BASSENGE: How long did the trial of each individual last on the average?
KIRCHHEIM: In the case of TROTT ZU SOLZ it lasted nearly three hours. One had the impression that it was being conducted absolutely correctly, but that was very simple because everything was proved against him.
In our Court of Honour it was KEITEL who opened the proceedings. He outlined the case quite briefly, then either KALTENBRUNNER[481] or the SS-Gruppenführer MÜLLER[482] appeared as prosecuting counsel and said to us: The charges are based on these and these facts, admitted’ – I was not present at any sentence at which guilt had not been admitted. That was read out to us. PFUHLSTEIN (PW) however maintains that it was in part simply cooked. That is possible, but I must say that we did not reckon with this possibility; KALTENBRUNNER gave me the impression of an absolutely decent man. Then questions could be asked, and then we voted in order of seniority, that’s to say starting with the youngest. In the case of ROMMEL’s Chief of Staff, for instance, I, as most junior officer present, immediately voted against the attitude adopted by KEITEL in his introductory speech and said: ‘No, he is above suspicion.’ Although that wasn’t quite the case, as he had heard about the plot and reported it to ROMMEL. But ROMMEL hadn’t passed the information on.
BASSENGE: ROMMEL knew about it.
KIRCHHEIM: We don’t know that. Suddenly I got the dreadful thought: ‘If ROMMEL didn’t pass it on then he, too, must be implicated. Could ROMMEL have had anything to do with it?’
BASSENGE: Most of us here think that he did.
KIRCHHEIM: I think so too now. If one had only asked the question: ‘How much time had lapsed in between?’, that would have forced the prosecuting counsel to delve deeper into the question: ‘Maybe ROMMEL himself is the one to blame?’ However, all I said was: ‘In view of ROMMEL’s character, SPEIDEL was compelled to assume that the information would not be withheld by ROMMEL. If that information was not passed through ordinary channels, it is quite possible that, taking into account ROMMEL’s close relations with the FÜHRER, he may have informed him of it in some other way.’ Anyway, I cast my vote for ‘not guilty’, but I was out-voted. Naturally, even though I regard myself as released from my oath of secrecy, I can no longer say who voted for and who against.[483]
BASSENGE: How many were there present?
KIRCHHEIM: Five ‘Generals’.
BASSENGE: Any from the GAF?
KIRCHHEIM: No. It’s possible that there may have been someone from the GAF, acting as deputy, at some time or other, but there was no-one from either the Navy or the GAF present at the three sessions I attended. KEITEL was always present, RUNDSTEDT and GUDERIAN were there twice. Permanent members were: RUNDSTEDT, GUDERIAN, the deputy commander of WIESBADEN, SCHROTH, SPECHT, KEITEL. SPECHT was, I think, ‘Generalleutnant’ in the Personnel Branch and has now become deputy GOC somewhere. KRIEBEL and I were the two deputy members.
Document 167
CSDIC (UK), GRGG 296
Report on information obtained from Senior Officers (PW) on 6–9 May 45 [TNA, WO 208/4177]
KIRCHHEIM: Now, gentlemen, I wanted to speak to you of my experiences as a member of the Court of Honour.[484] I am glad to have the opportunity, for so many false opinions have been spread about the activity of the Court of Honour that it is the duty of every member of this Court of Honour to clear matters up where he can.
I received the news that I was a deputy member of the Court of Honour by a telephone call one afternoon from General REINECKE, who was not a member of the Court of Honour, but was the only officer on the People’s Court, and I was told to be in BERLIN the following morning. I was to go at 11 o’clock to a small villa in DAHLEM which KEITEL had set up as an office, and that’s where the Court of Honour sessions were held. When I arrived the first session of the Court of Honour was over. Then it turned out that I had been told to come two hours too late. That was the session at which the first victims of the People’s Court were judged by Court of Honour, that’s to say HOEPNER, WITZLEBEN, etc. On that occasion I found the officers extremely depressed. The members were: KEITEL, RUNDSTEDT, GUDERIAN, who was not present on that day, SCHROTH, SPECHT; and as deputies, KRIEBEL from MUNICH, and myself. The officers said: ‘There is probably no hope for any of the officers who have been tried today, for they all admit that they not only knew of the plot, but also helped with the preparations.’ Then the question was discussed as to whether it would be expedient or possible to refuse to accept the nomination to the Court of Honour. The officers were unanimous in saying that it would be a betrayal of one’s friends to refuse. For the inevitable result would be that either the Court of Honour would be dissolved, just as a great many of the trials later took place without a Court of Honour, or else, that another Court of Honour would be appointed, in which they would select the ‘Generale’ with extreme care, and in which the majority of the members would probably be SS ‘Generale’. I accepted this point of view, but during the following days I became doubtful as to whether I should not ask to be released from this job after all, especially after I had read the first description of the proceedings in the People’s Court. Then I said to myself: ‘If I have got to hand over officers who are merely suspected, but against whom nothing has been proved, but who have had to leave the service for the time being, so that they may be handed over to the People’s Court – if I have got to hand these officers over to a brutal court like that I cannot square that with my honour.’
For that reason I made the request to be allowed to be present at a session of the People’s Court as a spectator. This request was granted, and I attended the session at which the People’s Court was to pronounce legal sentence on some of the officers on whom judgment had been passed at the first session of this Court of Honour. I only stayed there until noon. During that time a regular ‘Major’ whose name I don’t remember; his father-in-law, a ‘Major’ in the reserve; and TROTT ZU SOLZ, the Counsellor to a Legation, were sentenced. It was the same day on which Graf HELLDORF was sentenced.[485] Now as regards the appearance of the accused: they appeared to be in perfect physical condition. You couldn’t see any exhaustion resulting from a considerable time in prison. The Court of Honour session had taken place at least a week earlier. They looked splendid, and were not badly dressed as HÖPNER was at the first session. They were all well dressed and groomed, and everything was in order. Their behaviour was good too: the ‘Major’ behaved with great dignity, although I admit his father-in-law did not.[486] The judge dealt with him rather ironically.
481
For the Honour Court see note 287 above. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, from 30.1.1943 Head RSHA, Chief of Sipo and SD.
482
SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller (28.4.1900 – disappeared 29.4.1945), Head of Gestapo.
483
In its session of 4.10.1944 the Honour Court had to decide whether Speidel should answer before the People’s Court. This protocol supports the affidavit sworn by Guderian and Kirchheim in 1946 regarding the hearing. Both defended Speidel against Keitel and Kaltenbrunner on the basis that Speidel had reported the attempted assassination of Hitler to Rommel, and thus had done all that duty required of him. The acquittal of Speidel now implicated Rommel. For more see Reuth, ‘Rommel’, p. 238ff.
484
Kirchheim also spoke briefly about the Honour Court hearing in SRGG 1180(c), 1.5.1945, TNA WO 208/4169. Kirchheim was obliged to justify himself to his fellow prisoners because shortly after his capture he had made an appeal to Keitel on Radio Luxembourg to lay down arms, having recently been a judge of the Honour Court. Von Thoma called him ‘scum’ and would not forget how he had delivered comrades to the gallows. GRGG 288, 24–26.4.1945, TNA WO 208/4177.
486
Meant here are Oberstleutnant Bernhard Klamroth (20.11.1910–15.8.1944) and his elder cousin and father-in-law Major (Reserve) Johannes Georg Klamroth (12.10.1898–26.8.1944).