THE PRESIDENT: Will you state your full name, please.
AUGUST WINTER (Witness): August Winter.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath after me: I swear by God—the Almighty and Omniscient—that I will speak the pure truth—and will withhold and add nothing.
[The witness repeated the oath in German.]
THE PRESIDENT: Will you sit down.
DR. JAHRREISS: Witness, did you take part in the beginning of the Russian campaign?
WINTER: Yes, I took part as the first general staff officer of Field Marshal Von Rundstedt’s army group.
DR. JAHRREISS: Witness, may I point out to you that I want you to allow a small pause after my question and to speak in general more slowly than you have just been doing.
WINTER: Yes.
DR. JAHRREISS: Can you tell me—since you had a very responsible position—what was officially said to be Hitler’s reason, at that time, for the German attack on the Soviet Union?