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Volume IV · Page 546
| the hilt. His defense is the general one of
superior orders which avails Braune no more than it does anyone else who
executes a criminal order with the zeal that Braune brought to the Fuehrer
Order. Various reports implicate Braune and his Kommando in the sordid business
of illegal killings. The Tribunal has already spoken of the Christmas massacre of Simferopol. Braune was the Kommando leader in charge of this operation. He has admitted responsibility for this murder in unequivocal language. |
"It took place under my responsibility. Once I was at the place of execution with Mr. Ohlendorf and there we convinced ourselves that the execution took place according to the directives laid down by Ohlendorf at the beginning of the assignment. I personally was there several times more and I supervised * * *. Furthermore, my sub-Kommando leader Sturmbannfuehrer Schulz was always present, the company commander of the police company and, I think, another captain." |
| The Fuehrer Order did not offer reasons or ask for explanations. Like a guillotine blade in its descent it did not stop to inquire into cause and premise. Nonetheless, the question was put to Braune as to why the army, which apparently had immediately ordered this execution, was so anxious that the slaughter be accomplished before Christmas. Braune enlightened the Tribunal and simultaneously horrified humanity for all time as follows: |
"The Fuehrer Order was there, and now the army said 'We want it finished before Christmas'. I wasn't able at the time to find out all the reasons. Maybe the reasons were strategic reasons, military reasons, which caused the army to issue that order. Maybe they were territorial questions. Maybe they were questions of food. The army, at that time, was afraid that hundreds of thousands of people might have to starve to death during that winter because of the food situation * * *" |
| There were also executions after Christmas. Einsatz Order, dated 12 January 1942, speaks of an operation destined — |
" * * * to apprehend unreliable elements (partisans, saboteurs, possibly enemy troops, parachutists in civilian clothes, Jews, leading Communists, etc.)." |
| Braune admitted that he took an active part in this operation. He was asked what happened to the Jews who fell into the dragnet which he had spread, and Braune replied — |
"If there were any Jews, Mr. Prosecutor, they were shot, just as the other Jews." |
| The question was then put if the Jews were given a trial, and the defendant replied — |
"Mr. Prosecutor, I believe that it has been made adequately |
