TELEGRAM
Communication Office GWEHL
Nr.
06262
TOP SECRET
13 Oct. 42 i4:15 hours
KR WOKA 02901 13 Oct. 1253
TO: Armed Forces Operational Staff/QM/Administration (WFSt) Armed Forces Operational Staff/QM/PW Affairs (K)
TOP SECRET
SUBJECT: Treatment of PWs
To the discussions and measures which were announced by the High Command of the Armed Forces, 7 Oct. 1942, the following collective stand was taken.
(1) Shackling: Shackling is permitted within the realm of
military necessities, and is therefore neither dishonorable nor inhuman. .
(2) Treatment of sabotage units: sabotage units in uniform are soldiers and have the right to be treated as PWs. However, sabotage units, dressed in civilian clothes or in the uniform of the German soldier, have no right to be treated as PWs (armed insurgents).
(3) Reprisals on PWs: Reprisals on PWs, according to the PW agreement ratified in 1934 are absolutely not permitted. The English counter measures, for that reason, are also contrary to international law. The Foreign Office is in agreement with this opinion.
(4) Offers for adjustment by the International Red Cross or by the Swiss Government should be accepted according to the opinion of the Department.
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(5) Announced report on the British treatment of PWs.
It is requested that during the drafting of the report that these opinions already mentioned in paragraphs 1-3 form the basis, since they are in our own interest.
(6) To avoid difficulties before the release of such important
basic information, the prompt participation of the Department of Foreign Affairs with the Counter Intelligence service is requested.
(7) Referring to telegram Nr. 00381/42 TOP SECRET AUSL, Roman numeral I B 5, dated 10 Oct. 42 and the telephone conversation with Major Kipp concerning numbers 1, 3, 4 as well as the proposal to number 4 and that was mentioned over the telephone.
(WR and AWA/PW Department to receive message) Supreme Army Commander/ Office of Foreign Intelligence AUSL Nr. 1531/ 42 TOt SECRET AUSL Roman Numeral I (B5) (signed) CANARIS
CONFIDENTIAL
15 Oct. 42
WR
133/42 TOP SECRET (III/10a)
TO: Armed Forces Operational Staff WFSt (previous telephone conversation)
For the information of: the Foreign Intelligence Office SUBJECT: Treatment of PWs
REFERENCE: OKW/Amt Ausl/Abw.Ag.Ausl.Nr.1531/42 TOP SECRET Ausl.I (B5) v.13 Oct.42 In reference to (1): To be inserted: "As an exceptional measure in an emergency"
In reference to (2): It is fundamentally agreed.
Perhaps in special cases the following ideas may be represented:
Battle methods as they are today and as they should be combatted, came into being long after organization of the HLKO, especially thru aerial warfare; it is especially necessary to note the large usage of Paratroopers for sabotage purposes. Whoever performs acts of sabotage as a soldier with the idea in mind to surrender without a fight after the act is successfully completed does not conduct himself as an honorable warrior. He misuses the rights of article 23c HLKO since such methods of
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warfare had not been thought of at the time this article was formulated.
The misuse lies in the speculation of surrendering without a fight after a successful sabotage mission. The concept of inad-missiblity of these sabotage units is one of unrestrained advocacy, unless we prevent it ourselves.
(3): WR does not agree completely to this.
Reprisals on PWs must be permitted after very serious infractions on the part of the enemy in their treatment of PWs. If the enemy would shoot for example 10,000 German prisoners of war, the untenableness of the theory governing the prohibition of reprisals would not be doubted. One can not deliver oneself for better or for worse to the enemy by the renunciation, based on principle, of reprisals. The sentence on the mutual obligations in case of a treaty is too obvious in that it could be simply eliminated by the Article 2, par. 3 of the agreement on PWs.' In case it became necessary, the best thing to do would be to declare this without bothering to submit reasons.
(signed) LEHMANN
Memoranda on the treatment of prisoners of war, including commandos in uniform (POWs) or not in uniform (not POWs), reprisals against Pows
Authors
Wilhelm Canaris (admiral; High Command of the Armed Forces)
Wilhelm Canaris
German admiral, head of military intelligence service
- Born: 1877-01-01 1887-01-01 (Aplerbeck)
- Died: 1945-04-09 (Flossenbürg concentration camp)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: intelligence officer; naval officer; resistance fighter; submariner
- Participant in: 20 July plot
- Military rank: admiral
- Military branch: German Navy; Imperial German Navy
- Educated at: Naval Academy at Mürwik; Q1499438
Rudolf Lehmann (Dr., Lt. Gen.; Ministry of Justice; legal department, High Command of the Armed Forces)
Rudolf Lehmann
German military judge
- Born: 1890-12-11 (Poznań)
- Died: 1955-07-26 (Bonn)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: Judge advocate; judge; jurist; lawyer
- Participant in: High Command Trial (role: defendant); Judges' Trial (date: 1946-12-23; role: affiant)
- Military rank: Generaloberst
- Military branch: German Army
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/6125532
Oberkommando of the Wehrmacht (OKW) (high command and/or general staff)
Date: 13 October 1942
Literal Title: Ref: Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Defendant: Alfred Jodl
Total Pages: 10
Language of Text: Multilanguage
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-1265
HLSL Item No.: 452128
Notes:The document is in English, then German. Some markings and notes by Jodl are noted.
Trial Issues
Partisan fighters (and commandos), operations against, and treatment of (I… Hostage-taking and reprisal actions, including killings and fines (IMT, NM… Prisoners of war, abuse, forced labor, or killing of (IMT, NMT 2, 5, 12)
Document Summary
PS-1265: Correspondence between Abwehr, WR and WFST on Miscellaneous Problems of the Treatment of Sabotage Troops
PS-1265: Top-secret teletype from canaris to Wehrmachtfuh-rungsstab, 13 October 1942, concerning the treatment of prisoners of war; secret letter from Lehmann, judge attached to the general staff, to the Wehrmacht-fuhrungsstab, 15 October 1942, on the same matter; comment by the legal department of the Wehrmacht, 15 October 1942, on the same subject