“6 April 1944, Lyons, 2010 hours. Subject: Home for Jewish Children at Izieu, Ain.
“The home for Jewish children, ‘Child Colony,’ at Izieu (Ain) was raided this morning and a total of 41 children aged from 3 to 13 were apprehended. Moreover, the arrest of the entire Jewish personnel, numbering 10 in all and including 5 women was successfully carried out. Money or other property could not be seized. The convoy for Drancy will leave on 7 April 1944.”
This document also bears a memorandum written by hand and couched in the following terms:
“Matter discussed in the presence of Dr. V. B. and Hauptsturmführer Brunner. Dr. V. B. stated that in cases of this kind, special measures were provided for the billeting of the children by the Obersturmführer Röthke. The Hauptsturmführer Brunner stated that he knew of no such instructions or plans and that on principle he did not approve of such special measures. In this case he would also follow the lines of the usual regulations for deportation. For the moment I made no decision affecting the principle in this respect.”
For me what is even more striking and more horrible than the concrete fact of removing these children is the administrative color given to the proceedings, the report made through official channels, the meeting at which different officials placidly discussed the matter as if it were part of the normal business of the department. All the administrative mechanism of the State—I am speaking of the Nazi State—was set in motion on such an occasion and for such a purpose. It is a perfect illustration of the word used by Dannecker in his report: “The cold manner.”
I now present the Tribunal with a continuation under the same head, including a certain number of documents which have been collected in order to show in accordance with our general line of presentation the perpetual interference of the German administrative services.
As I am a little behind my timetable, I shall give the numbers of only those documents which I should like to offer in evidence and which I have no time to describe. These documents will be numbered Documents RF-1238 to 1249.
I would like to read to the Tribunal only the document which bears the Number RF-1243, which is interesting as showing the organic character and the juridical claims of the German organizations. I shall quote a few sentences from this document:
“In the report made by the Chief of the Administrative Staff on experience concerning the arrest from 7 to 14 December 1941 it was proposed to evade the execution of hostages in the future by having the death sentences passed through court-martial proceedings.”
I shall skip the following two lines and continue: