7 Jan. 46
first indication, so that the authority of
the occupying forces may be maintained and further spreading
prevented. In this connection it should be remembered that a human
life in the countries concerned frequently counts for nothing, and a
deterrent effect can be attained only by unusual severity. The death
penalty for 50-100 Communists should generally be regarded in these
cases as suitable atonement for one German soldier's death. The way in
which sentence is carried out should still further increase the
deterrent effect.
"The reverse course of action, that of imposing relatively
lenient penalties and of being content, for purposes of deterrence,
with the threat of more severe measures does not accord with these
principles and shall not be followed."
Unless the Court desires the next paragraph read, I will pass to Page 2,
at the very end of the document, Paragraph Number 4:
"The commanding officers in the
occupied territories shall see to it that these principles are made
known without delay to all military establishments concerned in
dealing with Communist measures of insurrection" — Signed —
" Keitel."
Your
Lordship, the next document will have the Exhibit Number USA-556, and it
has been given the number D-411. It also has the designation UK-81. It
is the last document in Document Book 2. This is a set of documents
which includes a directive, dated 10 October 1941, by Field Marshal Von
Reichenau, who was the Commander-in-Chief (Oberbefehlshaber) of the
German 6th Army then operating on the Eastern Front. Reichenau, who died
in 1942, was therefore a member of the group as defined in the
Indictment; and here is what he had to say. I begin reading at Page 5 of
the translation:
"Subject: Conduct of troops in
Eastern Territories.
"Regarding the conduct of troops towards the Bolshevistic
system, vague ideas are still prevalent in many cases. The most
essential aim of war against the Jewish-Bolshevistic system is a
complete destruction of their means of power and the elimination of
Asiatic influence from the European culture. In this connection the
troops are facing tasks which exceed the one-sided routine of
soldiering. The soldier in the Eastern Territories is not merely a
fighter according to the rules of the art of war, but also a bearer of
ruthless national ideology and the avenger of bestialities which have
been inflicted upon German and racially related nations.
"Therefore, the soldier must have full understanding for the
necessity of a severe but just revenge on subhuman Jewry.