All these crimes are linked to a policy of terrorism. Such a policy permits the subjugation of occupied countries without involving a large deployment of troops and their submission to anything that might be demanded of them. Many of these crimes are moreover tied up with the will to exterminate.
We shall examine in succession executions of hostages, police crimes, deportations, crimes involving prisoners of war, terroristic activities against the Resistance, and the massacre of civilian populations.
A. The execution of hostages constitutes in all countries the first act of terrorism on the part of German occupation troops. From 1940 on, the German command, notably in France, carried out numerous executions as reprisals for any crime against the German Army.
These practices, contrary to Article 50 of the Hague Convention which forbids collective sanctions, awaken everywhere a feeling of horror and frequently produce a result contrary to the one sought, by arousing the populations against the occupant.
The occupying authorities then endeavored to legalize such criminal practices, thus seeking to have them recognized by the populations as “the right” of the occupying power. Veritable “codes for hostages” were promulgated by the German military authorities.
Following the general order issued by the Defendant Keitel on 16 September 1941, Stülpnagel published in France his ordinance of 30 September 1941. According to the terms of this ordinance, all Frenchmen held by German authorities for any reason whatsoever were to be considered as hostages, as well as all Frenchmen who were in the custody of the French authorities on behalf of German organizations. The ordinance of Stülpnagel specifies:
“At the time of the burial of the bodies, burial in a common grave of a rather large number of persons in a particular cemetery must be avoided, since this would create a shrine for pilgrims which now or later might become a center for the stimulation of anti-German propaganda.”
In carrying out this ordinance the most infamous executions of hostages were committed.
Following the murder of two German officers, one in Nantes on 2 October 1941 and the other at Bordeaux a few days thereafter, the German authorities had 27 hostages shot at Châteaubriant and 21 at Nantes.
On 15 August 1942, 96 hostages were shot at Mon-Valérien.