1
Dec. 45
DR.
NELTE: You stated yesterday that Admiral Canaris
had said that the Defendant Keitel had given the
order to do away with General Weygand?
LAHOUSEN:
Yes.
DR. NELTE: The Defendant Keitel
denies that. He now asks whether you ever saw
any document or written proof of this order. He
wants to know the origin of any statement which
concerned General Weygand.
LAHOUSEN:
This order was not given in writing, but it came
to me because I was supposed to put it into
execution, that is, not I, but my department. It
came up through Canaris, in that circle which I
have so often described, and which means that it
was known only to a few. I was brought into the
matter through a talk which Canaris gave at
Keitel's office in the OKW and at which I was
present. Keitel had already addressed me on the
matter. I recorded this in my personal notes and
I mentioned the date. After all, such a thing
was not an everyday occurrence, at least not to
me. It was 23 December 1940.
DR.
NELTE: Do you not remember the actual wording of
the question that Defendant Keitel was supposed
to have asked?
LAHOUSEN: Of course I
cannot remember the precise wording; the
incident happened too long ago. I remember the
gist very well. What he meant was, "What
has been done in this matter? How do things
stand?"
DR. NELTE: You said
yesterday that you gave an evasive answer.
LAHOUSEN:
I said yesterday that I could not remember
exactly how I worded my answer but I certainly
did not say what I had said in the presence of
Canaris, namely, "I would not think of
executing such a murderous order; my section and
my officers are not an organization of
murderers. Anything but that." What I
probably said to Keitel was something about how
difficult the matter was, or any evasive answer
that I may have thought of.
DR. NELTE:
If the Chief of the OKW had ordered such an
action on his own initiative or on higher
orders, this would, because of the high rank of
General Weygand, have amounted to an act of
state. You did not tell us yesterday whether
after December 23, 1940 anything transpired in
this matter, that is to say, whether the Chief
of the OKW took up this question again.
LAHOUSEN:
No, I did not say anything about that yesterday,
but I frequently mentioned during the
interrogations that after that the Chief of the
OKW did nothing more about it. Canaris' attitude
made it obvious that nothing further had been
heard of it, for in the hierarchy of commands
which for me was authoritative, he would have