That means, put in blunt and brutal language, “Don’t denounce the convention, but break it whenever it suits you,” doesn’t it?
DÖNITZ: No, that is not true.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: What does it mean? Let’s take it word for word. “It would be better to carry out measures considered necessary....” Aren’t these measures contrary to the rules of the Geneva Convention?
DÖNITZ: I must give an explanation of that.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Answer my question first and then make a statement. You have done it before but try to answer my question: “These measures considered necessary”—If they don’t mean measures contrary to the terms of the Geneva Convention, what do they mean? Answer that question first.
DÖNITZ: They are measures against our own troops. I had heard, or I was told that the Führer intended, or had said, that because the front was yielding in the West and he feared that American and British propaganda might induce men to desert, he intended to leave the Geneva Convention, so I said to my staff, “How is it possible in this connection to contemplate abandoning lock, stock, and barrel a system of international law almost a century old?” I may have said something like this, “The necessary measures must be taken.” There was no thought of concrete measures in that connection and no such measures were introduced. My own views on the treatment of prisoners of war can best be heard from the 8,000 British prisoners of war who were in my camps. That is the situation regarding this matter. All the chiefs of the Wehrmacht branches protested against the idea of renouncing the Geneva Convention. They were not in favor of this idea.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Is that your total explanation of “to carry out measures considered necessary”? You have nothing else to add on that point? Well, I shall pass to another one. Do you remember saying to Dr. Kranzbühler yesterday that when you became Commander-in-Chief of the Navy the war was purely a defensive war? Do you remember saying that to your counsel yesterday?
DÖNITZ: Yes.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: That was not your fault, was it? It was not your fault that it remained limited to the countries engaged when you took over? Do you remember your advice to Hitler on the meeting of 14 May 1943?
DÖNITZ: No.