NAZI SHOOTING OF BRITISH

Chronicle (Levin), 23 March 1946, Page 5

NAZI SHOOTING OF BRITISH

GOERiNG TRIES TO DISCLAIM KNOWLEDGE NUREMBERG, March 21. At the resuinption of the War Crimes Trihunal today the British Pros,acutor (Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) returned to ' the question of the shooting of British 'airmen at fctalag Luf't III., in March and. April of 1914. Goering said that Keitel was chief of the prisoners oi war. General Westhof was wrong when he stated that Keitei had said that Goering' had reprc ed him in the presence of Himmler for letting inore prisoners of war escape. Sir David: You still say that you have not heard of the shooting? Goering said that he had to rely on raernory for events which oecurred many months ago, and asked the Court tu make allowance for. this. He gave a long auswer when Sir | David asked: Are you telling the Tri- j bunal that you did not know your own officers were seiectmg which men were | to be shot? ® Goering said that there was no selec- ! tion. Tne shootings were by virtue of ; the Fnhrer's decree. He knew of no iist seiectmg men to be shot as the ieaders of che eseape attempts. I When Sir David described the Ger- ; man Note to Britain on the shootings j as a complete and utter lie. Goering j said : "I myself considered it tne j worsfc matter of the whoie war, and expressed myseix on the pcint. ' ' uonfronted with amuavits showing that even his subordinate onicers at the Air Ministry were informed oi' what Sir JDavid calied "tnis series oi i'oiu murders," Goermg maintained that he had not been toid of the matter until too late. Goering heatedly denied the statements of his subordinates that he was present at meetings which receivea : Hitier's decree that fugitive airmen snouid be turned over to the police and shot "to set examples to check these! escapes. ' ' He claiined that the order went to the police, not to the Luftwaft'e; . therefore, he could not have intervened. ■ Goering added : "I was upset about j this incident, as a result of which I ! orilered my qaarter-master general to ! write to the Supreme Oommand of the j Wehrmaclit that I did not want to run ' this prisoner-of-war camp (Stalag Luft i ril) any longer. I tried to intervene"! and prevent Himmler from carrying out ! the executions and to dissuade the I Fuhrer from his decree. ' ' Sir David then raised the question of ' the concentration camps, and asked j Goering if he was still telling the Tri- ! bunal that he did not know what was j going on there. Goering: a That is true. The^e tlungs ! were kept secret from me. " Even the j Fuhrer knew only approximately what I was going on. Sir David: You mean to say that even when the district ieaders knew, you as the second man in the Reich, did not know! Did not your friend Himmler inform you? Goering: These things were kept irom me, and I object to your referring to Himmler as my friend. , When Sir David reverted to the shooting of the airmen, Goering said: "I never contradicted the Fuhrer so strongly or so sharply as I did in that matter. \ told him my views, and, because of that, the Fuhrer and I did not speak to each other for months." ^ Sir David asked if he still believea in the Fuhrer after he had heard of the lcillings. Goering: I am not here to deify or to glorify Hitler. I am here to say fchat I have kept my pledge to him even aow, because I believe in keeping my oath of loyalty, not only in good times, but also in bad times. Sir David quoted from the record of' a meeting attended by Goering at which Ribbentrop said that the Jews must be exterminated or taken to concentration camps. "Do you still say that Hitler did not know that the Jews were being exterminated?" asked Sir David. Goering: As far as Hitler w4s concerned I cannot believe it. I knew oi a migration of Jews but did not know that they were being liquidated. I only knew of Certain cases where such measures were taken.