"If it is necessary to furnish a new argument to support this thesis further, let it suffice to recall that the occupying power has employed all means to introduce into the structure for transforming, from top to bottom, the devoted agents and National Socialists. This was real termites work.
"The ordinance of march 7, 1941, under the pretext of renewing the cadres of the administration, provided for the removal of a great number of officials. They would naturally be replaced by Germanophiles.
"finally, the Germans set up at the head of the Ministries of the interior, one of their most devoted agents who arrogated to himself, as we shall see subsequently, the right to designate aldermen, permanent deputies, Buergermeisters, et cetera, and use his rights to proceed to certain appointments of Commissaires d'arrondissement, for instance, by setting into position creatures of the enemy." violations by the Germans of the Belgian public order, classifying these under two headings. The first is entitled "Modification made in the constitutional structure that existed before." ordinance of 18 July 1940, which immediately abolished all public activity; then a series of decrees by which the Germanssuppressed electing of aldermen and decided that these aldermen would henceforth be designated by the central power.
This was the subversion of the traditional democratic The second heading of the report is entitled, "Introduction into State dominated inspiration."
Such institutions were, in fact, created by the German authorities.
The most remarkable are the of merchandise.
The report analyses the characteristics of these liberties.
They were organs of totalitarian inspiration in which the completely revealing, of the Belgian report on Germanization.
We in the economic statement and likewise in Mr. Dubost's expose and, manner bound to the regime of France.
The indications which I will the universities of Belgium.
We find here again the same phenomenon which I will present has been taken from the Appendix.
I must authenticity.
I shall later present these appendices, and I shall witness on the subject of these questions.
If this satisfies the
THE PRESIDENT: M. Faure, what are the annexes to which you are referring?
M. FAURE: They are documents which are in the Appendix of the Belgian report.
They are as follows.
report, which has already been submitted. On the other hand, another series of appendices.
For this reason the appendices were not this was only a part.
They are notes of the appendices in which we point by the hearing of a witness.
I thought, therefore, that I could Prosecution, and on which I would produce the testimonial proof.
On
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. The Tribunal is satisfied with the course which you propose, M. Faure.
M. FAURE: I shall mention first that in the University of Gand students, with a view to their Germanization.
They utilized, to this effect, an organization called, "Gentsch Studenten Verbond," but which they hoped for.
They set up in this University, and likewise established by this report what was being done and the complete failure of the German effort.
and students, and these operations occurred particularly when the students refused, rightly, to obey the German illegal orders which submitted them to forced labor. University had been, from the beginning, provided with a German Commisaar, and that forteen professors had been irregularly dismissed. Later, the University of Brussels found itself obliged to take note of this, and this was a result of a characteristic incident. accept the nomination of the candidates proposed by the University, and they decided to name themselves professors whose views suited them. This is an example of the German methods of interfering everywhere. the President of the University of this decision. The University decided to go on strike, as it were, and, in spite of all the efforts of the Germans, this strike of the University of Brussels lasted until the liberation. to the Tribunal. This has to do with the University of Louvain. Before reading this, I must indicate to the Tribunal the circumstances. students forced labor. This vie already know. But the reading that I shall presently make has to do with a supplementary requirement which is altogether shocking. Van Wayenberg, to give them a list with the addresses of the students who were eligible for obligatory service. They wished, therefore, to impose upon the Rector an act of informing, and this he did under threat of very severe sanctions. The Cardinal Archbishop of Malines intervened on this occasion, and on 4 June 1943 addressed a letter to General von Falkenhausen, military commander in Belgium.
I should like to read this letter to the Tribunal. This letter is reproduced in a work which I have here which is published in Belgium, which is entitled "Cardinal Van Roey and the German Occupation in Belgium". I do not submit this letter as a document. I ask the Tribunal to consider it as a quotation from a public work. This is what Cardinal Van Roey writes:
"By an oral communication', for which I have asked in vain in writing, the Chief of the Militarverwaltung Reeder has informed me that in case the Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain persisted in refusing the list with the addresses of the students of the first year, the occupying authority would take the following measures: closing down of the University; forbidding the students to enroll in another University; the subjection to forced labor in Germany of all the students; and, should they evade this measure, reprisals against their families.
"This indication is all the more surprising, as a few days previously, after receiving a note addressed to your Excellence, by Monseigneur the Rector, the latter received from the Kreiskommandant of Louvain a notification that the academic authority would no longer be disturbed with regard to the lists. It is true that President Reeder informed me that this answer was a misunderstanding.
"As President of the Board of Directors of the University of Louvain, I informed the Belgian Bishops who make up this board of the serious communication which I received, and I have the duty to inform you, in the name of all the Bishops, that it is impossible for us to advise Monseigneur the Rector to hand over the lists of his students, and that we approve the passive attitude which he has observed to now. To furnish the lists, would, in effect, constitute a positive cooperation in measures which the Belgian Bishops have denounced in the Pastoral Letter of 15 March 1943, and is contrary to international law, to natural law, and to Christian morality.
"If the University of Louvain were subjected to sanctions because it refuses this cooperation, we consider that it would fall victim to its duty,. and that however hard and painful the difficulties that it would have to undergo temporarily, its honor at least would not be sullied.
We consider, with the famous Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, that honor is above everything - "Nihil praeferendum honestati."
"Moreover, Your Excellence cannot be ignorant of the fact that the Catholic University of Louvain depends or is subject to the Holy See. It is under the authority and the control of the Roman Congregation of Seminaries and Universities, and it is the Holy See which approved the appointment of Mgr. Van Wayenberg as Rector Magnifique of the University, If the measures announced were carried out, it would therefore be a violent attack against the rights of the Holy See, and His Holiness the Pope will be informed of the extreme dangers which threaten our Catholic University." out to the Tribunal that in spite of this protest, and the considerations of simple practical interest, which the interests of the Germans might find in a correct attitude in this matter, the Rector was arrested on the 16th of June, 1943, and was condemned by the German military justice to eighteen months' imprisonment, I should like to observe that we might also have the impression that such an event as the arrest and sentence of a prelate, rector of a university, for an unjust cause, since there were no tragic consequences - such an event has a relatively secondary importance. I think that we cannot subordinate our intellectual judgment to the direct proof of our sensibility, which is here again put in the face of horror. We can consider that such an attack is in itself very characteristic as an act of justice by the Germanization project of the German authorities,
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.
(A recess was taken from 1300 to 1400 hours).
Official transcript of the International Military Tribunal in the matter of:
The
MARSHAL OF THE COURT: May it please the Court, I desire to announce that the Defendant Kaltenbrunner will be absent from this afternoon's session on account of illness.
M. FAURE: May it please the Tribunal, I should like to call the witness van der Essen.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
M. VAN DER ESSEN took the stand. BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q What is your name? the truth, and only the truth?
Raise your right hand and say "I swear."
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit, if you wish. BY M. FAURE:
Q M. van der Essen, you are a professor of history in the faculty of letters at the University of Louvain?
Q You are the General Secretary of the University of Louvain?
Q You have stayed in Belgium during the whole period of the occupation?
A To the end; from the end of the month of July 1940 I did not leave Belgium.
Q Can you give information on the destruction of the library of Louvain?
A Yes, sir. I should like to recall that in 1914 this library--which was certainly one of the best university libraries in Europe, built in the 16th century--was systematically destroyed.
It was burned by the German soldiers of the Ninth Reserve Corps, commanded by General von Boehm. This time, in 1940, the same thing was repeated. This library was systematically destroyed by the German Army. fire began, according to all testimony, on the night of the 16th or the 17th of May, 1940, about 1:30 in the morning. It was precisely at dawn of the 17th that the English Army made the necessary withdrawal maneuver to leave the line of defense of Q.W. On the other hand, it is absolutely certain that the first German troops entered on the morning of the 17th, about 8 o'clock in the morning. Between the departure of the English troops, on the one hand, and the arrival of the Germans on the other, that permitted the latter to proceed to a systematic destruction of the library and to attribute that systematic destruction to the British troops. I systematically opposed myself to such a version. This library was destroyed systematically by the German artillery.
There were two batteries. One was posted in the town of Coberlo, and the other battery was in the village of Lovengule. These two batteries, on each side, fired, in a systematic fashion, on the library, and nothing but the library. The best proof is that when these bombs fell, they all fell on the library. One house alone was touched by chance in the quarter where this library was found. The tower was hit four times by the battery, which fired from Lovengule, and seven times from the battery which fired from Coberlo. commanded it asked an inhabitant of the town to accompany him into the field. They went into the field and arrived in a place where they could perceive from afar the tower of the library. The officer asked, "Is that indeed the tower of the library?" The reply was "Yes." The officer then said, "Are you sure?" "Yes", replied the other, "since I know it, I see it every day, and I am familiar with it." arrived on the library, and immediately a column of smoke arose near the tower.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you try and speak a little bit slower? It is dif ficult for the translation to come through to us.
A (Continuing) So there can be no doubt that this bombardment was systematic and only aimed at the library. planes bombarded the library and dropped the bombs upon the monument. BY M. FAURE:
Q M. van der Essen, you are a member of the official Belgian Commission for War Crimes?
Q In this capacity you investigated into the events of which you speak? result of an inquiry which you made and a witness to which you heard yourself?
A That is something I wish to state here. It is the result of an official inquiry made by the Belgian War Crimes Commission, and with several witnesses heard under oath. by the Germans, and notably the attempt to undermine the morale, as well as traditional powers? one of the fundamental principles of the Belgian institution, which consisted of the separation of powers; that is to say, separation of the judicial, of the executive, and the legislative power. In numerous organizations which they created themselves, either through decree or in suggesting the creation of certain organizations to their collaborators, they always mingled the legislative and the executive powers. defending oneself, was very badly respected. And what is much more important is the fact that they took from an organization, which goes far back to the middle ages, their communal autonomy, a communal autonomy guaranteed to the people against any dangerous interference. I wish to speak of this; this is what happened.
papers, which appeared to observe that the Burgomeister, that is to say the Chief of the Community, an Alderman, in a principal Belgian city such as Gand, Liege, Charlekoy, and many cities of secondary importance--all these Aldermen and Burgomeisters were either in prison or had to appear before the War Council. men, who were appointed by the King and by the Belgian government before 1940, were all people who were deposed by the enemy, by means of groups of collaborators. It is quite important to observe this fact, because the Burgomeister
THE PRESIDENT: You are still going too fast, sir.
A (Continuing) It is of capital importance to verify that fact, because the Burgomeister extends directly from the central power. In other words, as soon as they applied the Fuehrer principle, he might interfere in all kinds of ways in the administrative life and in the political and social life. The Burgomeister can appoint an Alderman; the Alderman appoints the communal officials and employees. Now, since the Burgomeister belonged to that Party and was appointed by that Party, he appointed communal officials from members of the Party. They might refuse ration cards, or give to the police an order to give the list of communists, and so on. They could interfere in almost any way they wished, and by every possible means, in the communal activity of Belgium. everywhere there was truly a spy network of interference and intervention, subsequent to these events or facts. istration of the commune constituted a seizure of the national Belgium sovereignty? the Belgian constitution, that is to say, that sovereignty belongs to the people, and precisely, the Communal Council, who named aldermen and who appointed Burgomeisters. It was impossible for people to be appointed in the normal way. Therefore, the sovereignty of the Belgian people was directly stricken by these measures.
mation concerning the interference in education? education. By means of the General Secretary of Public Education, over which Germans exercised pressure, a commission was constituted which was entrusted with the task of purging the teaching books, or the books of teaching. It was forbidden to use class books in which the topic of the Germans having been in Belgium in the previous war was discussed. That was forbidden. Also, in the libraries and in educational institutions, they could sell those books only on one condition, that the book-seller whould tear out those chapters. indicated what should be stricken out or removed. secondary education. the very beginning of the occupation, and first, for motives which I don't have to explain here, which are well known, on the free University of Brussels. German Commissar. They had within their hands all the organization of the University and controlled it, even from the point of view of accounting. They imposed exchange professors, But difficulties began the day when, at Brussels, they required that they communicate be then all projects of new appointments of professors, just as the assignment of courser in the different matters were taught, The result was that at Brussels, because of this law which they arrogated, they wished to impose three professors, of whom two were obviously not acceptable. There was one, notably, who was a member of the Council during the occupation of 1914-1918, who had been condemned to death by his country. They wanted to place him as a professor in the University of Brussels.
Under these conditions the University refused to accept this professor, which was considered, by the occupying authorities, as being sabotage. deans, the principal men of the faculty, and a few professors who were especially well known as being anti-Facists, were arrested and imprisoned in the prison of Wieck. There were more serious circumstances. They were considered as hostages, and thus if any act whatsoever of sabotage or resistance occurred, they could, as hostages, be shot. to you, they wished to impose the presence of exchange professors. There were none at Louvain, because they refused categorically to receive them. Moreover, it appeared that these exchange professors were not, above all, scholars who came to communicate the result of their scholarly researches or their scientific work, but a great many of them were rather there to observe. That is, they were agents to observe for the occupying authorities.
Q. In relation to this, is it correct to say that the Belgian authorities were able to discover reports concerning one of these professors who was invited?
A. That is indeed the case. The Belgian authorities put their hands on a report of Professor von Mackinson, who was sent as an exchange professor to the University of Gand. In this report -- which is extraordinarily interesting to read for observations of a permanent nature which it contained concerning the different members of the faculty of Gand -- in this report we see that every one was observed and followed day by day, and it was pointed out whether they were for or against the local resistance, whether there was any relation with students who were Students V and V, or the Belgian resistance. The slightest gesture of all the professors was carefully noted, and, I add, with much exactness. It was a work of almost scientific nature.
Q. M. van der Essen, I explained this morning to the Tribunal different incidents which occurred in the University of Louvain, of which you were the General Secretary.
very facts themselves in relation to these incidents, notably, as far as the imprisonment of the Rector of Magnificus, van Waxenberg, is concerned.
A. Yes indeed, sir. There were serious difficulties which began in the University of Louvain after the appearance of the decree on forced labor, March 1943, by which students of the University were forced to accept compulsory labor, and I add, not in the territory of the Reich, but in Belgium. Only the result of this fact as a sort of advantage which they seemed to grant to university students was not admissible to Belgian patriots, for this very simple reasons: If the University students accepted to go and work in these Belgian factories, they automatically expelled workmen, who were sent to Germany and then the students took their place. firsts; and secondly, because from a social point of view, they felt they were jointly helping the workers and did not wish to cause them to go to Germany. pulsory work, and were considered as refractory. They hid themselves as best they could. Several went to the Maquis. required that the list of students be given to them, with their addresses, so that they could arrest them in their homes; or, if they didn't find them, they might arrest, instead of them, a brother or sister or father, or any member of the family, and thus impose collective penal punishment, and this was applied. devised measures which were truly brutal. Several times they used Dr. Tschake, Dr. Kalisch, I believe, though I am not sure of his name, and others, who came to make searches in the university offices, to put their hands on the list of students. As this list was carefully hidden, they had to go away empty-handed. Wayenberg, He had hidden the list in a place which he alone knew. He declared that he alone knew it, so that he would not endanger any of his colleagues and the members of the faculty.
went down, accompanied by the field gendarme, and they arrested the Rector in his office. They transferred him to the prison of Saint-Gilles in Brussels, where he was imprisoned. Shortly afterwards he appeared before a German military tribunal, which condemned him for sabotage, 18 months in prison. I must add, in truth, that he only did six months of his service, because the physician of Saint-Gilles had perceived that the health of the Rector was very weak and it would be dangerous to keep him longer without provoking a serious incident. Thanks to the multiple intervention of all sorts of authorities, they finally freed the Rector. However, the formally forbad him to set foot in the territory of Louvain, and they forced the University to appoint, immediately, another Rector. This was refused.
Q. Is it true if I say that the German authorities persecuted, more systematically, persons who belonged to the intellectual elite?
A. Yes, from that point of view there can be no doubt. I might give, as an example, the following fact. professors, physicians, lawyers, men of letters, who were taken as hostages and sent away. At the time when the resistance was provoking all sorts of sabotage and blowing up trains, these professors, and among them several of my colleagues of Liege and Brussels who escaped -- professors of universities were put in the first railway car after the locomotive, so that if an explosion took place, an act of sabotage, and blew up the locomotive, they would be killed immediately. I know a typical case, which will show you this. It was not a question of a pleasure trip. following scene. The locomotive passed over the explosives. The car in which they were, by an extraordinary chance, also went over it, and the second car, in which the German guards were, blew up and all the German guards were killed. that sinister camp of Breendonck, which you know, I believe. Several were deported, some for acts of resistance, others for motives which were entirely unknown, to camps in Germany.
Thus a professor of Louvain was sent to Buchenwald, to Dora, To Neuengamme, or to Grossrosen. I must add that it was not only professors in Louvain who were deported, but also intellectuals who, in the life of the country, played an important role. I think I can give you proof, When, at Louvain, the order appeared for the solemn reopening of universities, I was there myself as Secretary General of Universities, We read the list of those who were dead during the war, and this list included about 348 names. Perhaps htere were about 36 of these names who were soldiers who died during the combat in 1940. All the others were victims of the Gestapo, or were dead in camps in Germany, especially in the camps of Grossrosen and Neuengamme. intellectuals, because, from time to time, they organized, in the press, a synchronized campaign where they proved facts that the intellectuals refused, in the great majority, to align themselves to the new order. Notably, they tried to show the necessity for struggling -- they refused to discuss the struggle against Bolshevism. The conclusion of this article was that measures should be taken against them. I remember well 20 newspaper articles; and they were sent to a concentration camp. There was no doubt that the intellectuals were imprisoned and persecuted.
Q. I will ask you no questions an anything relating to deporation or as far as camps are concerned, because that is already well known to the Tribunal. I will ask you, when I ask you the following question, not to discuss deportation. committed by the Germans in Belgium and, notably, at the time of the offensive of December 1944 in the Ardenne's. Can you give information concerning these atrocities?
A. Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, I can give you very exact information and very detailed information, if necessary, on what happened as far as crimes and atrocities are concerned during the offensive of von Runstedt in the Ardenne's, as I was in charge of this inquiry for the War Crimes Commission. I questioned witnesses, and I know perfectly well, from personal knowledge, what happened.
During the offensive of van Runstedt in the Ardenne's they committed crimes which were truly abominable, and in 31 localities, crimes committed against men, women, and children. These crimes were committed, on the one hand, as it happened elsewhere and as it happens during all wars, by individual soldiers. However, what I particularly want to stress are the crimes committed by whole units who received formal instructions. followed the German Division, or the units of the Army of von Runstedt, organizations which were known, though I am not quite sure, as Kommandos mit Besonderer Verwertung. These were commandos with special tasks. This not only happen ed in the Belgian Ardenne's, but they committed crimes of the same kind, in the same way, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. like to say this, I don't wish to take up the time of the Tribunal, but I will just give one example, which is quite typical. It was the twon of Stavelot, where there were 140 persons, between 137 and 140. They discovered about 130 persons, of whom 36 were women and 22 were children, of whom the oldest was 14 years old and the youngest 4 years. They were killed savagely by units belonging to the SS Tank Division, one a Division Hohenstufen, the other the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler SS Tank Division. These units proceeded, We have full information about this from the testimony of a soldier who took part in it. He was arrested by the Belgian police. During the campaign of von Runstedt he was dressed as a civilian, and later he worked as a laborer on a Belgian farm. One day the Belgium police saw, when his arm was bare, that he belonged to the SS, because of the markings which he had on his skin, and he was then arrested.
panzer. At a certain moment the Obersturmfuehrer of this troup had his men come forth and gave them a little speech. He said that all children which they encountered should be killed. They then went back to their tanks again. Then, as the tanks advanced along the road, it was "that house there" or "that house there". Then the soldiers, with the machine guns in their hands entered. If they found the people in the kitchen, they killed them in the kitchen. If they were at the table, they killed them there, or if they found them in the cellar, they killed them in the cellar ; if they found, them along the road, they killed them along the road. It was not only the Division of Hohenstufen and Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, others also acted in this manner. Ardenne's, the resistance entered into action. There were quite a number of German soldiers who were killed during that retreat, and so, to avenge themselves for this, to avenge themselves for the resistance, they gave orders that all the civilians should be killed without pity during the course of that operation. from the point of view of responsibility, it is this. This is the question of Kommandos mit Besonderer Verwertung. Every unit was accompanied. People of the SD, in most villages where they arrived, immediately questioned the people as to those who had taken part in the resistance, whether they were still there or whether they had, fled. They had special questionnaires which included 27 questions. It was always the same. These questions were asked everyone in the towns where they arrived. one, so that I will not take up too much of the Tribunal's time. I will give an example in Bande, in the Arrondissement of Marche. One of these detachments of the SD said they were sent especially by Himmler to execute the people of the resistance. These people seized all men between 17 and 32 years of age.
After having questioned them completely, after having screened them in an arbitrary way - because sometimes they didn't keep people - there were only four who were resistance members. Then they forced them to raise their hands, and march along the highway. When they reached a ruined house the officer who commanded the detachment went into the interior of the house. The men then had to place their hands on the third man of the last row. Then the officer, armed with a machine gun, killed the prisoners with a bullet in the back of the neck. Many of the young men were executed in that way by the same officer.
He wasn't satisfied to kill them with a bullet in the back of the neck, but very often he kicked these bodies which were before him. Then he seat a volley of machine gun bullets after them.
Q Mr. van der Essen, you are a historian; you have tought and developed scholars; you have the habit of being a critic of historical forces. Can you say that there exists no doubt in your mind, according to your inquiry, about the fact that these atrocities reveal an over-all plan and instructions from a superior officer? existed an over-all plan.
Q I would like to ask you a last question: I think that I understood that you yourself were never arrested or bothered socially by the Germans. I would like to know if you consider that for a free man who is not an objective of the German administration or police it is possible during the Nazi occupation to bad a life like a free man in dignity?
A Yes, such as you see me before you. I weigh exactly 64 kilos. I am one meter 67 centimeters tall. I am quite normal, according to my colleagues in the faculty of medicine. Before the airplanes of the Luftwaffe abruptly arrived, before the declaration of war and disseminated violence in Belgium, I weighed 82 kilos. The difference between that 82 kilos and the 65 or 67 I weight now is incontestibly the result of the occupation. I don't want to enter into details of a general nature, or theoretical. I would like to point out, to make you understand - give you this story of an ordinary day of an average Belgian during the occupation.
I think that I can take a day in 1943: Six o'clock in the morning. The first idea that we all had was that it was the Gestapo. It wasn't the Gestapo. Someone had rung the bell. It was just a policeman who came in and said there was a light in my office. He told me to be careful about this. The nervous shock, however, was there.
At 7:30 a postman arrived. The postman brings me a summons which says I must appear personally. The postman says: "You know, Professor, I am a member of the Secretary Army and I am informed what goes on. The Germans intend to arrest today at six o'clock all the former soldiers of the Belgian Army. These soldiers must disappear immediately." And so immediately I wondered where to go. Then I went to Brussels. I arrived a few kilometers from Louvain. There was a patrol of soldiers. They put us, no matter what our social rank was, with our faces turned against the wall and our arms in the air. Then were were not armed. In that position they would take our papers and let us go after we got a few kilometers.
The street car was stopped by a gathering on the highway. I saw several women who were crying. I asked them why they were. And this is what they said: They were all - some of their men folk had refused to do compulsory work. They were arrested. They couldn't find the men. They took an old father of 82 and a young girl of 16 as being responsible, because their brothers had hidden and disappeared. And I can tell you. I arrived at Brussels to be present at a meeting of the Academy. The first thing the President said was, "van der Essen, have you learned what happened to two of your colleagues? They were arrested yesterday in the street. They have disappeared." Their wives are in a terrible state. They do not know why or where they are taken away. In the evening I go home and then we find the police again, who come to see if the people have their papers. I arrive home finally. I think that I can affirm here that then at nine o'clock in the evening when we might utter a sigh of relief, when we turn on our radio and listen, then to that sympathetic voice that we listen to every evening The Voice of France Combatant," which we can hear today, or the radio from London - somehow we could heave a sigh of relief after having heard some good news; somehow that eased us.