I am not forgetting the fact that we are participating in a criminal trial and that we must select from the extremely varied facts which we have to present those elements characteristic of the intention and realization of an act condemned by criminal law. In consideration of this, I quote Document Number RF-1124, which I am also presenting and which is an attempt to promote, by means of press and propaganda, the enlistment of Frenchmen in the enemy army. Article 75 of the French Criminal Code provides for this crime and I recall that in juridical theory proceedings can be taken even against enemy nationals for crimes of this kind. I read this document, which is extremely short:
“At the end of the military conference, Dr. Eich announced that the O.F.I. would broadcast this afternoon an article devoted to the necessity of the inclusion of French sailors in the German Navy. He asked the newspapers to add commentaries to this text in which, for instance, the following theme might be treated: ‘To be a sailor is to have a profession.’
“The article broadcast by the O.F.I. must appear tomorrow—a four-page day—on the first page, or the beginning, at least, must appear on the first page.”
Finally, I must point out that, apart from the press conferences proper, there were so-called cultural conferences at which the German authorities gave their orders on all subjects. I should like to read a few very brief extracts from one of these cultural conferences in order to indicate the general oppression resulting from the interference of the Germans in every field without exception. I present these Documents RF-1125 and RF-1126; and I read two sentences on Page 1 of Document Number RF-1125, which is a report of the minutes of the conference held on 22 April:
“Reproductions of paintings by Picasso have recently been made in spite of the directives to the contrary previously given.
“Theater: Certain press publications have seen fit to praise the operetta Don Philippe to an extent belied by the reception given to this work by the general public. This goes beyond the bounds of the permissible.”
I shall read a little further, on the top of Page 2:
“The press has lent an obviously exaggerated backing to jazz concerts, particularly those of Fred Jumbo. This shows a lack of tact which is all the more regrettable in that a very minor place has been accorded in general to concerts of real value.”
Finally, at the end of this document, there is a general note which is interesting:
“The nationality of persons of standing in the world of science, art, et cetera, whose names occur in articles appearing in the press, is to be given as that of the Greater German Reich in the case of those born in any of the countries which have been restored to the Greater German Reich or incorporated into it.”
We thus see that even in what might seem to us the most fanciful connections we can find evidence of the will to enforce Germanization and of the criminal will to strip men of the nationality which they have the right to retain.
I shall now say a few words about the cinema. The Germans, to do them justice, have never failed to understand the exceptional importance of the cinema as a means of propaganda. In France they devoted to this subject seven ordinances or decrees.
You must know that, in the first place, the Germans prohibited the showing of films of which they disapproved . . . .
THE PRESIDENT: M. Faure, don’t you think that evidence that the Germans used the cinema as a method of propaganda is really somewhat cumulative? You have shown already that they forbade a great number of books which they considered hostile to their ideology, and that they controlled the press, and is it not almost cumulative and a matter of detail that they also controlled the cinema?
Unless there is some evidence on behalf of the defendants contradicting the evidence which you have given, I think the Tribunal will be satisfied that the Germans did adopt all these methods of propaganda.
M. FAURE: When a brief is presented it sometimes does produce the impression that the arguments contained in it are cumulative, although that may not have been so apparent when the preparation was going on.
I shall not speak, then, on the subject of the cinema. I wish simply to point this out to the Tribunal. We thought that with regard to these questions of propaganda with which we are dealing in the abstract it would perhaps be as well to provide concrete illustrations of a few of the themes of German propaganda, and to this end we propose presently, with the permission of the Tribunal, to project very briefly a few of the themes of German propaganda. I wish to point out that these themes are taken from archives which we found. On the other hand, we intend to present, for one minute each, two pictures taken from a German propaganda film produced by a Frenchman at the instigation and with the financial support of the German office.
As we are now going to present these pictures, with the permission of the Tribunal, I consider it indispensable to present just one document, Document RF-1141, since it is the interrogation of the producer of the film and establishes the fact that this film was made by order of the Germans and paid for by them. I therefore present in evidence this Document Number RF-1141, which is necessary for the presentation which we are about to make. Since it seems to me that sufficient evidence has already been advanced concerning the various methods of propaganda, I shall apply the same line of reasoning to the part anticipated for broadcasting.
Here I merely wish to present a document which goes beyond the field of pure propaganda. This is Document Number RF-1146. I must point out, first of all, that as regards broadcasting, the Germans obviously encountered an obstacle which was not present to the same degree in other fields. This obstacle lay in the transmissions broadcast by the free radios which, as the Belgian witness said yesterday, were followed with the greatest enthusiasm by the inhabitants of the occupied countries. The German Command then had the idea of penalizing the persons who listened to these broadcasts. In the document which I am going to quote, the Military Command went to the length of asking the French authorities most urgently to institute the most stringent penalties, even going so far as to prescribe the death penalty for persons repeating news heard on the foreign radio service.
I think it will be useful, if I deposit in evidence this document emanating from the Military Command and signed by Stülpnagel, which demonstrates the criminal intentions of the German staff. I should like to read this document, RF-1146. I read from the beginning of the third paragraph:
“The French law of 28 October 1941 does not provide for special sanctions for the broadcasting of news from foreign stations calculated to endanger order or public security, although this offense constitutes a particularly grave danger. It is indispensable that the dissemination of such news should be punished by hard labor and in particularly serious cases by the death penalty. It is immaterial whether the disseminator of the news was listening in himself or obtained knowledge by other means.
“The possibility of legally prosecuting the mentioned offense by the state tribunal does not suffice to hinder the population from listening to the British radio and spreading the news. Since the law regarding the state tribunal does not mention listening to foreign stations there is no direct relation between listening in and dissemination on the one hand and punishment by hard labor or death sentence on the other. The population has, therefore, no idea that such acts are already punishable by hard labor or the death penalty.
“For this reason I request a draft to be submitted, amending the law of 28 October 1941 with deadline 3 January 1943.
“For your instruction I am adding, as an appendix, a draft of the German decree relating to extraordinary measures about broadcasting, by which you may learn the details of the German regulation.”
I shall now submit a document bearing the Document Number RF-1147. I think this document may interest the Tribunal. It presents quite a different character from that of the documents which I have produced up to now. This document consists, firstly, of a letter from Berlin dated 27 October 1941, the subject of which is an agreement relating to collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I read this letter, which is very short, and which authenticates our