“The emigrants leaving Casablanca are, for the most part, Jewish families from Germany and Central Europe and also some French Jews. There is no reason to suspect that young people fit for military service have left Casablanca with the avowed intention of entering military service on the side of the enemy. It is left to your discretion to inform the military authorities about this.”
I have quoted this document to show that there was no question of a military emigration which they would have had an interest in preventing, and also to show that this document would normally have concerned firstly the German Embassy, to which it was addressed, and secondly the military services which it suggests should be informed.
Now, what is the sequel to these two communications? The sequel is shown by Document Number RF-1206, of which the two documents just read constitute appendixes. This Document RF-1206 emanates from Berlin, from the Reich Security Main Office, and is addressed to the Chief of Police for France and Belgium.
“Attached are two copies of confidential reports from the German Consulate General in Casablanca to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for your information.
“You are asked to give your special attention to the state of affairs described and to prevent, as far as possible, an emigration of this kind.”
I therefore draw three conclusions. Firstly, as I have indicated, the Nazis opposed the emigration of the Jews, although they claim that they are undesirable. Secondly, this decision was made at a higher level and with a general application. Thirdly, all the services, the police, the Army, and the Department of Foreign Affairs intervened to ensure the execution of these barbarous orders.
I now present to the Tribunal Document Number RF-1207. This document is a voluminous German report. It is in fact 70 pages in length. It was found in the German archives in Paris. This document is interleaved with a series of graphs, drawings, and models of census cards. It is mimeographed, and the copy which we present does not bear the author’s signature, but simply the indication “SS Obersturmführer.” This is Obersturmführer Dannecker, who played an important role in regulating Jewish questions in France and who was chief of this bureau.
THE PRESIDENT: That fact which you have just stated to us, has that been verified by the French authorities, namely, that it was a captured document in Paris?
M. FAURE: According to the report submitted to the Tribunal, we took possession of these documents at the archives of the Sûreté Nationale. They were among the documents found in the German offices at the time of the liberation. Besides, I point out to the Tribunal that the other documents produced do bear the signatures of the German officials. This report is the only document without a signature. The fact that it was written by Dannecker will be proved by other documents, which constitute a résumé of it.
I shall not read to the Tribunal the 70 pages of this report, but I should like to read certain paragraphs which I think may interest the Tribunal. Here is the first page. To begin with, it is entitled, “The Jewish Question in France and Its Treatment. Paris, 1 July 1941.” First page:
“Final solution of the Jewish question—this is the heading and the goal for the work of those services of the Sipo and SD which are handling the Jewish problem in France. It has always been clear that practical results cannot be achieved without a study of the political situation in general as well as of the situation of the Jews.
“The following pages, next to giving a general draft of our planning, are to explain the results achieved up to now as well as the immediate aims.
“Everything touching the principle must be considered from the following point of view: Since the chief of the Sipo and SD has been charged by the Führer with preparing the solution of the Jewish question in Europe, his offices in France are to carry out the preliminary work in order to be able to serve abroad as the absolutely reliable agents of the European Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, at the appointed time.”
I shall now point out to the Tribunal the chief headings of the paragraphs in order to pursue the development of the idea and of the operations of this German office.
THE PRESIDENT: I was considering, M. Faure, why this document has not got any identifying mark upon it. I mean, of course, we do not doubt for an instant what you say to us is true, but at the same time it is not the correct way to do it—for us to have to rely on counsel’s statement as to the nature of the evidence. And there is nothing on the document itself to show that it was captured in Paris or to show what it is except what it states.
M. FAURE: Mr. President, the joining of this document to the file of the French Prosecution was done by a report made in Paris, which I shall present before the Tribunal, because as this report concerns a certain number of documents, it was not especially joined to the file of this particular document. On the other hand, when I received these documents from the police, I did not wish to write anything on the document or to place it under a seal, for I wished to avoid altering the normal appearance of the document in any way.
I must state that if the Tribunal prefers not to receive this document inasmuch as I do recognize that it does not bear a signature, I shall not submit the document for I have a second report by Dannecker which is signed by him. I submitted both in order to make clear the continuity of the operation.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Faure, in the case of the documents presented by the United States, the captured documents by the United States, as Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe reminded us the other day, there is an affidavit, I think, of Major Coogan, which states that all those documents of a certain series, PS, L, R, and various other series, were all captured in Germany by the United States forces. If there were such an affidavit with reference to documents captured in Paris which might be identified by some letter such as PS or some letter similar to that, the matter would seem to us to be in order. But when a document is presented to us which has no identifying mark upon it at all, we are then in the position which we are in now of simply hearing the statement of counsel, which, of course, is not evidence that the document was found in Paris or found somewhere else; and therefore it occurs to me that one way that it might be dealt with would be an affidavit by somebody who knows the facts that this document and any other documents of a similar sort were captured in the archives of the German forces in Paris or elsewhere.
M. FAURE: I could very easily produce before the Tribunal the affidavit which it requests. I say that if we do not have it in this form it is because our habitual procedure is not exactly the same as that which may be followed in the United States. In fact, as the Charter of the Tribunal indicates that the Prosecution was charged with the collection of evidence, we ourselves have authorized magistrates in our service to look for documents in the archives of the police and if the Tribunal wishes I shall ask the police in addition for attestation of the seizure of these documents in the German archives. I shall then ask the Tribunal to allow me to produce this affidavit in a few days’ time, so that I can ask the police for it.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Faure, the Tribunal think that we might admit the document, subject to your undertaking that you would do that in the course of a day or two.
M. FAURE: I cannot guarantee that I will have this document in a day or two.
THE PRESIDENT: I wasn’t stressing the number of days. If you will undertake to do it that is sufficient.
M. FAURE: Certainly, Mr. President. I shall go on then with the analysis of the Dannecker report. The first chapter is called, “History of the Jews in France.” I shall not read it. It includes a series of ideas on a very elementary intellectual level. The following chapter is entitled, “Organization of the Jews in France.” It includes a first part under the heading, “Before 14 June 1940.” This part does not seem to me interesting. The second part of this chapter is entitled, “Operations of the Sipo and the SD (SS Einsatzkommando Paris) against these Organizations and against Leading Jewish Personages.” The report comes from the SS Hauptsturmführer Hagen. I think I might read the beginning:
“From a study of the records collected in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, it was possible to conclude that the center of Judaism in Europe and with it the chief lines of communication to overseas must be