“The French law of 28 October 1941 does not provide for special sanctions for the broadcasting of news from foreign stations calculated to endanger order or public security, although this offense constitutes a particularly grave danger. It is indispensable that the dissemination of such news should be punished by hard labor and in particularly serious cases by the death penalty. It is immaterial whether the disseminator of the news was listening in himself or obtained knowledge by other means.
“The possibility of legally prosecuting the mentioned offense by the state tribunal does not suffice to hinder the population from listening to the British radio and spreading the news. Since the law regarding the state tribunal does not mention listening to foreign stations there is no direct relation between listening in and dissemination on the one hand and punishment by hard labor or death sentence on the other. The population has, therefore, no idea that such acts are already punishable by hard labor or the death penalty.
“For this reason I request a draft to be submitted, amending the law of 28 October 1941 with deadline 3 January 1943.
“For your instruction I am adding, as an appendix, a draft of the German decree relating to extraordinary measures about broadcasting, by which you may learn the details of the German regulation.”
I shall now submit a document bearing the Document Number RF-1147. I think this document may interest the Tribunal. It presents quite a different character from that of the documents which I have produced up to now. This document consists, firstly, of a letter from Berlin dated 27 October 1941, the subject of which is an agreement relating to collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I read this letter, which is very short, and which authenticates our document:
“By authorization of the ministry, we enclose for your information, as a secret matter of the Reich, a copy of the agreement relating to collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as a copy of the agreement of execution. The agreement itself is not confidential, but details of the contents must not be given.”
The document enclosed with this is the full text, which I shall not read, of the agreement made between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Reich for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda relating to collaboration between their respective branches. I think that this document is of some interest, and that is why I submit it. I shall simply point out to the Tribunal that it shows at once the extent of the hold which the Germans wished to make sure of possessing over the minds of the populations of occupied and even foreign countries and the way in which they organized this.
Chapter I of this document is entitled, “Collaboration by Branches.” Letter “a” concerns the cinema, the theater, music, and exhibitions. Letter “b” concerns publications.
I think it might be interesting to read the first few lines of letter “b,” for after expounding the propaganda from the point of view of the receivers, it is worth while looking at the question from the point of view of the persons who put out this propaganda. And, on the other hand, I think we must not lose the opportunity of observing the extraordinary variety and skill of the German methods. This quotation is very brief:
“The Foreign Office and the Ministry of Propaganda are operating jointly a holding company, the Mundus A.G., of which they have equal shares and in which the publishing houses controlled by both ministries at home and abroad are combined, as far as they are concerned with the production of publications for abroad or their export to, and distribution in, foreign countries. All firms or partnerships which will be founded or acquired in future for this purpose by both ministries will be incorporated in this company.”