I shall refer, desiring to give only a short citation, to a document belonging to the American Prosecution. This document bears the Number R-114. It is a memorandum of the minutes of a meeting which took place between several officials of the SS concerning general directions in regard to the treatment of deported Alsatians.
It will be observed that this document has already been submitted by my American colleagues under Document Number R-114, Exhibit Number USA-314, the French Number RF-753. I merely wish to read one paragraph of that document, which may be interpreted as a supplement to this problem of deportation. I must say that these sentences have not been formally read in Court. The passage that I cite is on Page 2 of the document. At the end of that there is a paragraph which begins with the letter “d”:
“For further resettlement are destined:
“Members of the patois group. The Gauleiter would like to keep only those persons in the patois area who by their customs, language, and general attitude testify their adherence to Germany.
“Regarding the cases mentioned under a-d, it is to be noted that the racial problem is to be given foremost consideration, that is, in a way by which racially valuable persons shall be resettled in Germany proper, and the racially inferior in France.”
Finally, I should like to read to the Tribunal a few sentences from a newspaper article, which appeared in Dernières Nouvelles de Strasbourg, August 31, 1942—we are here dealing with a citation and not a document:
“On the 28th of August the families designated hereafter, of the Arrondissements of Mulhouse and Guebwiller, were deported to the Reich in order that they might recover a trustworthy German outlook in National Socialist surroundings. In several cases the persons involved did not conceal their hostility in that they stirred up sentiments of opposition, spoke French in public in a provocative manner, did not obey the ordinances concerning the education of youth, or in other ways showed a lack of loyalty.”
I would now like to indicate to the Tribunal that deportation or transportation entailed also the spoliation of property. This is not merely a fact; for the Germans it is a law. Indeed, there is an ordinance of 28 January 1943, which appeared in the Official Bulletin for 1943, Page 40, bearing the title, “Ordinance Concerning the Safeguarding of Property in Lorraine as a Result of Transplantation Measures.” I have placed this ordinance before you as Document Number RF-754. I would like to read Article One and the first paragraph of Article Two. I believe that the title itself is a sufficient indication of the contents: