“The population of these communities must expect that reprisals will be taken against private property and that houses or whole blocks will be destroyed.”
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid I don’t know where you are reading. Which paragraph are you reading?
M. DUBOST: I am told, Mr. President, that this document has not been bound with the Dutch report; I shall file it at the end of the hearing, if I may.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
M. DUBOST: I quote now another document, the warning of Seyss-Inquart to Holland.
THE PRESIDENT: And that is what number?
M. DUBOST: Number 152 in your document book, concerning German justice, which will be submitted at the hearing tomorrow.
For Norway and Denmark we have several documents which establish that the same policy of execution of hostages was followed. We have, in particular, Document C-48 (Exhibit Number RF-280) from which I read a short time ago.
All those special orders for each of the occupied regions of the West are the result of the general order of Keitel, which my American colleagues have already read and on which I merely gave a comment this morning. The responsibility of Keitel in the development of the policy of execution of hostages is total. He was given warning; German generals even told him that this policy went beyond the aim pursued and might become dangerous.