A. A major motorized convoy of my regiment is attacked suddenly in a rocky gorge on the road Tripolis-Petras. I arrived at the place of the action together with members of the regiments a very short time after the attack. The crew was massacred, partially under terrible mutilations, with the exception of several dispersed men and about 20 wounded. Nearly all of the dead and wounded were deprived of their clothes and absolutely naked. The motor cars were pillaged and set on fire. According to conforming reports of the surviving wounded men the pillaging of the dead men and the murdering of the wounded was done by women and halfgrown youths. The immediately starting chase of the band was without success. As usual after such attacks the bandits dispersed probably, they had hidden the weapons and worked as "peaceful peasants" on the fields. The bandits wore civilian clothing without any badge when such or similar attacks occurred. It happened that way that my adjutant was wounded next to my billets through two shots in the abdomen by a seemingly harmless civilian. The bandit had both hands in the pockets of his overcoat at this incident and shot with a revolver through his pocket. A transport of wounded soldiers of the fast detachment of my division was suddenly attacked, the wounded and the sanitary personnel murdered and the motor cars for the sick men, distinguished by the Red Cross set on fire. The Protestant division chaplain Lange from Koenigsberg/ Prussia who is a friend of mine was carried off by bandits on the occasion of an attack against a motorized convoy and presumably murdered as there is no trace left of him.
A company of my division was captured with about 60 men in dense fog. The soldiers were put to forced labor under the threat that all will be shot as soon as even a single one would try to flee. Parts of my division undertook it to liberate the soldiers. Before the band dispersed the soldiers were driven together on a mountain, pushed down a rock and shots fired into the human crowd. This nearly incredible fact was confirmed by the civilian population as well as by two or three wounded soldiers who had only feigned death.
According to depositions of the civilian population and according to photographs which were found German soldiers were murdered in the following way at another place: The hands of the victims were tied to their feet while they were in a kneeling position, the head was pulled back and a knife was pushed into the threat where it adjoins the body (official notification of the divisional commander to the troops). The few examples mentioned above are no exceptions, but only a short sketch of the numerous atrocities committed by the bands.
The preceding depositions rest only on my personal observations and experiences and can be confirmed by every soldier of my former unit. I know more facts than those from official reports, depositions of eye-witnesses from the troops and the civilian population which characterize very clearly the atrocities of the Balkans bands in their fight against each other and the civilian population, atrocities which can scarcely be reported. The German Wehrmacht has suffered enormous losses by the inhuman way of combat of the bands which violates every known international law. The German troops, ignorant of the country and by far inferior in numbers, could defend themselves only with tremendous efforts and difficulties against the furt of the bands, especially as they had according to their orders to consider mainly the defense of the area against external enemies.
(signed) Wilhelm PLEWA This affidavit by the witness Plewa has been sworn to properly and duly certified by the community director.
The next document is document No. 35 in book 2, it is exhibit No. 22. This is an affidavit by one Juergen Bennecke, who is 35 years of age. He states that in the war he was made an officer of the General Staff of the 100th Rifle division from May 1943 until February 1944. His statements are based on his own observations and official reports, which he received as first officer of the General Staff. Again this affidavit, if the Tribunal please, describes the methods used by the bands and partisan both against the Wehrmacht as well as other elements in the population in the Balkans.
I need not read the introduction, I shall start with the bottom of page 20, it says here:
"I remember for instance the reports of the destruction of the castle in Nasice, a place on the Eastern rim of the Rapuk. The bandits killed here the castle owner and a great part of his personnel. Afterwards they set the castle on fire. The 100 rifle division suffered also losses through insidious attacks by bandits in civilian clothes. Repeatedly were single guards shot at, for instance, and the whole signal platoon of the rifle regiment was unexpectedly attacked on the occasion of a band enterprise. Part of them was later found murdered in a beastly way. All bands with which the 100. rifle division came then into contact were not in uniform or clothed in German or Croat uniforms in a misleading way. They had neither arm bands nor identification documents and tried everything to avoid what would characterize them as enemy combatants, for it was just their main strength that they disappeared always again among the population which covered them voluntarily to a smaller part, to apart from fear of their cruel revenge only.
I shall not read the next paragraph. It deals with the blowing up of a railway lines. In the next paragraph he talks of the destruction of roads. I shall read from page 21 under B:
B) From September 1943 until February 1944 the division was stationed in Albania where I could witness from own observations the steadily increasing embittered civil war between the Albanians themselves as well as the growth of more and more chaotic conditions. The civil war was waged between the so called "National bands", which in the main were the followers of all anti-communist minded elements and the communist bands, whose ringleader was at that time a communist by name of Nehmed SCHEHU. I became aware of the cruelty of this fighting again and again through utterances of nationalist Albanian leaders who were neutral vis a vis us, who cold-blooded spoke about the slaughtering of captured enemies and who could not understand why the Germans did never comply with their request to act likewise.
The communist bands on their part acted in the same way. For instance my chauffeur by name of SIMON was captured during a raid by communist bands. Through a miracle he escaped death and witnessed during his captivity of many weeks, the assassination of several German soldiers.
Worth mentioning is further the inhuman treatment which many Italians suffered from the hands of the Albanian communist bands. During the marching off of the Italian occupation troops, who had been disarmed by us in September 1943, these troops were frequently attacked at that time by communists and partly massacred, partly captured. Later on a part of these prisoners came again in German hands. They were totally wretched and reduced to a state of complete misery after the communists had used them as slaves under the worst possible conditions. The bands naturally put up very often ambushes on the most important highways similar as in Syrmia disregarding thereby all rules of international law. They were not recognizable as enemy fighters but were clad in mufti or German uniforms and on principle spared nothing. Occupants of vehicles showing the red cross were massacred in the same manner as nearly all enemies who fell into their hands.
Then in the last paragraph the affiant describes in conclusion what he has seen and speaks of the ruthless and cruel methods of fighting of the bands. The affidavit has been properly sworn to and certified.
The next document is No. 36 and I shall offer it as exhibit as, it is on page 24 of the document book 2. The document is of affiant Max Steinhaeusser, whom as he says was a lieutenant and by, and as of the end of May, 1944 and as such he was in the Balkan and was enroute from the reserve unit to the active units. He describes the experiences he had on that occasion. I shall not read the document, but I shall appreciate it if the Tribunal will take judicial notice of it.
The next document is No. 37 and it is an affidavit by one Karl Moest, who as a 1st lieutenant served since the spring of 1943 in the Balkans. He also confirms that the bands, the attackers were not regular troops. Some of them were civilians, including women and adolescents and that these bands disregarded all international law. For reasons of evidence, I should appreciate it if judicial notice were taken of this affidavit, which is document No. 37, exhibit 24.
The next document is document 38 on page 28. This will become exhibit 25, von Geitner exhibit 25. This affidavit was given by witness Georg Albrecht, who as a sergeant served for about a year and a half in the Balkans, particularly in Greece. He describes four cases, which he has seen himself, which are of importance if one is to form a picture of the way the partisans fought, how the partisans wore German uniforms and had women fighting in their ranks, how they did not spare any hospital trains, etc.
I shall not read it verbatum but ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it.
Now to come to document No. 39, document book Seitner 2 on page 30. This affidavit has again been properly sworn to and certified by a notary. It has been given by a sergeant, Georg Moser, an officer of justice at the Court of Appeals in Munich and his statement shows how the Red Cross was disregarded by the partisan units and the attacks on the part of the partisan units on Red Cross vans and similar installations.
The next document von Geitner No. 40 may be found on page 32 of the von Geitner document book. It is an affidavit by Oscar Hosa. He is a German citizen who served in the Balkans from April of 1943 until October of 1943 as a company commander and from January 1944 until November 1944 as a battalion commander in Kolascbin. The exhibit No. of this document incidentally is 27, document 40 is offered as exhibit 27. This affiant describes his experiences as company and battalion commander. He mentions four cases which he experienced himself. where civilians were murdered in their beds by enemy bands and he says, and I am reading from paragraph B on page 32:
"On 27 January 1944, 15 members of my battalion fell into the hands of the rebels, parts of the so-called 13 coast division, during a fight in a forest southwest of Karlovac. The rebels had been repulsed in the course of the further fighting and we found 15 comrades dead, cruelly mutilated, totally robbed; they were stark naked."
Under C he says:
"During a skirmish west of Bihac in November 1944, a Ustascha unit was subordinated to me. In hand to hand fighting they used a cirved knife with which they cut open the jugular vein of the enemy. I ordered the unit leader 1st Lieutenant Novak to me and forbade him this method of hand to hand fighting.
He gave me this as an answer '"The Serbs mst be exterminated..'" Then under D he describes the attacks by partisan units on Red Cross units and I beg the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it.
Court No. V, Case No. VII.
The next document is document No. 41 on page 44 and it will become exhibit 28, von Geitner No. 28. It is an affidavit given by Max Bauer, who was a Master Sergeant of the Police of Obergrain, District of Stein, from March 1943 to May 1945. He describes his observations as a police officer in the Balkans, he also talks of arson committed by the bands, pilfering, looting, and continuous acts of sabotage on the part of the partisans. He talks of armed women among the partisan units, etc. I should appreciate it if judicial notice were taken of this document.
I shall now come to document No. 42 in von Geitner volume 2 on page 36 and it is offered as exhibit 29, von Geitner exhibit 29. This affidavit again has been duly sworn to and certified by the Bourgemeister. It is an affidavit that was used before in the International Military Tribunal trial. This affiant Riehard Gerhardt is a Serbian by birth and during the German occupation of Serbia had been used by the Germans to fight the bands. After conscription he joined the SS Division Prinz Eugen. As a photographer he was drafted and this becomes clear from his personal data. I shall read paragraph 2 on page 36:
"As a photographer and laboratory assistant with the Staff of the SS-Division Prinz Eugen and later with the V. Corps (from the fall of 1942 to the end of 1944) I developed films of photographs taken of massacred SS men stripped and mutilated beyond recognition. This, I presume, did not happen rarely and was also practiced on Pravoslavic Serbians by Croatian partisans. If an incident of the kind occurred one found 8 to 15 mutilated persons in each case. The atrocities were mostly committed by women and girls who had formerly studied medicine. The photos had to be taken in order to identify those who had been massacred, as they had been stripped of identification discs, pay-books, shoes and clothing.
I could recognize at that time only one of them, namely the SS-Unterscharfuehrer Mayer Heimer from Gross-Betschkerek, who is buried at the soldiers's cemetery in Rihatsch."
And then the affiant continues "In 1943, at a railroad bridge about 20 km from Mostar, approximately 80 partisans overpowered about 300 and literally butchered a large part of them, by forcing them to lay their heads on a stone.
Before that, however, the Italians had to blow up, with their own hands, the bridge they had been assigned to guard. When our men arrived on the scene, they found streaks of curdled blood on the stone as thick as an arm. The corpses were lying in the Neretwa river. I saw the films of the photos taken when they were developed in our laboratory."
And then the last paragraph, I would ask to take judicial notice of it.
The next document ison page 38, it is No. 43 and I shall give it the exhibit No. 30. It is an affidavit duly sworn to and certified. It comes from the affiant Albert Schaeffer from Czecho Slovakia. He was a driver with the 10th Heavy Machine Gun company of the SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" from the fall of 1942 up to the end of the war. He has experienced five specified different incidents
a) On 28 February 1943 I saw in the Bihatsch area SS comrades of the 8th infantry company who had been stripped and butchered by partisans. Among them I recognized two countrymen, namely Franz Lehr and Karl Schmidt, both from Werschetz.
b) In October 1944, near Zwornik, I say German members of the Wehrmacht, who had been stripped and butchered. The insurgents had stuffed the genitals into the victim's mouths.
c) I can testify that partisans looted the food stocks of all places they passed through, burnt down the houses and forced all the men of the civilian population, and even part of the women, to join them.
d) A considerable percentage of the railway stations in Bosnia was burned down by the insurgents; bridges and mountain passes were continually being clown up. In January 1943 they set fire to the large saw-mill at Turbe near Travnik.
3) It has to be reckoned with that on all roads singel vehicles, especially supply vehicles, would be fired on by partisans." So far witness Schaeffer from Czenho Slovakia.
Now we come to Document No. Geitner 44 which is on page 40 and is offered as Exhibit 31. This is albetter by the Mayor Istiea in Greece to a certain woman Renata Mast. The husband of this Renata Mast who in the spring of 1944 had to make a forced landing in Greece with his aircraft, was murdered by Communists and the Mayor of Istiea, the nearby town, confirms in this letter the whole incident in the course of which several pilots and flyers had been murdered by the Communists and later on the Communists even wore the clothes that the murdered men had worn.
Document No. 44, Exhibit 31, is followed by Document No. 45 which belongs to it and it will become Exhibit No. 32. It is a further similar confirmation by the Mayor Athanasios Iwos of Istiea. The translation of this Greek letter and its correctness has been confirmed by a Greek interpreter employed by the prosecution. I should appreciate it if judicial notice were taken of this document. I shall not read it because it only describes one single case.
I shall now come to Document No. 46 on page 43 and this will become Exhibit No. 33. It is an affidavit given by an affiant of whom we have had an affidavit before. He is the Prinz Holstein who from September 1942 to January 1943 was serving in the Balkans as an officer in a number of functions on the Staff of the Commander Serbia, the same staff, in other words, where the defendant von Geitner was serving. The affiant describes first, under paragraph 1, a large number of sabotage acts and cruelties by the partisans committed against the Wehrmacht. He mentions, for example, that on one day the railroad line from Belgrade to Nish was interrupted no less than 30 times, that another line had been destroyed to such an extent that it could not be repaired again during his time in Serbia.
I shall then read from paragraph 2 on page 44 where it says:
"In the winter of 1941/42, in the area of Valjevo a lieutenant of the 714. Infantry Division was kidnapped. He was locked up by the insurgents in a stable at a small place. He was then stripped naked and tied with his back to a stake in the center of the village.
He was then publicly jeered at by the population and several women grabbed at his genitals. As he definitely expected his public castration and execution he succeeded by the utmost exertion to liberate himself and escape during a moment when he was not watched, At Belgrade, he reported in my presence, this experience to the Chief of the General Staff of that time.
Paragraph 3:
"During the battles in the Serbian-Bosnian area in winter 1942/43 it was repeatedly observed and reported by the 717th Infantry Division that graves of German soldiers were opened; the bodies thrown out, undressed and subsequently mutilated."
"Atrocities of the Serbs against the Croats and vice - versa" -he says on page 45 under "B-1":
"After the penetration of Bosnia by Croatian troop units and Ustasche units severe fighting and incredible atrocities against the Serbs took place. In spring 1942 approximately 1000 bodies came floating down the Drina and Save in the area of Belgrade, according to a report of the competent police and sanitation authorities. As far as could be observed, they were the bodies of Serbs who had partly been cruelly mutilated. Example: A cat had been sewn into the belly of a woman several bodies were tied together with wire -- children were tied to mothers-bodies were partly badly mutilated with terrible wounds from beatings; this produced, in its turn atrocities of the Serbs against the Croats. Religious conflicts, "Prawoslavs against Roman - Catholic Croats), based on an ancient tradition, and vendetta (murderous revenge) still increased the atrocities. Example: I do not remember the exact date, but probably February or March 1942. In the district of Bajina-Pasta on the Drina a German reconnaissance discovered the following facts in a church: The Serbs had killed two Croatian women, had cut off their breasts and placed them on the altar and stuck the two heads which were cut off, on top of the altar lights.
2) Similar atrocities occurred at a later date in the area of the 718 infantry division in the district of Sarajewo: Example:
In June 1942 one of the Ustasche companies stationed in Bosnia left this station in order to move to Zagreb. On the march through this district, this company burned several Serbian villages and murdered at that occasion the civilian population, as far as it could be found. The Bosnian districts were mainly populated by Serbs. Among others they committed thereby also the following separate atrocities: Serbian women, whom they (the company) had seized in a village, were killed in the most bestial manner, partly by cutting the throat and slicing open the belly of several of these women, after having undressed them, partly through pushing wooden wedges into their sexual organs, among these was a pregnant women. These facts of the case were established at that time by the German field rural police, which disarmed the Ustascha company at entering Sarajewa on an order of the 718 Infantry Division, placed their members under solitary arrest, and interrogated them separately. The report of the division on this incident was transmitted to the OKW through the official channel by the commanding general and commander in Serbia, under whose command the division in Croatia was still placed at that time. He requested to examine and try the case by a German court martial. On an order by HITLER the measures for examination and condemnation taken by the division, were then canceled again. He was of the opinion that by such measures for the protection of the Serbian population by the German Wehrmacht "the young government - supporting Ustasche - movement would suffer more damage than the advantage gained for the German Wehrmacht would warrant."
I shall not read from paragraph 3 which follows on page 46. It deals with the shooting of unarmed prisoners of war. The affidavit has been properly certified and sworn to. In connection therewith there is the next document which is Document 46-A, on page 47-A of Geitner Book No. II, and it is Exhibit No. 34.
This document concerns, from the War Diary of the War Operational Staff, the correctness of what Prinz Holstein has said in his previous affidavit.
I shall now come to Document No. 47 on page 48 of Document Book Geitner II. It will become Exhibit No. 35.
Documents 47 through 50, I should like to say, perhaps part of these documents and some of Document No. 51, deal with measures taken for the benefit of the civilian population in the Balkans and with matters of that type.
Document No. 47, Exhibit No. 35, which I have already mentioned: is an affidavit by the affiant Wolfgang Cartellier, who as 1st Lieutenant in the Reserve and later as Captain in the Reserve served from 1942 until the end of the war in the Balkans in Serbia. He was in the Quartermaster General Department of the Wehrmacht Operational Staff. He became very familiar with conditions there. I shall not read the details of this affidavit. It merely describes the efforts made by the German occupation troops and authorities to improve Serbian economy and the measures they took for the welfare of the Serbian civilian population.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Sauter, before you start on another document, I think this would be a good time and place to adjourn for the day and for the week. The Tribunal will now stand adjourned until October 27, 1947 at 9:30 o'clock in the morning.
Official Transcript of Military Tribunal 5, Case 7, in the matter of the United States of America against Wilhelm List et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 22 October 1947, 0930 hours, Judge Burke, presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal 5.
Military Tribunal 5 is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshall, will you ascertain if all the defendants are present in the Courtroom?
THE MARSHAL: May it please, your Honor, all the defendants are present in the Courtroom except the defendant von Weichs, who is still in the hospital.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Burke will preside at this day's session.
JUDGE BURKE: You may proceed, Dr. Sauter.
DR. SAUTER: May it please the Tribunal, on Friday before the recess I started on Document 47, in Document Book Geitner 2, and I had offered it as Exhibit 35.
JUDGE BURKE: Dr. Sauter, may I ask you to give reference to the document number in Document Book 2 again please?
DR. SAUTER: I am talking about document 47, Exhibit 35.
JUDGE BURKE: Thank you.
DR. SAUTER: The pages, 47 to 50, and part of page 51, dealing with the German measures of welfare for the civilian population in the Balkans and similar problems. These documents are offered in order to refute the change that the defendants had participated in a plan of extermination and enslavement of the Serbian people. Document 47 on which I had started on Friday has been given by Wolfgang Cartellieri, who says that from autumn 1942 until the end of the war he served first as a 1st Lieutenant and then as a Captain in the reserve on the quarter master department of the Operational Staff, in other words, with the OKW, and in that position he dealt mainly with economic measures concerning the Balkans. He is particularly well informed about those problems, because as becomes clear from the last sentence of his affidavit after the war he was requested by the American War Department in Washington to compile documentary material.
This affiant is a civil servant in Heidelberg, which becomes clear from the certification to the document. I snall not read the details of this affidavit. I would appreciate it if judicial notice wore taken of the affidavit. The affiant describes in Document 47 the numerous efforts on the part of the German occupation authorities, including Herr von Geitner, to protect economy and currencies in the Balkans, to prevent the threatening starvation and to supply the civilian population with the necessary supplies for their daily life. In order to save time I shall not read this voluminous document. It is an affidavit which has been properly sworn to and certified by the Notary in Heidelberg.
I shall now come to the next document, which is No. 48, and which will be Exhibit 35, in Document Book Geitner 2, on page 51.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Sauter, is that not Exhibit 36? I believe you must have misstated yourself when you said Exhibit 35.
DR. SAUTER: Thank you very much. It should be Exhibit 36. Document 48 will be Exhibit 36, on page 51 of the Document Book Geitner 2. This document has been given by a doctor, Dr. Erb, who is now professor of medicine at the German University of Marburg. It becomes clear from this document that Professor Dr. Erb served from December 1943 until the end of the war as a consultant surgeon with the Wehrmacht in Greece, and on the Balkans. Again I shall not read the details of this document book. I beg the court to take judicial notice of it. It will become clear from it what aid was given, particularly in medical matters, by the German occupying power and thus also Herr von Geitner to the civilian population there. This affidavit also is to comment on the charge that the civilian population was to be exterminated or deciminated, and the document is to show that nothing more could have been done for the population if they had been Germans. I shall then immediately start on the next document which is Document 49, which will become Exhibit 37. It is in Document Book Geitner 2 on page 54, and it is an affidavit by one Herman Ritgen again properly sworn to and duly certified. This time it is a Battalion Commander, an officer serving at the front, who in 1943 and 1944 was fighting down there and who confirms that an order had been issued by the German authorities in order to safeguard the food of the native population and to prevent any non--compliance of these orders on the part of the Germans.
Then we come to Document 50 in Document Book Geitner 2, on page 56, and it will become Exhibit 38. This comes from a German civil servant, who as a technical inspector was employed down there in 1943, and who can also confirm the good results of medical welfare for the civilian population taken on the part of the German forces. In order to save time I merely ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of the document.
The next document is Document 51 in Document Book, Geitner 2, on page 57, and it will become Exhibit 39. This again is a fairly extensive document, and I would appreciate it if the court took notice of its contents. It was given by Otto Goscher, who is now 57 years of age, who in 1944 was 2-B with the Military Command Southeast. He worked on personnel matters of the men. In paragraphs one to three of this affidavit he described efforts made by German authorities in Belgrade to supply all the civilian population, to preserve cultural life in Serbia and to revive it, and to protect Serbian property. Under paragraphs four and five he describes from his own observations the methods of warfare chosen by the Partisans. I shall read only paragraphs four and five on page 58, which read as follows:
"The underhand combat methods of our opponents, the Cetniks, and in particular the Tito-Partisans, are common knowledge. Continuous reports in this connection were received from the combat troops and occupying battalions. I personally know of two cases from my own experience, where German soldiers were ambushed, killed and left completely unclothed in a ditch on the highway. One case occurred near Brod in Croatia in the late summer of 1943, and the other near Topola (about 60 km from Belgrade) in the late summer of 1944."
"Railroad sabotaging acts started here and there in 1943 and increased to such a degree that in the autumn of 1944 there was probably not a day on which such destructions or losses were not reported in one or several places. The rebels were completely indifferent to the fact that civilian persons, too, were wounded and killed in the course of these acts.
They had, anyway, a quite different conception of the value of human life than we had. In a country where blood feuds are still the order of the day, where not only the different tribes, but also the different religious communities and social classes fight each other with the greatest violence, a human life does not count much. This fight amongst themselves was conducted with the greatest brutality. Cruelties as well as mutilations of prisoners and dead bodies were the order of the day. Horrible photographs of such things were in circulation which remained with the files of the Ic and which, having been found in the captured archives, should be known to the Prosecution as well as the incriminating material. I personally found those photos too horrid. I even don't recollect whether I would have been allowed to keep copies. I still possess a few photos of captured Tito-Partisans, from which it can be clearly seen that these opponents were not civilized troops in uniform, but just bands. If required those photos will be made available, though with reluctance."
This affidavit by Gescher has been duly sworn to and certified.
The next document No. 52, is on page 60, and I shall not offer it to the court; because the witness, Wollny, who gave the affidavit has already been heard here as a witness in this court, nor do I offer the next document No. 53, on page 62 Document Book Geitner 2, because Scheller, who has given the affidavit lives here in Nurnberg, and can therefore be examined as a witness, should this be necessary.
This next document brings to a conclusion Document Book Geitner 2.
I shall now begin with Document Book Geitner 3. This contains Documents 54 to 80. The documents in this volume deal mainly with von Geitner's personality and character, the principle and aims of his work and service to Serbia, and his attitude towards the Serbian people. As in many of these documents we have repetition. I shall merely offer many documents in this book without actually reading all the details, thus to save time.
The first document in Volume III is Document 54, and is offered as Exhibit 40. Document 54, Exhibit 40, page 1 of the Document Book III, for Geitner. This Document 54 has been given by the Dr. Toerg-Wilhelm Hammer, who is 64 years of age, and between 1942 and 1944, as he says, was the first military officer with the Commanding General and Military Commander Serbia, and in that capacity he says he had every opportunity to get to know the defendant von Geitner and observe his work. From this document I shall read the introductory remarks about von Geitner's character:
As regards the nature of his character as well as his purely human qualities, Herr V. Geitner was an outstanding personality who enjoyed general popularity not only among his soldiers, but also among the Serbian population. One of his particularly apparent traits was his absolute veracity united with a strongly marked sense of justice which he nearly pushed to the point of fanaticism. He never let himself be carried away to the extent of haughtiness. In his calm, objective manner and with his well-balanced nature he mastered even difficult situations. I never saw and cannot imagine either that this perfect gentleman ever exceeded his powers.
As an expert on the situation in Serbia, and in the Balkans, as a result of long years of experience, I had the opportunity of discussing with him officially and privately the Serbian and Croatian problems and I can say in good faith that he had recognized the high qualities of the Serbian people and for that reason already he most eagerly endeavoured to stand up for the Serbs wherever he could.
He detested the radical pro-Ustasha policy of the Zagreb ambassador-dilettante Kasche as well as the anti-Serbian one of the then SS and Police Dodder Meyszner who adopted the point of view that the Serbs must be exterminated. I remember very well that v. Geitner together with the commander, General Felber, left a party at Meyszner's before its end because the conversation carried on there about SS-methods were repulsive to him, In my opinion there can be no doubt that v. Geitner's conception and attitude must be called at least pro-Serbian if not Serbophil. Wherever there was great distress among the Serbian people v. Geitner interferred and helped to the best of his ability and allayed sufferings. Ever since I became acquainted with Herr v. Geitner I know that he was an opponent of Hitler and his vassals. During conversations carried on with him personally I had the opportunity of ascertaining his detestation of Hitler's mad policy. Thus he said already about the middle or the end of 1943: "If there are no signs and wonders, - and I do not believe in them - the war will be lost for us."
All sanitary measures taken by me for the Serbian population were first reported by me to Herr v. Geitner and approved and furthered by him as far as possible.
This is as far as I wish to read from this affidavit. The balance of the document I will not read. The affiant describes in his later statements the details of the action taken by von Geitner in Belgrade to combat epidemics, the danger of epidemics, provide food and billets for refugees, to drain swamps in order to obtain more agricultural areas, etc. On page 4 he sums up his impressions in this respect to effect, which is the sentence on the bottom of page 4, and the beginning of page 5, - "My Serbian friends and acquaintances were fully conscious of the care taken by the German Military agencies of their people and frequently enough confirmed this to me with words of gratitude.
The reasonable part of the Serbian population will, I believe never have occasion to reproach Herr von Geitner with violation of the rights of humanity."
This is as far as I shall quote.
I shall not read the balance of the document. The affiant reports therein how Herr von Geitner made efforts on behalf of Serbian hospitals, in the teeth of SS resistance, how he attempted to fight attempts made by Herr Meyssner, the SS police leader, and finally how he improved matters in the Semlin camp, although the affiant expresses that that camp was not the concern of Herr von Geitner actually, and the higher SS and Police Leader had forbidden him to enter the camp.
I shall now come to the next document No. 55, Document Book III, page 10, which will become Exhibit 41, Geitner 41. This affidavit has been duly sworn to and certified. It was given by Dr. Heinz Reuter, and it speaks about similar matters in the way of welfare for the Serbian population. The affiant, Dr. Reuter, has obtained his knowledge because he served as hygienic and medical officer from March 1943 and until October 1943 in the Balkans.