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.”