30 Nov. 45

LAHOUSEN: Yes.

COL. AMEN: Who was General Reinecke?

LAHOUSEN: General Reinecke was at that time Chief of the General Wehrmacht Department, which was part of the OKW.

COL. AMEN: Do you recall the approximate date of that meeting?

LAHOUSEN: It was roughly in the summer of 1941, shortly after the beginning of the Russian campaign; approximately in July.

COL. AMEN: To the best of your knowledge and recollection, will you state exactly who was present at that conference?

LAHOUSEN: At this conference, which is also recorded in the notes taken for Canaris, and in which I participated as his representative, the following were present:

General Reinecke as the presiding officer, Obergruppenführer Müller of the RSHA, Colonel Breuer representing the Prisoners of War Department, and I, as the representative of Canaris, of Ausland-Abwehr.


COL. AMEN: Will you explain who Müller was and why he was at this meeting?

LAHOUSEN: Müller was a division chief in the Reich Central Office of Security (RSHA), and took part in the session because he was responsible for putting into practice the measures for the treatment of Russian prisoners of war, that is, responsible for carrying out the executions.

COL. AMEN: Will you explain who Colonel Breuer was and why he was there? LAHOUSEN: Colonel Breuer was the representative of the Prisoners of War Department. I do not know of which organization this department was a part at that time. At any rate, he was responsible in the OKW for questions relating to prisoners of war.

COL. AMEN: What was the purpose of this conference?

LAHOUSEN: The purpose of this conference was to examine the orders issued for the treatment of Russian prisoners of war, to comment on them, to explain and account for them on reasonable grounds.

COL. AMEN: Did you learn from the conversation at this conference what the substance of these orders under discussion was?

LAHOUSEN: These orders dealt with two groups of measures which were to be taken. Firstly, the killing of Russian commissars, and secondly, the killing of all those elements among the Russian prisoners of war who, under a special selection program of the