M. DUBOST: We left off this morning at the enumeration of the tortures that had been practiced habitually by the Gestapo in the various cities in France where inquiries had been conducted; and I was proving to you, by reading numerous documents, that everywhere accused persons and frequently witnesses themselves—as seen in the last letter—were questioned with brutality and subjected to tortures that were usually identical. This systematic repetition of the same methods of torture proves, we believe, that a common plan existed, conceived by the German Government itself.
We still have a great many testimonies, all extracts from the report of the American services, concerning the prisons at Dreux, at Morlaix, and at Metz. These testimonies are given in Documents F-689, 690, and 691, which we now submit as Exhibits RF-311, 312, and 313.
With your permission, Your Honor, I will now refrain from further citing these documents. The same acts were systematically repeated. This is also true of the tortures inflicted in Metz, Cahors, Marseilles, and Quimperlé, dealt with in Documents F-692, 693, 565, and 694, which we are presenting to you as Exhibits RF-314, 314 (bis), 309, and 315.
We now come to one of the most odious crimes committed by the Gestapo, and it is not possible for us to keep silent about it in spite of our desire to shorten this statement. This is the murder of a French officer by the Gestapo at Clermont-Ferrand, a murder which was committed under extremely shameful conditions, in contempt of all the rules of international law; for it was perpetrated in a region where, according to the terms of the Armistice, the Gestapo had nothing to do and had no right to be.
The name of this French officer was Major Henri Madeline. His case is given in Document F-575, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-316. He was arrested on 1 October 1943 at Vichy. His interrogation began in January 1944; and he was struck in such a savage manner, in the course of the first interrogation, that when he was brought back to his cell his hand was already broken.
On 27 January this officer was questioned again on two occasions, during which he was struck so violently that when he returned to his cell his hands were so swollen that it was impossible to see the handcuffs he had on. The following day the German police came back to fetch him from his cell, where he had passed the whole night in agony. He was still alive; they threw him down on a road a kilometer away from a small village in the Massif Central, Perignant-Les-Sarlièves, to make it look as if he had been the victim of a road accident. His body was found later. A post mortem showed that the thorax was completely crushed, with multiple fractures of the ribs and perforation of the lungs. There was also dislocation of the spine, fracture of the lower jaw, and most of the tissues of the head were loose.
Alas, we all know that a few French traitors did assist in the arrests and in the misdeeds of the Gestapo in France under the orders of German officers. One of these traitors, who was arrested when our country was liberated, has described the ill-treatment that had been inflicted on Major Madeline. The name of this traitor is Verière and we are going to read a passage from his statement:
“He was beaten with a whip and a bludgeon; blows on his fingernails crushed his fingers. He was forced to walk barefooted on tacks. He was burned with cigarettes. Finally, he was beaten unmercifully and taken back to his cell in a dying condition.”
Major Madeline was not the only victim of such evil treatment which several German officers of the Gestapo helped to inflict. This inquiry has shown:
“. . . that 12 known persons succumbed to the tortures inflicted by the Gestapo of Clermont-Ferrand, that some women were stripped naked and beaten before they were raped.”