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Q. It is further correct that you ordered that seven concentration
camp should be set up in your area. Is that correct?
A. Yes. That is correct.
Q. How many, “Orts”, [local]
commanders were set up in your area?
A. Seven local commanders. You asked me
how many? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 — there must have been 8 local
commanders.
Q. What was
the rank, the average rank of an “Orts” commander?
A. The local commander would usually be a
second or first lieutenant. One captain seems to have been among them.
Q. How many lieutenants,
Witness, were with the units subordinate to you at that time?
A. How many lieutenants?
Q. Approximately.
A. 200 — but that's just a vague
figure.
Q. At least 200.
Is that right?
A. 200, or
less.
Q. So I presume
that you could not know each and every lieutenant in the 72d Division very well
personally?
A. No. Of the
eight local commanders listed here, now that I read these names, I find that I
only know the last one, Captain Martens.
Q. So you could not know if these people
actually shot ten hostages for one killed German or Rumanian soldier, could
you?
A. No. I
couldn’t know that. I may perhaps add, the local commanders were not
selected according to their capabilities. They were selected in accordance with
the billeting of the troops. If Captain Martens of Antitank Battalion 72 was
local commander of Foros, that would mean that his unit was stationed there,
and, since he was the senior officer, he became the local commander.
Q. As a matter of fact,
and that was my question, you do not know whether these “Orts”
commanders shot hostages on the basis of this order or not?
A. As far as I know — and I could
almost state it on oath — no hostage was shot. I cannot, however, swear to
it.
Q. You have said that
it is correct to kill dispersed soldiers as it is ordered in the order of the
defendant Salmuth of 21 November. Had you handed down this order to the unit
subordinate to you, Witness? |
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