“The looting in the flooded polder has already been mentioned. During the morning of 17 April, on the day of the disaster, groups of German soldiers begin to loot . . . These soldiers came from Wieringen . . . Moreover, they broke everything that they did not want to take . . .”
This polder by itself covers half of all the flooded lands in Northern Holland. The polder was flooded on 17 April, when defeat was already a fact as far as the German Army was concerned. The Dutch people are seeking to recover the land which they have lost. Their courage, industry and energy arouse our admiration, but it is an immense loss which the German Army inflicted upon those people on 17 April.
Terrorism and extermination are intimately interwoven in all countries in the West.
Document C-45, which we submit as Exhibit Number RF-410 and which is the first in the document book, is an order of 10 February 1944 showing that repression, in the minds of the leaders of the German Army, was to be carried out without consideration of any kind:
“Fire must be immediately returned. If, as a result, innocent people are struck, it is to be regretted but it is entirely the fault of the terrorists.”
These lines were written over the signature of an officer of the general staff of the German Military Command in Belgium and Northern France. This officer was never denounced by his superiors as can be seen by the document.
Document F-665, submitted as Exhibit Number RF-411, Page 2 of your document book:
“The search of suspected villages requires experience. SD or GFP (Secret Field Police) personnel should be called upon. The real accomplices of the guerillas must be disclosed, and apprehended with all severity. Collective measures against the inhabitants of entire villages (this includes the burning of villages) are to be taken only in exceptional cases and may be ordered only by divisional commands or by chiefs of the SS and Police.”
This document is dated 6 May 1944. It comes from the High Command of the Wehrmacht; and it, or at least the covering letter, is signed by Jodl.
This document involves not only the Army General Staff, but the Labor Service—that is to say, Sauckel—and the Todt Organization—that is to say, Speer. Indeed, in the next to the last paragraph we may read: