I am anxious not to lengthen these proceedings by useless citations. I believe the Tribunal will consider as confirmed the facts that I have presented. They are contained in the document that we are placing before you, and in it the Tribunal will find, in extenso, the written testimonies taken on the day which followed the liberation. This systematic repetition of the same criminal proceedings in order to achieve the same purpose—to bring about a reign of terror—was not the isolated act of a subordinate having authority in our country only and remaining outside the control of his government or of the Army General Staff. An examination of the methods of the German police in all countries of the West shows that the same horrors, the same atrocities, were repeated systematically everywhere. Whether in Denmark, Belgium, Holland, or Norway, the interrogations were everywhere and at all times conducted by the Gestapo with the same savagery, the same contempt of the rights of self defense, the same contempt of human dignity.
In the case of Denmark, we cite a few lines from a document already submitted to the Tribunal. It is Document F-666 (Exhibit Number RF-317), which should be the sixth in your document book. It contains an official Danish report of October 1945, concerning the German major war criminals appearing before the International Military Tribunal. On Page 5, under the title, “Torture”, we read in a brief résumé everything that concerns the question with regard to Denmark:
“In numerous cases the German police and their assistants used torture in order to force the prisoners to confess or to give information. This fact is supported by irrefutable evidence. In most cases the torture consisted of beating with a rod or with a rubber bludgeon. But also far more flagrant forms of torture were used including some which will leave lasting injuries. Bovensiepen has stated that the order to use torture in certain cases emanated from higher authorities, possibly even from Göring as Chief of the Geheime Staatspolizei but, at any rate, from Heydrich. The instructions were to the effect that torture might be used to compel persons to give information that might serve to disclose subversive organizations directed against the German Reich, but not for the purpose of making the delinquent admit his own deeds.”
A little further on:
“The means were prescribed, namely, a limited number of strokes with a rod. Bovensiepen does not remember whether the maximum limit was 10 or 20 strokes. An officer from the criminal police (Kriminal Kommissar, Kriminalrat) was there and also, when circumstances so required, there was a medical officer present.”
The above-mentioned instructions were modified several times for minor details, and all members of the criminal police were notified.
The Danish Government points out, in conclusion, two particularly repugnant cases of torture inflicted on Danish patriots. They are the cases of Professor Mogens Fog and the ill-treatment inflicted on Colonel Ejnar Thiemroth. Finally, the Tribunal can read that Doctor Hoffmann-Best states that his official prerogatives did not authorize him to prevent the use of torture.
In the case of Belgium we should recall first of all the tortures that were inflicted in the tragically famous camp of Breendonck, where hundreds, even thousands of Belgian patriots, were shut up. We shall revert to Breendonck when we deal with the question of concentration camps. We shall merely quote from the report of the Belgian War Crimes Commission a few definite facts in support of our original affirmation, that all acts of ill-treatment imputed to the Gestapo in France were reproduced in identical manner in all the occupied western countries. The documents which we shall submit to you are to be found in the small document book under Numbers F-942(a), 942(b), Exhibits RF-318, 319.
This report comprises minutes which I will not read, inasmuch as it contains testimonies which are analogous to, if not identical with, those that were read concerning France. However, on Pages 1 and 2 you will find the statement made by M. Auguste Ramasl and a statement made by M. Paul Desomer, which show that the most extreme cruelties were inflicted on these men and that, when they emerged from the offices of the Gestapo, they were completely disfigured and unable to stand.
And now I submit to you with regard to Belgium, Documents F-641(a) and F-641(b), which now become Exhibits RF-320 and 321. I shall not read them. They, too, contain reports describing tortures similar to those I have already mentioned. If the Court will accept the cruelty of the methods of torture employed by the Gestapo as having been established, I will abstain from reading all the testimonies which have been collected.