“Sixth: M. De Kauffmann is to be brought to trial for the crime of high treason, by virtue of Article 98 of the penal code, and of Article 3, Section 3, of the law of 18 January 1941, and to lose his nationality in conformity with a law to be promulgated, as mentioned under Paragraph 5.”
I believe that this very characteristic example shows how the sovereignty of the legitimate Danish Government was violated by the Germans. They gave orders in the sphere of international relations, although liberty in this sphere constitutes the essential attribute of the sovereignty and the independence of the State. They even go so far, as the Tribunal has seen in the last two paragraphs, as to demand that a law be passed in accordance with their wishes and that a prosecution for high treason be made in conformity with such law, on the supposition that it will be promulgated at their instance.
To conclude the subject, I should like to read a passage from the Danish Government report which appears in the second supplementary memorandum on Page 4, the third book in the green file:
“In the month of October there occurred a sudden crisis. The Germans claimed that His Majesty, the King, had offended Hitler by giving too short a reply to a telegram which the latter had sent to him. The Germans reacted abruptly and with extreme violence. The German Minister in Copenhagen was immediately recalled. The Danish Minister in Berlin was then recalled to Denmark. Minister Von Renthe-Fink was replaced by Dr. Best, who arrived in the country with the title of Plenipotentiary of the German Reich and who brought with him sweeping demands on the part of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Von Ribbentrop, including a demand for a change in the Danish Government and the admission of National Socialists into the Government. These demands were refused by Denmark and, the government having dragged out the matter, they were finally abandoned by Dr. Best.”
THE PRESIDENT: This may be a convenient time to break off.
[The Tribunal adjourned until 4 February 1946 at 1000 hours.]
FIFTIETH DAY
Monday, 4 February 1946
Morning Session
MARSHAL: May it please the Court, I desire to announce that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner will be absent from this morning’s session on account of illness.