Re Rauter

• Jurisdiction: Holanda
• Judgment Date: 04 May 1948
• Court: Special Criminal Court (Netherlands)
• Docket Number: Case No. 159
• Date: 04 May 1948

Holland, Special Court (War Criminals), The Hague.

Case No. 159

In re Rauter.

Capitulations — Capitulation of Rijsoord, May 15, 1940, between German and Dutch Forces — Legal Effects on Civilian Population — Resistance Contrary to Proclamation — Necessity for Ratification — Applicability of Hague Regulations in Occupied Territory despite Resistance Movement.

The Facts.—See also Case No. 131. Among various other grounds of defence the accused maintained that it followed from the terms of the military capitulation of Rijsoord that the Dutch Government in London were obliged to refrain from exhorting the Dutch population to oppose resistance to the enemy, and from providing them with weapons for that purpose. It was also maintained that the population was under a legal obligation to refrain from such resistance.

Held: that this defence must fail. It was true that certain clauses of the capitulation had a bearing on the conduct of the civilian population in occupied Holland. According to international law, however, a capitulation is a convention...