THE PRESIDENT: You do not need any more detail about it, do you?
SCHWEBEL: ...and in this discussion with Sir Francis Gengard we agreed that another discussion was to take place 2 days later between...
DR. STEINBAUER: Witness, we are not really concerned with the details. We are concerned with the results of this conversation, and how it worked out in the interests of the Dutch population.
SCHWEBEL: Yes. This discussion took place on 30 April, between the Reich Commissioner and the Chief of Staff of General Eisenhower, who was General Bedell Smith. In this discussion the Reich Commissioner agreed completely to the wishes of General Bedell Smith that there should be a very generous food supply for the Dutch population.
THE PRESIDENT: If he said he agreed with the demands of General Bedell Smith, surely that is all you want, isn’t it?
DR. STEINBAUER: Yes, that is quite sufficient.
[Turning to the witness.] Through these negotiations—I would like to ask you—the war was ended 2 months earlier, was it not?
SCHWEBEL: One cannot say that exactly. The situation was as follows. For the Dutch population, of course, the war ended, practically speaking, on that day, because the supplies that could be carried by air, over highways, over canals, rivers, and by sea to Rotterdam, were so generous. In order to make these transports possible, an armistice had to be arranged from place to place, so that in fact, though not formally, we had a general armistice and the population at that time immediately benefited by it.
DR. STEINBAUER: Mr. President, I have no further questions to ask this witness.
SCHWEBEL: May I just make a few remarks, Mr. President?