. The Special Commissariats at frontier posts are all important offices even though they are located in very small towns. I think that is the same in all countries.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, M. Dubost, you understand what the problem is? It is a question of the interpretation of Article 21.
M. DUBOST: I understand.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal requires your assistance upon that interpretation, as to whether this document does come under the terms of Article 21. If you have anything to say upon that subject we will be glad to hear it.
M. DUBOST: Mr. President, it seems to me impossible that the Tribunal should rule out this and similar documents which I am going to present, for all these documents bear, for authentication, not only the signature of the French representative at this Tribunal but that of the Delegate of the Minister of Justice to the War Crimes Commission as well. Examine the stamp beside the second signature. It is the seal.
THE PRESIDENT: Do not go too fast; tell us where the signatures are.
M. DUBOST [Indicating on the document.]: Here, Your Honors, is a notation of the release of this document by the Office for Inquiry into War Crimes to the French Prosecutor as an element of proof and below, the signature of the Director of the Cabinet of the French Minister of Justice, the Keeper of the Seals, and in addition, over this signature, the seal of the Minister of Justice. You may read: “Office for Inquiry into War Crimes.”
THE PRESIDENT: Is this the substance of the matter: That this was an inquiry by the police into these facts; and that police inquiry was recorded; and then the Minister of Justice, for the purposes of this Trial, adopted that police report? Is that the substance of it?
M. DUBOST: That is correct, Mr. President. I think that we agree. The Office for Inquiry into War Crimes in France is directly attached to the Ministry of Justice. It carries out investigations. These investigations are made by the police authorities, such as M. Binaud, Inspector of Special Police, attached to the Special Commissariat of Saint Gingolph.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know when the service of inquiry into War Crimes was established.
M. DUBOST: I cannot give you the exact date from memory, but this service was set up in France the day after the liberation. It began to function in October 1944.
THE PRESIDENT: Was this service established after the police report was made?
M. DUBOST: In the month of September or October.
THE PRESIDENT: September of what year?
M. DUBOST: In September 1944 this Office for Inquiry into War Crimes in France was established, and this service functioned as soon as the Provisional Government was set up in France.
THE PRESIDENT: Then the police inquiry was held under the service? You see, the police report is dated the 9th of October, and therefore the police report appears to have been made after the service had been set up. Is that right?
M. DUBOST: You have the evidence, Mr. President. If you look at the top of the second page at the left, it shows the beginning of the record and you read: “Purpose: Investigation of atrocities committed by Germans against the civilian population.” These investigations were prescribed by the Office for Inquiry into War Crimes.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. That would appear to be so if the service was really established in September and this police investigation is dated the 9th of October.
The Tribunal will adjourn for consideration of this question.
[A recess was taken.]
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has considered the arguments which have been addressed to it and is of the opinion that the document offered by counsel for France is a document of a committee set up for the investigation of War Crimes within the meaning of Article 21 of the Charter. The fact that it is not upon oath does not prevent it being such a document within Article 21, of which the Tribunal is directed to take judicial notice. The question of its probative value would of course be considered under Article 19 of the Charter and therefore, in accordance with Article 19 and Article 21 of the Charter, the document will be admitted in evidence; and the objection of Counsel for the Gestapo is denied.
The Tribunal would wish that all original documents should be filed with the General Secretary of the Tribunal and that when they are being discussed in Court, the original documents should be present in Court at the time.
HERR LUDWIG BABEL (Counsel for the SS and SD): I have been informed that General Giraud and his family were probably deported to Germany upon the orders of Himmler, but that they were treated very well and that they were billeted in a villa; that they were brought back to France in good health; that things went well with them and that they are still well today. I do not see . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Counsel, forgive me for interrupting you, but the Tribunal are not now considering the case of General Giraud and his family. Are you unable to hear?
What I was saying was that you were making some application in connection with the deportation of General Giraud and were stating facts to us—what you allege to be facts—as to that deportation. The Tribunal is not considering that matter. The Tribunal has already ruled that it cannot take judicial notice of the facts as to General Giraud’s deportation.
HERR BABEL: I was of the opinion that what I had to say might bring about an explanation by the Prosecution and might expedite the trial in that respect. That was the purpose of my inquiry.
THE PRESIDENT: I am merely pointing out to you that we are not now considering General Giraud’s case.
M. DUBOST: If the Tribunal will permit me to continue? It seems to me necessary to come back to the proof which I propose to submit. I have to show that, through uniformity of methods, the tortures which were inflicted in each bureau of the German Police . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Have you finished the document we have just admitted?
M. DUBOST: Yes, Mr. President; I have completed this and I will now read from other documents. But first I would like to sum up the proofs which I have to submit this morning through the reading of these documents.
I said that I was going to demonstrate how through the uniformity of ill-treatment inflicted by all branches of the German Police upon prisoners under interrogation, we are able to trace a common will for which we cannot give you direct proof—as we did yesterday, regarding hostages, by bringing you papers signed in particular by Keitel—but we shall arrive at it by a way just as certain, for this identity of method implies a uniformity of will, which we can place only at the very head of the police, that is to say, the German Government, to which the defendants belonged.
This document, Number F-555, Exhibit Number RF-302, from which I have just read, refers to the ill-treatment of prisoners at Fort Montluc in Lyons.
I pass to Document Number F-556, which we shall submit as Exhibit Number RF-303, which relates to the prison regime at Marseilles.
The Tribunal will note that this is an official record drawn up by the military security service of Vaucluse concerning the atrocities committed by Germans upon political prisoners and that this record includes the written deposition of M. Mousson, chief of an intelligence service, who was arrested on 16 August 1943 and then transferred on 30 August 1943 to St. Pierre prison at Marseilles. At the last paragraph of the first page of this document we read:
“Transferred to Marseilles, St. Pierre prison, on 30 August 1943, placed in room P, 25 meters long, 5 meters wide. We are crammed up 75 and often 80. Two straw mattresses for three. Repulsive hygienic conditions: lice, fleas, bed-bugs, tainted food. For no reason at all comrades are beaten and put in cells for 2 or 3 days without food.”
Following page, fourth paragraph:
“Taken into custody again 15 May in a rather brutal way”—this is the 4th paragraph—“I was imprisoned in the prison of Ste. Anne and . . .”
5th paragraph:
“Living conditions in Ste. Anne: deplorable hygiene; food supplied by National Relief.”
Next page, second paragraph:
“Living conditions in Petites Beaumettes: Food, just enough to keep one alive; no packages; Red Cross gives many, but we receive few.”
This concerns, I repeat, prisons entirely under control of the Germans. Regarding conditions at the prison of Poitiers, we submit Document Number F-558, Exhibit Number RF-304. A report is attached from the Press Section of the American Information Service in Paris, dated 18 October 1944. The Tribunal should know that all these reports were included with the documents which were presented by the French Office for Inquiry into War Crimes. We read under number two:
“M. Claeys was arrested 14 December 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pierre Levee Prison until 26 August 1944 . . .
“While in prison he asked for a mattress, as he had been wounded in the war. He was told that he would get it if he confessed. He had to sleep on 1 inch of straw on the ground. Seven men in one room 4 meters long, 2 meters wide, and 2.8 meters in height. . . . For 20 days did not go out of cell. WC was a great discomfort to him because of wounds. The Germans refused to do anything about it.”
Paragraph 4(b).
“Another prisoner weighed 120 kilograms and lost 30 kilograms in a month. Was in isolation cell for a month. Was tortured there and died of gangrene of legs due to wounds caused by torture. Died after 10 days of agony alone and without help.”
Paragraph 5.
“Methods of torture:
“(a) Victim was kept bent up by hands attached around right leg. Was then thrown on the ground and flogged for 20 minutes. If he fainted, they would throw a pail of water in his face. This was to make him speak.
“Mr. Francheteau was flogged like that four days out of six. In some cases, subject was not tied. If he fell they would pick him up by his hair, and go on.
“At other times the victim was put naked in a special punishment cell; his hands were tied to an iron grill above his head. He was then beaten until made to talk.
“(b) Beating as above was not common, but M. Claeys has friends who have seen electric tortures. One electric wire was attached to the foot and another wire placed at different points on the body.”
Paragraph 6.
“The tortures were all the more horrible because the Germans in many cases had no clear idea of what information they wanted and just tortured haphazard.”
And at the very end, the five last lines.
“One torture consisted in hanging up the victims by the hands, which were tied behind the back, until the shoulders were completely dislocated. Afterwards, the soles of the feet were cut with razor blades and then the victims were made to walk on salt.”
Concerning the prisons of the north, I submit Document Number F-560, Exhibit Number RF-305. It also comes from the American War Crimes Commission. On Page 1, under the letter “A” you will find a general report of Professor Paucot on the atrocities committed by the Germans in Northern France and in Belgium. The report covers the activities of the German police in France, at Arras, Béthune, Lille, Valenciennes, Malo les Bains, La Madeleine, Quincy, and Loos; in Belgium, at Saint-Gilles, Fort de Huy, and Camp de Belveroo. This report is accompanied by 73 depositions of victims. From examination of these testimonies the fact emerges that the brutality, the barbarity of methods used during the interrogations was the same in the various places cited.
This synthesis which I have just mentioned is from the American report. It seems to me unnecessary to stress this as it is confirmed on the first page. The Tribunal can read further on Pages 4, 5, 6, and 7 a detailed description of the atrocities, systematic and all identical, which the German police inflicted to force confessions.
On Page 5, the fifth paragraph, I quote:
“A prisoner captured while trying to escape was delivered in his cell to the fury of police dogs who tore him to pieces.”
On Page 17, second paragraph, of the German text (Page 14 of the French text) there is the report of M. Prouille, which, by exception, I shall read because of the nature of the facts. I quote:
“Condemned by the German Tribunal to 18 months of imprisonment for possessing arms and after having been in the prisons of Arras, Béthune and Loos, I was sent to Germany.
“As a result of ill-treatment in eastern Prussia I was obliged to have my eyes looked after. Having been taken to an infirmary, a German doctor put drops in my eyes. A few hours later, after great suffering, I became blind. After spending several days in the prison of Fresnes, I was sent to the clinic of Quinze-Vingts in Paris. Professor Guillamat, who examined me, certified that my eyes had been burned by a corrosive agent.”
Under the Number F-561 I shall read a document from the American War Crimes Commission, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-306. The Tribunal will find on Page 2 the proof that M. Herrera was present at tortures inflicted on numerous persons, and saw a Pole, by the name of Riptz, have the soles of his feet burned. Then his head was split open with a spanner. After the wound had healed he was shot. I quote:
“Commander Grandier, who had had a leg fractured in the war of 1914, was threatened by those who conducted the interrogations with having his other leg broken and this was actually done. When he had half revived, as a result of a hypodermic injection, the Germans did away with him.”
We do not want to use more of your time than is necessary, but the Tribunal should know these American official documents in entirety, all of which show in a very exact way the tortures carried out by the various German police services in numerous regions of France, and give evidence of the similarity of the methods used.
The following document is Number F-571, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-307, and of which we shall read only one four-line paragraph:
“M. Robert Vanassche, from Tourcoing, states: ‘I was arrested the 22 February 1944 at Mouscron in Belgium by men belonging to the Gestapo who were dressed in civilian clothing. During the interrogation they were wearing uniforms . . . .’ ”
I skip a paragraph.
“ ‘I was interrogated for the second time at Cand in the main German prison, where I remained 31 days. There I was locked up for 2 or 3 hours in a sort of wooden coffin where one could breathe only through three holes in the top.’ ”
Further, the same, document:
“M. Rémy, residing at Armentières, states: ‘Arrested 2 May 1944 at Armentières, I arrived at the Gestapo, 18 Rue François Debatz at La Madelaine about 3 o’clock the same day. I was subjected to interrogation on two different occasions. The first lasted for about an hour. I had to lie on my stomach and was given about 120 lashes. The second interrogation lasted a little longer. I was lashed again, lying on my stomach. As I would not talk, they stripped me and put me in the bath tub. The 5th of May I was subjected to a new interrogation at Loos. That day they hung me up by my feet and rained blows all over my body. As I refused to speak, they untied me and put me again on my stomach. When pain made me cry out, they kicked me in the face with their boots. As a result I lost 17 lower teeth . . . .’ ”
The names of two of the torturers follow, but are of no concern to us here. We are merely trying to show that the torturers everywhere used the same methods. This could have been done only in execution of orders given by their chiefs.
I will further quote the testimony of M. Guérin:
“. . . as I would not admit anything, one of the interrogators put my scarf around my mouth to stifle my cries. Another German policeman took my head between his legs and two others, one on each side of me, beat me with clubs over the loins. Each of them struck me 25 times . . . . This lasted over two hours. The next morning they began again and it lasted as long as the day before. These tortures were inflicted upon me because, on 11 November, I with my comrades of the resistance had taken part in a demonstration by placing a wreath on the monument to the dead of the 1914-18 war . . . .”
I now quote the report of Mr. Alfred Deudon. Here is the ill-treatment to which he was subjected:
“18 August, sensitive parts were struck with a hammer. 19 August, was held under water; 20 August, my head was squeezed with an iron band; 21 and 24 August, I was chained day and night; 26 August, I was chained again day and night; and at one time hung up by the arms.”
I will now read an extract from the report of M. Delltombe, arrested by the Gestapo 14 June 1944:
“Thursday, 15 June, at 8 o’clock in the morning, I was taken to the torture cellar. There they demanded that I should confess to the sabotage which I had carried out with my groups and denounce my comrades as well as name my hiding places. Because I did not answer quickly enough, the torture commenced. They made me put my hands behind my back. They put on special handcuffs and hung me up by my wrists. Then they flogged me, principally on the loins, and in the face. That day the torture lasted 3 hours.
“Friday, 16 June, the same thing took place; but only for an hour and a half, for I could not stand it any longer; and they took me back to my cell on a stretcher.
“Saturday the tortures began again with even more severity. Then I was obliged to confess my sabotage, for the brutes stuck needles in my arms. After that they left me alone until 10 August; then they had me called to the office and told me I was condemned to death. I was put on a train of deportees going to Brussels, from which I was freed on 3 September by Brussels patriots.
“. . . women were subjected to the same treatment as men. To the physical pain, the sadism of the torturers added the moral anguish, especially mortifying for a woman or a young girl, of being stripped nude by her torturers. Pregnancy did not save them from lashes. When brutality brought about a miscarriage, they were left without any care, exposed to all the hazards and complications of these criminal abortions.”
This is the text of the summary drawn up by the American officer who carried out this investigation.
Here is the report of Madame Sindemans, who was arrested in Paris 24 February 1944:
“. . . by four soldiers, each armed with a submachine gun, and two other Germans in civilian clothes holding revolvers.
“Having looked into my handbag, they found three identification cards. Then they searched my room and discovered the pads and stamp of the Kommandantur and some German passes and employment cards which I had succeeded in stealing from them the day before . . . .
“Immediately, they placed handcuffs upon me and took me to be interrogated. When I gave no reply, they slapped me in the face with such force that I fell from my chair. Then they struck me with a rubber ring across the face. This interrogation began at 10 o’clock in the morning and ended at 11 o’clock that night. I must tell you that I had been pregnant for 3 months.”
We shall submit now Documents F-563 and 564 under the one number Exhibit Number RF-308. It is a report concerning the atrocities committed by the Gestapo in Bourges. We shall read a part of this report.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, how do you establish what this document is? It appears to be the report of M. Marc Toledano.
M. DUBOST: That is correct, Mr. President. This report, with the rest of the documents in the same bundle, was incorporated in the document presented by the French Office for Inquiry into War Crimes, as is evident from the official signature of M. Zambeaux on the original, which is in the hands of the Secretary of the Court. I shall read the first page of the original:
“I, the undersigned, Madame Bondoux, supervisor at the prison in Bourges, certify that nine men, mostly youths, were subjected to abominable treatment. They remained with their hands bound behind their backs and with chains on their feet for 15 to 20 days; it was absolutely impossible for them to take their food in a normal way and they were screaming with hunger. In the face of this situation several of the ordinary criminal prisoners showed their willingness to help these martyrs by making small packets from their own rations which I had passed to them in the evening. A certain German supervisor, whom I knew under his first name of Michel, threw their bread in a corner of the cell, and at night came to beat them. All these young men were shot on 20 November 1943.
“Then, too, a woman named Hartwig, who lived at Chevannes, I believe, told me that she had remained for 4 days bound to a chair. At all events, I can testify that her body was completely bruised.”
We read in the statement of M. Labussiere, who is a captain of the reserve and a teacher at Marseilles-les-Aubigny:
“. . . On the 11th I was twice flogged with a lash. I had to bend over a bench and the muscles of my thighs and calves were fully stretched. At first I received some 30 lashes with a heavy whip, then another instrument was used which had a buckle at the end. I then was struck on the buttocks, on the thighs, and on the calves. To do this my torturer got up on a bench and made me spread my legs. Then with a very thin thong he finished off by giving me some 20 more biting lashes. When I picked myself up I was dizzy and I fell to the ground. I was always picked up again. Needless to say, the handcuffs were never taken off my wrists . . .”
I recoil from reading the remainder of this testimony. The details which precede are atrocious.
“At 10 o’clock on the 12th, after having beaten a woman, Paoli came to find me and said: ‘Dog, you have no heart. It was your wife I have just beaten. I’ll go on doing it as long as you refuse to talk.’ He wanted me to give the place of our meetings and the names of my comrades.”
On the following line:
“. . . on the 14th at 6 o’clock in the evening I was taken once again to the torture chamber. I could hardly crawl. Before he let me come in, Paoli said: ‘I give you 5 minutes to tell me all you know. If after these 5 minutes you’ve said nothing, you’ll be shot at 3 o’clock; your wife will be shot at six, and your boy will be sent to Germany.’ ”
We read that after signing the record of the interrogation his torturer said to him:
“ ‘Look at yourself! See what we can make of a man in 5 days! You haven’t seen the finish yet!’ And he added: ‘Now get out of here. You make us sick!’ ”—and the witness concluded with—“I was, in fact, covered with filth from head to foot. They put me in a cart and took me back to my cell . . . . During those 5 days I had certainly received more than 700 strokes from a lash . . . .”
A large hematosis (blood clot) appeared on both his buttocks. A doctor had to operate. His comrades in custody would not go near him because of the foul smell from the abscesses covering his body as a result of the ill-treatment. On 24 November, the date on which he was interrogated, he had not yet recovered from his wounds.
His testimony concludes with a general statement of the methods of torture which were used:
“1) The lash.
“2) The bath: The victim was plunged headfirst into a tub full of cold water until he was asphyxiated. Then they applied artificial respiration. If he would not talk they repeated the process several times consecutively. With his clothes soaking, he spent the night in a cold cell.
“3) Electric current: The terminals were placed on the hands, then on the feet, in the ears, and then one in the anus and another on the end of the penis.
“4) Crushing the testicles in a press specially made for the purpose. Twisting the testicles was frequent.
“5) Hanging: The patient’s hands were handcuffed together behind his back. A hook was slipped through his handcuffs and the victim was lifted by a pulley. At first they jerked him up and down. Later, they left him suspended for varying, fairly long, periods. The arms were often dislocated. In the camp I saw Lieutenant Lefevre, who, having been suspended like that for more than 4 hours, had lost the use of both arms.
“6) Burning with a soldering lamp or with matches:
“On 2 July my comrade Laloue, a teacher from Cher, came to the camp. He had been subjected to most of these tortures at Bourges. One arm had been put out of joint and he was unable to move the fingers of his right hand as a result of the hanging. He had been subjected to flogging and electricity. Sharp-pointed matches had been driven under the nails of his hands and feet. His wrists and ankles had been wrapped with rolls of wadding and the matches had been set on fire. While they were burning, a German plunged a pointed knife into the soles of his feet several times and another lashed him with a whip. Phosphorous burns had eaten away several fingers as far as the second joint. Abscesses which had developed had burst and this saved him from blood poisoning.”
Under the signature of one of the chiefs of the General Staff of the French Forces of the Interior, who freed the Department of Cher, M. Magnon—whose signature is authenticated by the French official authorities whom you know—we read that since the liberation of Bourges, 6 September 1944, an inspection of the Gestapo cellars disclosed an instrument of torture, a bracelet composed of several balls of hard wood with steel spikes. There was a device for tightening the bracelet round the victim’s wrist. This bracelet was seen by numerous soldiers and leaders of the Maquis of Manetou-Salon. It was in the hands of Adjutant Neuilly, now in the 1st Battalion of the 34th Demi-Brigade. A drawing is attached to this declaration. Commander Magnon certifies having seen the instrument described above.
We now submit Document F-565, from the military service of the department of Vaucluse, which becomes Exhibit Number RF-309. It is a repetition of the same methods. We do not consider it necessary to dwell upon them.
We will now turn to Document F-567, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-310. It refers to the tortures practiced by the German police in Besançon. It is a deposition of M. Dommergues, a professor at Besançon. This deposition was received by the American War Crimes Commission—the mission of Captain Miller. We shall read about the statement of M. Dommergues, professor at Besançon:
“He was arrested on 11 February 1944; was violently struck with a lash during the interrogation. When a woman who was being tortured uttered screams, they made M. Dommergues believe that it was his own wife. He saw a comrade hung up with a weight of 50 kilograms on each foot. Another had his eyes pierced with pins. A child lost its voice completely.”
This is from the American War Crimes Commission, summing up M. Dommergues’ deposition. This document includes a second part under the same Number F-567(b). We shall read some excerpts from this document.
THE PRESIDENT: One of the members has not got his document marked, and I want to know whose statement it is you are referring to. Is it Dr. Gomet?
M. DUBOST: It is not a statement; it is rather a letter sent by Dr. Gomet, Secretary of the Council of the Departmental College of Doubs of the National Order of Physicians. This letter was sent by him to the chief medical officer of the Feldkommandantur in Besançon on 11 September 1943. Here is the text of this letter:
“Dear Doctor and Colleague,
“I have the Honor to deliver to you the note which I drafted at your request and sent to our colleagues of the department in a circular of 1 September.
“My conscience compels me on the other hand, to take up another subject with you.
“Quite recently I had to treat a Frenchman who had wounds and multiple ecchymosis on his face and body, as a result of the torture apparatus employed by the German security service. He is a man of good standing, holding an important appointment under the French Government; and he was arrested because they thought he could furnish certain information. They could make no accusation against him, as is proved by the fact that he was freed in a few days, when the interrogation to which they wanted to subject him was finished.
“He was subjected to torture, not as a legal penalty or in legitimate defense; but for the sole purpose of forcing him to speak under stress of violence and pain.
“As for myself, representing the French medical body here, my conscience and a strict conception of my duty compel me to inform you of what I have observed in the exercise of my profession. I appeal to your conscience as a doctor and ask you whether by virtue of our mission of protecting the physical health of our fellow-beings, which is the mission of every doctor, it is not our duty to intervene.”
He must have had a reply from the German doctor, for Dr. Gomet writes him a second letter, and here is the text:
“Dear Doctor and Colleague,
“You were good enough to note the facts which I put before you in my letter of 11 September 1943 regarding the torture apparatus utilized by the German Security Service during the interrogation of a French official for whom I had subsequently to prescribe treatment. You asked me, as was quite natural, if you could visit the person in question yourself. I replied at our recent meeting that the person concerned did not know of the step which I had taken; and I did not know whether he would authorize me to give his name. I wish to emphasize, in fact, that I myself am solely responsible for this initiative. The person through whom I learned, by virtue of my profession, the facts which I have just related to you, had nothing to do with this report. The question is strictly professional. My conscience as a doctor has forced me to bring this matter to your attention. I advance only what I know from absolutely certain observation, and I guarantee the truth of my statement on my honor as a man, a physician, and a Frenchman.
“My patient was interrogated twice by the German Security Service about the end of August 1943. I had to examine him on 8 September 1943, that is to say, about 10 days after he left prison, where he had in vain asked for medical attention. He had a palpebral ecchymosis on the left side and abrasions in the region of his right temple, which he said were made with a sort of circle which they had placed upon his head and which they struck with small clubs. He had ecchymosis on the backs of his hands, these having been placed, according to what he told me, in a squeezing apparatus. On the front of his legs there were still scars with scabs and small surface wounds—the result, he told me, of blows administered with flexible rods studded with short spikes.
“Obviously, I cannot swear to the means by which the ecchymosis and wounds were produced, but I note that their appearance is in complete agreement with the explanations given me.
“It will be easy for you, Sir, to learn if apparatus of the kind to which I allude is really in use in the German Security Service.”
I pass over the rest.
THE PRESIDENT: It may be convenient for counsel and others to know that the Tribunal will not sit in open session tomorrow, as it has many administrative matters to consider. We will adjourn now until 2 o’clock.