The next document I wish to read is 25 in Document Book 1, pages 35 and 36, to be Exhibit No. 50. It's an affidavit by Herr von Donat. I shall read from the first paragraph:
"Herr General of Engineers Walter Kuntze has been known to me personally, both in an official and non-official capacity, for about twenty-five years."
I shall omit this paragraph and proceed with the next paragraph: It's the next paragraph:
"All superior and subordinate officers and men held Herr General of Engineers Walter Kuntze in the highest esteem with regard to his character, person and military ability."
I shall omit about four lines:
"He was one of the most correct officers I have ever known. He was far from being arrogant or self-assertive."
I shall proceed with the next paragraph:
"Being personally filled with an unflinching sense of justice and possessed of deep human understanding, as well as the ability of arriving at fair judgments, he never once tolerated injustices towards and molesting of subordinates, nor even the use of swear words or the use of other indignities."
I shall proceed with the last paragraph:
"Therefore, according to his entire character, his disposition and conscientiousness of duty, it is impossible for him to have tolerated or in any way even ordered crimes against humanity."
The next document is 26 on page 37, Document Book 1, to be Exhibit No. 51, an affidavit by Major General Jordan, dated 15 August 1947. The affiant has known former General Kuntze for almost thirty years. Will you please take judicial notice of this document without my reading it.
To be followed by Document 27 on pages 38 and 39, to be Exhibit No. 52, an affidavit by Otto Luedecke, dated 13 August 1947. I shall merely read the first sentence:
"I have known General of Engineers Walter Kuntze since 1923."
I shall proceed with the first sentence of the second paragraph:
"These qualities, his fine character, as well as his military conduct, his extreme conscientiousness combined with humaneness and a soft, sympathetic heart, hidden behind iron correctness, have always been an example for me."
"Apart from considerations of absolute correctness and justice, he always allowed himself to be ruled by human feeling and understanding even when, as Disciplinary Office, he applied the Military Penal Cole."
That is paragraph 3.
I shall proceed with Document 28, page 40 to 43, to be Exhibit No. 53. It's an affidavit by Alfred Scheuerl, dated 31 August 1947, which goes into details. I should like to dispense with reading it into the record. I shall read from the second page, that's page 41, about the middle:
"I cannot imagine that a man who himself was an example of good character -- who made the highest demands on his soldiers with regard to discipline and integrity, who severely punished any misdemeanor, particularly in that connection, but who also restored right and honor to the simplest man, if to the best of his knowledge and conscience this man was innocent -- even if this decision meant reprimanding high disciplinary authorities under his subordination; I cannot imagine that such a man would consciously or even negligently violate the laws of humanity."
That was Document 28, to be followed by Document 30 in the same Document Book 1, on page 44, to be Exhibit 54.
It's a declaration by the Cathedral Capitular, dated 21 August 1946. The Catholic Rectory of the Jodokus Community, as represented by Capitular Schmidt, certifies:
"During his long activity in Bielefeld, General Kuntze made the most zealous efforts in assisting pastoral work. He paved the way for the Protestant as well as the Catholic minister in the Wehrmacht so that they were able to execute their official duties. He attached great importance to the arrangement of religious lectures and his soldiers were required to attend religious services. He showed special preference for camp services, which every soldier was obliged to attend and thereby rendered accessible to religious influence. His great interest in ecclesiastical matters and the spiritual encouragement of his men clearly prove that he was far removed from the false doctrine of National Socialist ideas. The public highly respected him as a man of genuine character."
The next document is to be #31, to be Exhibit 55. It's on page 45. It is the affidavit of a catholic Chaplain. I shall merely read the second paragraph:
"Herr Kuntze behaved correctly in dealing with the population as well as with his host, Pater Messer. The latter was a fierce opponent of the Nazis and has never a secret of this conviction. The General was sure to know of it, but never created any difficulties for the priest. On the contrary, friendly relations existed between the tw, often leading to confidential discussions on existing conditions. The General also granted his soldiers full liberty with regard to their attendance of religious services. In dealing with the Roman Catholic truly ecclasiastically-minded population, he showed himself always as a loyal, fair and liberally-minded officer."
The last document in this volume is Document 32 on pages 46 to 48, to be Exhibit 56. It's an affidavit by Fritz Strauss, Colonel, dated 27 August 1947. As is evident from this affidavit, he has know General Kuntze since 1938. He describes the activity of General Kuntze on the West Wall and his general attitude. I shall merely read the last paragraph on page 46. No, I beg your pardon, the last but one paragraph. That is, the last sentence of the paragraph:
"He never learned the art of elbowing and forcing his way, of impetuously asserting himself in positions which carried authority. Servility was not in his line, not even towards Hitler. I myself was a personal witness of this when Hitler, in summer 1939, before the war, came to the Westwall. General Kuntze's statements then were strictly to the point, without admitting any compromise - a General, giving a report to the highest authority, not as atom more.
"Hitler later had a medal coined, the so-called Westwall medal. General Kuntze, the builder of the Westwall, was the only one on whom it was not conferred on the occasion of the first official and particularly solemn award.
I openly expressed my indignation to him at his disregarded of his person. General Kuntze merely smiled in amusement. He had been ordered to build the West Wall, everything else seemed unimportant to him."
Page 47:
"General Kuntze already held the rank of a general of the Engineers before the war. Thus, he was not promoted during the whole of the war, a unique instance which seems incomprehensible in view of the careers accomplished by his younger and coeval comrades."
I shall omit the next paragraphs and proceed with the paragraph:
"For his subordinates, men as officers, the General always had a warm and fatherly heart. But from each one he demanded extreme willingness to give his very best and to show exemplary behavior as a man and soldier. Inexorably and without paying regard to the person concerned, he punished encroachments of any kind which were not compatible with the honor and decorum of a soldier, above all the disregard for strange property."
I shall proceed with the last paragraph:
"I will always remember him as a man of pure intentions and as an honest, simple soldier who always did only his duty; who detested injustice, and never tolerated it in his subordinates; it was incompatible with his Christian philosophy of life and character for him ever to commit any wrong consciously."
I shall now deal with Document Book 2, with Document 52, on pages 46 and 47.
It's to be Exhibit 57. Correction, it's document 55, not 52. It's an affidavit by Otto Roselieb, dated 15 September 1947. I shall read the first sentence:
"During tho period from Autumn 1940 to 9 August 1942, I was personal orderly to General (Engineers) Walter Kuntze and was one of his immediate circle of associates at this time.
I believe, therefore, that I am in a position too, to pass unprejudiced judgment on General Kuntze as a superior and a man."
I shall omit four lines, and proceed:
"He rejected any personal display. He put no value at all on recognition by his superiors, especially promotion or conferring of orders. He repeatedly stressed the fact to me that the affection of his subordinates and their recognition was far more important to him.
"General Kuntze cared like a father, not only for me, but for all his subordinates."
I shall proceed with about the seventh line from the bottom in the German text:
"He repeatedly declared to me, too, that he was not in favor with Hitler because he did not treat the enemy severely enough and had no National Socialist leanings. Also, when he returned from the official conference at Hitler's Field Headquarters in the Spring of 1942, he explained to me that his view of Hitler's attitude towards him, because of his too gentle procedure, had been confirmed by this conference at the Fuehrer's Field Headquarters."
Page 47:
"General Kuntze attributed the fact of his being relieved in August, 1942, to this attitude of Hitler. While he held office as deputy WB (Commander of the Armed Forces) Southeast, I often accompanied General Kuntze on his official journeys. As the situation in Greece was peaceful, we mostly traveled without escort whether by rail or car. In Serbia, on the other hand, raids by partisans had always to be counted on, for which reason we not only took our arms with us but were always accompanied by a military detachment.
"It is known to me personally that General Kuntze was always intent on decent, just treatment of the Greek population. He repeatedly saw to it that food-stuffs from Wehrmacht supplies were made available for the civilian population, and, among other things, provided for the delivery of fish to the civilian population.
To help the population, General Kuntze instructed, as I still remember, that the staff was to cultivate vegetables itself and discontinued taking them from Greek stocks. The fact that General Kuntze, distributed bread almost daily to Greek children, even giving them his own share, demonstrates his human attitude to the Greek population, too."
The next document is Document 57, Document Book 2, on page 49, to be Exhibit 58, an affidavit by Cathedral-Cartulary Dr. Christian Dolfen, dated 18 July 1947:
"I became acquainted with General of the Pioneers Walter Kuntze as Commander of the 6th Infantry Division. When Herr Kuntze came to Osnabrueck, I was often able to talk to him as man for hours at a time. During the 30 years of my pastoral labors, I became acquainted with many officers, but after becoming acquainted with Herr Kuntze, I have always tressed in the circle of my clerical friends that during the long years of my activity I had hardly ever met such a noble, high-minded character as Herr General Kuntze. Some of the conversations with him were carried on such a plane of deep emotion, that they are cherished as some of the most unforgettable memories of my long years of priesthood."
The next document will be 58 on pages 50 to 51, to be Exhibit 59. It's an affidavit by Lieutenant General von Donant, dated 1 November 1947. I shall read from the beginning:
"In February, 1944, and early in August 1944 (soon after the 20 July) when I was Commander of the railway pioneer school at RehagenKlausdorf near Berlin, anonymous letters of denouncing character were written about me to Hitler and Himmler. In those letters my person, descendency and my conduct were draw into the dirt through injurious and false claims. The purpose was - as became evident later - to force me out of office and to 'finish' me, if possible, forever, since I was suspected to be a reactionary, hostile to the Nazis."
I shall proceed with the middle of next paragraph:
"In both cases the General prevented my being personally interrogated and placed himself in front of me without regard to his own safety. Thereby I was in the first case saved from being court-martialed and in the second case from being dishonored by arrest and sentenced by a higher court or saved from the people's court of the notorious Freisler."
I shall proceed with section 2, middle of the next page, page 51:
"General of the Pioneers Kuntze as Chief of the training program in the Reserve Army had also all training schools and officers-training schools under his command. He directed this training by way of a special office. In 1944 - I do not know if this was before or after 20 July - this office suddenly was graded down to a specialist division with the 'Commander of the Reserve Army' and General of the Pioneers Kuntze slowly ousted. The General never talked to me about this because of his noble attitude, he never discussed matters concerning his own person with subordinates for reasons of discipline. However, it was an open secret that the dissolution of the office occurred because one did not believe of General of the Pioneers Kuntze that he would educate the young officer candidates in a sufficiently active and decided Nazi spirit and that he would influence the troops correspondingly. This could also be inferred from the fact that besides the dissolution of his office, all officer candidate and officer schools were separated from school units to which they had belonged and subordinated to another 'Nazi-safe' command.
"3. General of the Pioneers Kuntze was known for his calm and serene thinking and judgment, and that he tried as much as possible to keep the exaggerated Nazi orders away from the troop and the young enlisted personnel. Therefore, I never heard of the General of the Pioneers Kuntze making a public speech of political incitement or so addressing his troops. Also during conferences of commanders and officers, he never presented matters of world outlook and national socialism or gave his own instructions in this respect.
In all his conferences he always dealt only with technical matters of training and official troop affairs. In his great reserve and noble coolness towards the S NS-Party, the SS and all representatives of Nazism, his inward opposition of this world outlook and its system unworthy of human beings became clearly Apparent and recognizable."
(Menzel)
The next document will be 59, Document Book 2, to be Exhibit 60. It is an affidavit by Heinz Joachim Ehrenfeucht, dated the 24th of September, '47. I merely wish to read the following; which is the first sentence:
"From 1943 to 1945 I was subordinate to General of Engineers Kuntze and I believe that never does a chief know a soldier as well as a subordinate his chief."
I shall omit the bulk of the paragraph and proceed to the middle of the affidavit:
I was always under the impression that he, as a former soldier of the 100 000 Man Army, had an aversion against the Party. He, therefore, considered it his duty to educate especially the young soldiers to a decent, civil, Christian disposition, to a morally clean attitude, to honesty and good comradeship, declining the propaganda hubbub of the Party. He taught his officers in many discussions, held by himself, a chivalrous behavior as he had learned it as a lieutenant by the AKO (i.e. Army War Manual) of Emperor Wilhelm I.
The next document is Document 60 on pages 54 to 56, to be Exhibit 61; also in the same Document Book. It is an affidavit of Major General Wolf Menneking.
The affiant stated that he had known General Kuntze for 25 years. I shall dispense with reading the document,at least the bulk of the document, and recommend it to the judicial notice of the Tribunal. I do, however, wish to read one paragraph on page 55, page two of the document:
Expressly to the enlisted ranks, General of the Engineers Kuntze was the Faithful Ekkehard of justice. His simple objectiveness and his warmhearted understanding for the soul and the performance of the soldier - readily noticeable again and again at each inspection etc.
- won for him the affection of the soldiers of all ages.
He was a leader having his subordinates intrinsic consent to his leadership.
So he had, by his high soldierly sense of duty and his earnest feeling of responsibility towards the men entrusted to him, reached the highest goal attainable at all for a military leader.
There are two more documents, that is Document 61, Exhibit 62 on pages 57 and 58 in Document Book 3, -- I beg your pardon, it is Document Book 2. It is an affidavit by Erich Abberger, former Brigadier General, dated the 28th of July, 1947. He states that he had been intimately acquainted with the Engineer Corps General Kuntze since 1928. I shall omit the first paragraph and proceed with the fourth paragraph.
Abberger says:
Ambition was never the spur of his actions--"
MR. FULKERSON: I object. This has already been introduced in evidence in Document Book 1, page 30.
DR. MENZEL: The objection has been cleared. The document was previously mentioned, but it was not really submitted, previously.
I shall repeat this passage:
"Ambition was never the spur of his actions; on the contrary, on two occasions, known to me, he was prepared to give up his professional career on account of his inner convictions."
I shall now proceed from the bottom:
"He always emphasized that the International Law should be respected. I remember on the occasion of a map exercise in 1929, when I touched on some of those problems, that Kuntze stressed their importance for the officers at that discussion."
Now the last paragraph on page 58, page two of the document:
In summing up all those reasons it seems to mo illogical and not creditable that, in an interim period, his character should have become subject to any temporary change, during which time he deliberately, or by tolerating them, should have committed any offences against either the international war laws or humanity.
The last document will be Document 62, on pages 59 to 65, to be Exhibit 63. It is an affidavit by Dr. Greiffenberg, from Santa Monica, California, in the U.S.A.
MR. FULKERSON: I object to this on the grounds that it shows that the affiant only knew the defendants here in question up until 1938, and that is a little bit before the period we are concerned with.
DR. MENZEL: That is correct. It is quite correct that the affiant only knew Kuntze until '38. The affiant is a Jew and was to testify as to the attitude displayed by Kuntze toward the Jews, the time is after 1933, - that is after Hitler's advent of power, as the Prosecution asserted that Kuntze was hostile towards the Jews, there must be an opportunity of showing his attitude towards the Jews and toward Judaism, and that is to be done by a correspondence which I need not read.
The correspondence extends from 1933 to 1938, until the immigration of the affiant. The acquaintance was merely ruptured by the emigration of the affiant.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: We will receive it for what it is worth.
DR. MENZEL: I need not read much of this document. Page 59 contains the affidavit. The affiant requests that the letters be returned to him because he attaches importance to preserving the correspondence. It is followed on page 61 and following by the correspondence, on page 62, a letter from 1933; on page 63, a letter dated 1934; on page 64, a letter dated 1938. On page 65 there is a letter also dated 1938.
One must have known the conditions in Germany at the time in order to appreciate what such a correspondence really meant.
That was Exhibit 63.
In concluding I should like to read from Document Book 3, Document 76, on pages 36 and 37. General Kuntze, during his examination had already made statements on his official trips, even if ho could recall the official trips, he had made, he wanted to ascertain the precise dates. That is Document Book 3, page 36. He wanted to be sure of the dates but was unable to do so when being examined, as at the time the material from. Washington had only just arrived, and was, not yet available to the defense. Meanwhile, he has seen those documents and found that the data in the documents confirmed his recollection, and in this affidavit he has now specified his official trips.
I think it would be simpler under the circumstances to receive the affidavit without reading it.
MR. FULKERSON: I object to this, if Your Honors please. This defendant, has already testified and boon given a full opportunity to explain all of this. The documents to which Dr. Menzel refers are neither past recollection nor present recollection refreshed. I cannot think of any possible theory upon which, after having looked over a mass of documents which someone else compiled, he can then -
THE PRESIDENT: How do you know someone else compiled them?
MR. FULKERSON: If Your Honor pleases, if there are the documents from Washington, I assume General Kuntze did not write them all himself.
Is that true? Did General Kuntze take these dates from documents he had written himself?
DR. MENZEL: The documents from Washington, of course he did not write, but from those documents he confirmed the fact that his recollection about the official trips was correct. In this connection I should like to point out that at the time of the examination of General Kuntze, the documents had not arrived from Washington. At the time in order to expedite proceedings, it was said that after the examination of Kuntze had been concluded, a supplementary information was possible.
I refer to the record. The German page is 2,554; English record 3617, in which I concluded the examination of General Kuntze by saying that at that stage of the proceedings I need no longer examine him because the documents from Washington were not available and could not have been inspected at the time.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: It seems to me, General Kuntze is here in the Courtroom, and that if the objection is made, possibly this would not be proper. If the objection was pressed I assume you would have to call him to the stand . and have him testify to them.
THE PRESIDENT: We have let others in of a similar nature.
MR. FULKERSON: I withdraw my objection. I do not wish to be technical. I just want to call this to the Court's attention.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: Very well.
DR. MENZEL: This affidavit will be Exhibit 64. I need not road it. It merely contains a record of the official trips. I merely wish to refer to a longer trip under Section 3, from 25 February to 14 March, 1942.
The last document of these three document books is Document 77, on pages 38 to 40. It is in the same volume.
(Menzel) It is based on the same fact, to-wit, that General Kuntze, during his examination, declared in a general way that a great number of documents -- incriminating documents -did not come to his knowledge.
Noe he has made an affidavit as to which documents he did not have knowledge, just for information, and this affidavit contains a record of the documents of which he had no knowledge.
This is shown by the distribution, and partly owing to the fact that they were War Diaries which were not submitted at all, and in part because they were activity reports, or reports of subordinated military agencies or reports from one such agency to the other which automatically were not submitted. I believed that it would be a help to the Tribunal if I would tabulate all of these documents in proper sequence.
It also contains records of documents before his assumption of office, as well as exhibits 590 - 593 submitted after his direct examination or cross-examination. It is merely a compilation for informational purposes which in my view will facilitate the work of the Tribunal.
May I assign Exhibit No. 65 to this compilation for informational purposes.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: We will take our afternoon recess at this time.
THE MARSHAL: This court will be in recess until 1520 hours.
(Tribunal in recess for 15 minutes)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
DR. LATERNSER: If the Tribunal please, yesterday I had announced a witness while I was presenting my evidence. Now, I can give his name. His name is Hassold , H a s s o 1 d , from Passau and he will also be heard tomorrow afternoon. I intend to examine him at that time and the examination will not take more than an hour.
PRESIDING JUDGE CARTER: Very well. You may proceed.
DR. MENZEL (Counsel for defendant Kuntze): Thank you, Your Honor.
If the Tribunal please, I have now finished the three document books for Kuntze and there is only the so-called Document Book IV to present at this point which, as I said initially, consists of only two document At this point the documents have been translated and I hope that the Tribunal is in the meantime in possession of the English documents. Document Book IV contains Document No. 78 on Page 1 which will be offered as Kuntze Exhibit 66. It is an affidavit given by Dr. Reger.
MR. FULKERSON: Your Honors, I would like to object to this document. We are pushing back the chronological time further and further. First we had one that covered the period from 1933 to 1938. Now we go back to one that covers the period from 1935 up to 1936.
DR. MENZEL: That is correct. This document covers a period of time before the war. It was only to describe the relation between General Kuntze as judicial authority and an army judge who worked under him, All this was to throw light on General Kuntze's attitude as judicial authority.
PRESIDING JUDGE CAREER: We will receive it.
DR. MENZEL: This then is Kuntze Exhibit 66. I don't have to read it. It deals, as I said before, with the attitude and position of General Kuntze as judicial authority.
Now follows the last document which is on page 2 of Document Book IV and this will be Kuntze Exhibit 67. The document number is 79 and the Exhibit Number is 67. It is an affidavit executed by Joachim von Woedtke and the date is 30 December 1947.
The witness, first of all, refers to his affidavit given on 3 December 1947 which is an affidavit which I have presented today already as Exhibit 46. The document contained is contained in Document Book III and the document number is 75. Exhibit 46 referred amongst other things to General Kuntze's attitude on the treatment of prisoners of war. The affiant has now supplemented his previous affidavit as follows: I read the seconds paragraph:
"I distinctly remember that General Kuntze, while on an official visit to the 61st division, voiced his opinion regarding treatment of prisoners to the Commander of this Division, particularly stressing the fact that also captured commissars were to be treated as prisoners of war."
That brings me to the end of Document Book IV. If the Tribunal please, I have now completed the presentation of my documents for General Kuntze.
DR. LATERNSER: If the Tribunal please, Dr. Sauter or will now continue. He will come in any moment. I beg your pardon for his not being here but my colleague, Dr. Weisgerber is already on his way to inform him. I suppose that Dr. Sauter assumed that Dr. Menzel's reading would take a little longer. I believe that is why he is not here now but he will arrive any minute to continue.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Laternser, I wonder if all the counsel in this case can be here tomorrow morning. Not only I, but I am sure the other members of the Tribunal, want a final check on the documents that are now in process of preparation. I was informed at noon that there were even some documents submitted yesterday and there must be a cutting off place and a time at which we will close or have a time when all the counsel will have submitted all their documents so that there will be no delay.
Will you kindly get word to all the counsel so we may check on that matter closely tomorrow morning?
DR. LATERNSER: Yes, certainly, I shall do that.
If the Tribunal please, concerning the information given to the Tribunal yesterday by the Secretary General about the handing in of documents by the defense, we have ascertained in the meantime that there must have been an error. My colleague, Dr. Tipp has not submitted his document book on the 6th of January as the information went but already on the 23rd of December. I myself have seen a receipt to that effect today.
Also my colleague, Dr. Mueller-Torgow, has submitted his last document book sometime ago. However, there were some difficulties at the time to get hold of a translator and interpreter for the modem Greek language. But for some time such a person has been found and although Dr. Mueller-Torgow has tried for some days now to get this document book back, he has so far not succeeded in doing this. I do hope, however, that he will succeed in receiving that document book by tomorrow morning.
This afternoon can yet be taken up by Dr. Sauter and tomorrow Dr. Mueller-Torgow's document book could possibly be presented if it has come back from the Translation Division, and tomorrow afternoon I would be ready to examine my two witnesses so that the time of the Tribunal will not be wasted, at least not until tomorrow afternoon.
THE PRESIDENT: I think I should state because of the comments I made yesterday that I had a conference at four-thirty yesterday afternoon with Mr. Hodges of the Translation Department and he advises me that he will see to it that there will be cooperation and that there will be attention given to this case which, being the oldest case and the one nearest completion, takes priority over other causes; and he assures me that to the extent that it is humanly possible for his department to do so that the translations will be made and will be hurried through as rapidly as possible.
Now, even with that attitude and consideration on his part, we must not abuse his pod nature and his present attitude by rushing in documents at the very last moment and expecting the impossible to be done.
DR. LATERNSER: Thank you very much, Your Honor, certainly the defense will not do that. I can only state again and again that all of us tried to the best of our abilities not to have any delay , I believe that we on our part did everything we could.