17 Dec. 45
"Prisoners of war are in the power of
the hostile power, but not of the individuals or corps who have
captured them. They must at all times be humanely treated and
protected, particularly against acts of violence, insults, and public
curiosity. Measures of reprisal against them are prohibited."
THE PRESIDENT: Is that the 1907 ...
COL. STOREY: 1929, the Geneva Convention dated 27 July 1929 —
Article 2 — and it was also ratified by Germany and the United
States. It is clear from the foregoing quoted provisions that the Geneva
prisoners-of-war convention imposes upon its signatories the strictest
obligations to protect its prisoners of war from violence. The evidence
just presented shows that the German State violated this provision. The
evidence also proves that members of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi
Party participated in the conspiracy to incite the German civilian
population to take part in these atrocities.
Now I next turn to some illustrative crimes against foreign labor.
On 13 September 1936 Reichsleiter of the Party Organization, Dr. Robert
Ley, addressed 20,000 people attending a session of the Party Congress.
The official account of the Party rally states that the Führer was
received with "enthusiastic shouts of exaltation" when he
strode through the hall with his deputy, his constant retinue, and
several Reichsleiter and Gauleiter. I am referring to Document 2283-PS,
and it is the Völkischer Beobachter of 14 September 1936,
Page 11, which we offer as Exhibit Number USA-337. In his speech
Reichsleiter Robert Ley states that he had been mystified when the Führer
ordered him in "mid-April 1933 to take over the trade unions ...
since I could not see any connection between my task as organizational
leader of the Party and my new task." Ley continues by stating that
very soon it became clear to him why his responsibilities as
Reichsleiter of the Party Organization and Leader of the German Labor
Front made logical his selection by the Führer as the man to direct
the smashing and dissolution of the free trade unions; and I quote from
that document:
"Very soon your decision, my Führer
became clear to me and I recognized that the organizational measures
of the Party could only come to full fruition when supplemented by the
organization of the people, that is to say by the mobilization of the
energies of the people and by their concentration and alignment ....
My tasks as Reichsleiter of the Party Organization and as Leader of
the German Labor Front were a completely homogeneous task; in other
words, 'in everything I did, I acted as Reichsleiter of the Party
Organization. The German Labor Front was an institution of the Party
and was led by it. The German Labor Front had to be organized