AΠΟ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟ
ΕΤΣΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ
ΝΥΡΕΜΒΕΡΓΗ
TEΤΑΡΤΗ 20 ΦΕΒΡ.1946
ΠΡΩΙΝΗ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΗ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ ΕΓΚΛΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥ
ΕΤΣΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ
ΝΥΡΕΜΒΕΡΓΗ
TEΤΑΡΤΗ 20 ΦΕΒΡ.1946
ΠΡΩΙΝΗ ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΗ ΔΙΕΘΝΟΥΣ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ ΕΓΚΛΗΜΑΤΩΝ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥ
ΠΡΟΕΔΡΟΣ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΥ Lord Justice Sir Geoffrey Lawrence
-
ΕΠΙΚΕΦΑΛΗΣ ΣΟΒΙΕΤΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΕΙΑΣ ΕΙΣΑΓΓΕΛΕΑΣ
ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ ΡΟΥΝΤΕΝΚΟ- RUDENKO
-
ΕΠΙΚΕΦΑΛΗΣ ΣΟΒΙΕΤΙΚΗΣ ΑΝΤΙΠΡΟΣΩΠΕΙΑΣ ΕΙΣΑΓΓΕΛΕΑΣ
ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΟΣ ΡΟΥΝΤΕΝΚΟ- RUDENKO
ΛΕΗΛΑΣΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΑΡΠΑΓΗ ΙΔΙΩΤΙΚΗΣ ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΘΝΙΚΗΣ ΠΕΡΙΟΥΣΙΑΣ
ΤΣΕΧΟΣΛΟΒΑΚΙΑ ΠΟΛΩΝΙΑ ΓΙΟΥΓΚΟΣΛΑΒΙΑ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΣΟΒΙΕΤΙΚΗ ΕΝΩΣΗ
ΤΣΕΧΟΣΛΟΒΑΚΙΑ ΠΟΛΩΝΙΑ ΓΙΟΥΓΚΟΣΛΑΒΙΑ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΣΟΒΙΕΤΙΚΗ ΕΝΩΣΗ
(Έχω αντιγράψει μόνο την περίπτωση της Τσεχοσλοβακιας/Γιουγκοσλαβιας/Ελλαδα/λίγα για την USSR)
Έχει ενδιαφέρον η περίπτωση της Ελλάδος και η ανάλυση ενώπιoν του διεθνούς δικαστηρίου της Νυρεμβεργης που έκανε ο Βοηθός Εισαγγελέας της Σοβιετικής αντιπροσωπείας L.R. SHENIN.
“Despoliation and Plunder of Private, Public, and National Property
NYREMBERG NAZI TRIAL .
GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.):
Mr. President, with the permission of the Tribunal, evidence on the count
“Despoliation and Plunder of Private, Public, and National Property” will be presented by the State Counsellor of Justice, Second Class, L. R. Shenin.
“Despoliation and Plunder of Private, Public, and National Property” will be presented by the State Counsellor of Justice, Second Class, L. R. Shenin.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE SECOND CLASS L. R. SHENIN
(Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.):
(Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.):
May it please Your Honors,
My task consists in presenting to the Tribunal evidence of the criminal and predatory motives of Hitlerite aggression and of the monstrous plundering of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, GREECE, and the U.S.S.R.
My task consists in presenting to the Tribunal evidence of the criminal and predatory motives of Hitlerite aggression and of the monstrous plundering of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, GREECE, and the U.S.S.R.
My colleagues have already proved that the attack on the U.S.S.R., as well as on other European countries, was planned and prepared beforehand by the criminal Hitlerite Government.
I shall submit to the Tribunal a number of the conspirators’ original documents, statements, and speeches, which in the aggregate will prove that the despoliation and plunder of private, public, and national property in the occupied territories was also premeditated, planned, and prepared on a large scale, and that thus, simultaneously with the development of their purely military and strategic plans of attack, the Hitlerites with the cold-blooded deliberateness of professional robbers and murderers also developed and prepared beforehand the plan of organized plunder and marauding, after having minutely and accurately calculated their future profits, their criminal gains, their robbers’ spoils.
The official report of the Czechoslovak Government on the crimes committed by the Hitlerites on the territory of Czechoslovakia, the first victim of German aggression, has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-60 (Document Number USSR-60).
In the third section of this report there is a short extract from an article by Ley,, published on 30 January 1940 in the Angriff.
I quote:
“It is our destiny to belong to a superior race. A lower race needs less room, less clothing, less food, and less culture than a superior race.”
This promise, this program of action, found its concrete expression in the fact that the Hitlerite conspirators subjected all territories occupied by them to unrestrained plunder, highly varied in form and method and entirely shameless in its devastating results. The report of the Czechoslovak Government contains a large number of examples corroborating the corresponding counts of the Indictment.
I shall read this section into the record starting with the first paragraph on Page 72 of the Russian translation. I read: “The German plan of campaign against Czechoslovakia was aimed not only against the republic as a political and military unit, but also against the very existence of the Czechoslovak people, who were to be robbed not only of all political rights and cultural life, but of their wealth and their financial and industrial resources.
The official report of the Czechoslovak Government on the crimes committed by the Hitlerites on the territory of Czechoslovakia, the first victim of German aggression, has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-60 (Document Number USSR-60).
In the third section of this report there is a short extract from an article by Ley,, published on 30 January 1940 in the Angriff.
I quote:
“It is our destiny to belong to a superior race. A lower race needs less room, less clothing, less food, and less culture than a superior race.”
This promise, this program of action, found its concrete expression in the fact that the Hitlerite conspirators subjected all territories occupied by them to unrestrained plunder, highly varied in form and method and entirely shameless in its devastating results. The report of the Czechoslovak Government contains a large number of examples corroborating the corresponding counts of the Indictment.
I shall read this section into the record starting with the first paragraph on Page 72 of the Russian translation. I read: “The German plan of campaign against Czechoslovakia was aimed not only against the republic as a political and military unit, but also against the very existence of the Czechoslovak people, who were to be robbed not only of all political rights and cultural life, but of their wealth and their financial and industrial resources.
“(1) Immediate Plunder.
“(a) After Munich. “Immediately after Munich the Germans seized all the industrial and commercial concerns belonging to the Czechs and Jews in the seized areas of the republic; this was done without any compensation. Czechs and Jews were robbed of their property and of their office and plant equipment, usually by violence and bloodshed.”
“(a) After Munich. “Immediately after Munich the Germans seized all the industrial and commercial concerns belonging to the Czechs and Jews in the seized areas of the republic; this was done without any compensation. Czechs and Jews were robbed of their property and of their office and plant equipment, usually by violence and bloodshed.”
The following characteristic fact is mentioned in the report, namely, the way in which Hitler became acquainted with Czechosiovakia, which he had just seized. I shall read into the record Subparagraph B of this section, entitled,
“After the Invasion of 15 March 1939.” The Tribunal will find this excerpt on Pages 3 and 4 of the document book. I quote:
“Hitler entered Prague at nightfall on 15 March 1939, and spent the night there in the famous Hradschin castle. He left on the following day, taking with him a number of valuable tapestries. We mention this robbery not because of the value of the stolen objects, but as an example set by the head of the Party and of the German State on the very first day of invasion.
“The German troops who invaded Prague brought with them a staff of German economic experts, that is, experts in economic looting.
“Everything that could be of some value to Germany was seized, especially large stocks of raw materials, such as copper, tin, iron, cotton, wool, great stocks of food, et cetera.
“Rolling Stock, carriages, engines, and so on were removed to the Beich. All the rails in the Protectorate which were in good condition were lifted and sent to Germany; later they 20 Feb. 46
were replaced by old rails brought from Germany. New cars fresh from the factory which were on order for the Prague municipal tramways and had just been completed were deflected from their purpose and sent to the Reich.
were replaced by old rails brought from Germany. New cars fresh from the factory which were on order for the Prague municipal tramways and had just been completed were deflected from their purpose and sent to the Reich.
“The vessels belonging to the Czechoslovak Danube Steam Navigation Company (the majority of shares belonged to the Czechoslovak State) were divided between the Reich and Hungary.
“Valuable objects of art and furniture disappeared from public buildings, without even an attempt at any legal justification of such robbery; pictures, statues, tapestries were taken to Germany. The Czech National Museum, the Modern Art Gallery, and public and private collections were plundered.
“Valuable objects of art and furniture disappeared from public buildings, without even an attempt at any legal justification of such robbery; pictures, statues, tapestries were taken to Germany. The Czech National Museum, the Modern Art Gallery, and public and private collections were plundered.
“The German Reich Commissioner of the Czechoslovak National Bank stopped all payments of currency abroad and seized all the gold reserve and foreign currency in the Protectorate. Thus the Germans took 23,000 kilograms of gold of a nominal value of 737,000 million crowns (5,265,000 pounds sterling) and transferred the gold from the Bank of International Settlement to the Reichsbank.”
One of the methods of thorough-I should say total-plunder was the socalled economic Germanization. I submit to the Tribunal as evidence of these crimes the following extract from the official Czechoslovak report. This extract the Tribunal will find on Pages 4 and 5 of the document book:
“(2) Economic Germanization. “A. Rural. Expropriation.
“(aa) After Munich.
“In the areas occupied by the German Army in October 1938 Germany began to settle her nationals on all the farms formerly belonging to Czechs or Jews who had fled for political or racial reasons.
One of the methods of thorough-I should say total-plunder was the socalled economic Germanization. I submit to the Tribunal as evidence of these crimes the following extract from the official Czechoslovak report. This extract the Tribunal will find on Pages 4 and 5 of the document book:
“(2) Economic Germanization. “A. Rural. Expropriation.
“(aa) After Munich.
“In the areas occupied by the German Army in October 1938 Germany began to settle her nationals on all the farms formerly belonging to Czechs or Jews who had fled for political or racial reasons.
“The Czechoslovak Land Reform Act of 1919, insofar as it benefited Czech nationals, was declared invalid; Czech farmers were expelled from their land and compelled to relinquish their cattle, agricultural implements, and furniture.
“On paper the Czechs received compensation; in fact, how- ever, they were burdened with taxes in order to make good the so-called ‘deliberate damage’ they were alleged to have caused by their flight. These taxes far exceeded the compen-sation.
“On paper the Czechs received compensation; in fact, how- ever, they were burdened with taxes in order to make good the so-called ‘deliberate damage’ they were alleged to have caused by their flight. These taxes far exceeded the compen-sation.
“The large agricultural and government estates of the Czecho- slovak Republic automatically became Reich property and came under the jurisdiction of the Reich ministries concerned.
“(bb) After the invasion of 15 March 1939.
“After the invasion, German directors, supervisors, and foremen replaced Czech nationals in state-owned enterprises of the Czechoslovak Republic.
“Germanization of private property began, of course, under the slogan ‘Aryanization.’
“The Germanization of rural Bohemia and Moravia was entrusted to a special body called ‘Deutsche Siedlungsgesell- schaft’ located in Prague. “Czech peasants were offered compensation for their food
products but at entirely inadequate prices. “Rural Germanization, apart from Germanization pure and simple, aimed at pauperizing as many well-to-do Czech nationals as possible. “The Nazis did their utmost to squeeze as much as possible out of Czech agriculture. Here too their aim was twofold: On the one hand to obtain as much foodstuffs as possible, and on the other, to carry the process of Germanization as far as possible.
“Germanization of private property began, of course, under the slogan ‘Aryanization.’
“The Germanization of rural Bohemia and Moravia was entrusted to a special body called ‘Deutsche Siedlungsgesell- schaft’ located in Prague. “Czech peasants were offered compensation for their food
products but at entirely inadequate prices. “Rural Germanization, apart from Germanization pure and simple, aimed at pauperizing as many well-to-do Czech nationals as possible. “The Nazis did their utmost to squeeze as much as possible out of Czech agriculture. Here too their aim was twofold: On the one hand to obtain as much foodstuffs as possible, and on the other, to carry the process of Germanization as far as possible.
“Farmers were turned out of their farms to make way for German settlers–entire agricultural districts were’ in this way cleared of Czechs. Agricultural co-operative societies in control of production were transformed into auxiliary organi- zations and were gradually germanized.
“The looting of property and wealth was followed by the pillaging of products of the. soil.
Heavy fines and frequently even the death penalty were imposed on Czech peasants for intentional failure to comply with orders regarding production, delivery, and rationing.
“The looting of property and wealth was followed by the pillaging of products of the. soil.
Heavy fines and frequently even the death penalty were imposed on Czech peasants for intentional failure to comply with orders regarding production, delivery, and rationing.
“B. Expropriation of banks and their funds.
“In Czechoslovakia industrial undertakings were directly financed by the banks, which often owned or controlled the majority of shares.
Having obtained control of the banks, the Nazis thus secured control of industry.
“In Czechoslovakia industrial undertakings were directly financed by the banks, which often owned or controlled the majority of shares.
Having obtained control of the banks, the Nazis thus secured control of industry.
“(a) After Munich.
“After Munich, two important German banks, the Dresdner Bank and the Deutsche Bank took over the branches of Prague banks, situated in the ceded territory.
Thus among the enterprises taken over by the Dresdner Bank were 32 branches of the Bohemian Discount Bank and among those taken over by the Deutsche Bank were 25 branches of Bohemian Union Bank.
“As soon as these two banks obtained control of the branch banks in the Sudetenland they also endeavored to gain influence on the respective head offices of these banks in Prague.
The Czechoslovak banks were joint stock companies. Every joint stock company with even one Jewish director was considered to be Jewish. In this manner the non-Jewish property was also taken over.
‘
” After the invasion of 15 March 1939.
Thus among the enterprises taken over by the Dresdner Bank were 32 branches of the Bohemian Discount Bank and among those taken over by the Deutsche Bank were 25 branches of Bohemian Union Bank.
“As soon as these two banks obtained control of the branch banks in the Sudetenland they also endeavored to gain influence on the respective head offices of these banks in Prague.
The Czechoslovak banks were joint stock companies. Every joint stock company with even one Jewish director was considered to be Jewish. In this manner the non-Jewish property was also taken over.
‘
” After the invasion of 15 March 1939.
“After the invasion several Czechoslovak banks in Bohemia, in consequence of their Aryanization, became the property of the Dresdner Bank. Among other enterprises, this German bank took over the Union Bank of Bohemia. In this way all the financial interests which these banks had in Czech industry, as well as the entire share capital, fell into German hands.
“From that time on German capital began to infiltrate into the Czech banks; their expropriation and incorporation into the German bank system began.
The Dresdner Bank (the establishment which administered the funds of the National Socialist Party) and the Deutsche Bank were officially entrusted with the task of expropriating the funds belonging to the Czechoslovak banking concer.
“By means of various ‘transactions,’ by gaining influence through the branch banks in the Sudetenland over their respective head offices in Prague, by reducing the share capital, which was later increased with German assistance, by appropriating industrial holdings and in this way acquiring influence over the controlling banks which were thus deprived of their industrial interests, et cetera, the two Berlin banks achieved complete control of the banks of the Protectorate. Gestapo terror helped them.
” I skip one paragraph of this report and pass on to the next count:
“C. Destruction of National Industry.
“(a) Compulsory organization. “After the invasion the Germans introduced into the Protec-
torate the compulsory organization of Czech industry on the German model.
“They appointed a committee for every new association and all the industrial ‘groups’ appointing at least one Nazi as chairman or vice chairman or, just as an ordinary member. . However, all the Czech members actually were mere’puppets.
“(b) Armament factories. .
“The Dresdner Bank acquired the most important armament factories in Czechoslovakia, that is, the Skoda Works in Pilsen and the Czechoslovak ‘Zbojobka’ in Briinn. The private share-holders were forced to surrender their shares at prices far below their actual value; the bank paid for these shares with coupons which had been withdrawn from circulation, and confiscated by the Germans in the districts previously ceded in accordance with the Munich agreement.
“(c) The Hermann Goring Werke.
“The seizure by the Germans of the Czechoslovak banks and thus of the industry, through the big Berlin banks, was accomplished with the help of the gigantic Hermann Goring Werke which seized the greatest Czechoslovak industries, one by one, at the smallest financial cost, that is to say, under the pretext of Aryanization, by pressure from the Reich, by financial measures, and finally by threatening Gestapo measures and concentration camps.
“From that time on German capital began to infiltrate into the Czech banks; their expropriation and incorporation into the German bank system began.
The Dresdner Bank (the establishment which administered the funds of the National Socialist Party) and the Deutsche Bank were officially entrusted with the task of expropriating the funds belonging to the Czechoslovak banking concer.
“By means of various ‘transactions,’ by gaining influence through the branch banks in the Sudetenland over their respective head offices in Prague, by reducing the share capital, which was later increased with German assistance, by appropriating industrial holdings and in this way acquiring influence over the controlling banks which were thus deprived of their industrial interests, et cetera, the two Berlin banks achieved complete control of the banks of the Protectorate. Gestapo terror helped them.
” I skip one paragraph of this report and pass on to the next count:
“C. Destruction of National Industry.
“(a) Compulsory organization. “After the invasion the Germans introduced into the Protec-
torate the compulsory organization of Czech industry on the German model.
“They appointed a committee for every new association and all the industrial ‘groups’ appointing at least one Nazi as chairman or vice chairman or, just as an ordinary member. . However, all the Czech members actually were mere’puppets.
“(b) Armament factories. .
“The Dresdner Bank acquired the most important armament factories in Czechoslovakia, that is, the Skoda Works in Pilsen and the Czechoslovak ‘Zbojobka’ in Briinn. The private share-holders were forced to surrender their shares at prices far below their actual value; the bank paid for these shares with coupons which had been withdrawn from circulation, and confiscated by the Germans in the districts previously ceded in accordance with the Munich agreement.
“(c) The Hermann Goring Werke.
“The seizure by the Germans of the Czechoslovak banks and thus of the industry, through the big Berlin banks, was accomplished with the help of the gigantic Hermann Goring Werke which seized the greatest Czechoslovak industries, one by one, at the smallest financial cost, that is to say, under the pretext of Aryanization, by pressure from the Reich, by financial measures, and finally by threatening Gestapo measures and concentration camps.
“Finally, all the large Czechoslovak enterprises, factories, and armament plants, and the coal and iron industries fell into German hands. The huge chemical industry was seized by the German concern, I. G. Farben Industrie.”
I skip the paragraph concerning the same methods adopted in the case of light industry and pass on to the next count of the report,
“Financial Spoliation.”
“After the occupation of the territory, ceded apparently in accordance with the Munich agreement, the Germans refused to take over part of the Czechoslovak State debt, although they acquired very valuable State property in the districts taken away from Czechoslovakia. Government bonds of low denominations amounting to a total of 1,600 million crowns were in circulation in the occupied territory.
“The Germans reserved the right to use these obligations in Czechoslovakia as legal tender.”
Gentlemen,
further on in this report we find a detailed account of the Hitlerite campaign of spoliation directed against the financial economy of the Czechoslovak Republic. With a view to saving time I shall refrain from quoting this excerpt and -shall merely submit the balance sheet of the Czechoslovak National Bank.
“The balance sheet of the Czech National Bank showed the following figures for ‘other assets’ in million of crowns: . 31 December 1938, 845; 31 December 1939, 3,576; 31 December 1942, 17,366.”
I now quote an excerpt from the section entitled, “Taxes”: “When war broke out the Nazis fixed the war contribution . of the Protectorate at an annual sum of 2,000 million crowns
(14.2 million pounds sterling). The Nazis claimed that they were entitled to this on the grounds that the Czechs did not have to fight, because the Germans fought for them.
“Immediately after the occupation the Germans seized the proceeds of various indirect taxes and diverted them into the Reich Treasury.”
I skip the paragraph concerning the same methods adopted in the case of light industry and pass on to the next count of the report,
“Financial Spoliation.”
“After the occupation of the territory, ceded apparently in accordance with the Munich agreement, the Germans refused to take over part of the Czechoslovak State debt, although they acquired very valuable State property in the districts taken away from Czechoslovakia. Government bonds of low denominations amounting to a total of 1,600 million crowns were in circulation in the occupied territory.
“The Germans reserved the right to use these obligations in Czechoslovakia as legal tender.”
Gentlemen,
further on in this report we find a detailed account of the Hitlerite campaign of spoliation directed against the financial economy of the Czechoslovak Republic. With a view to saving time I shall refrain from quoting this excerpt and -shall merely submit the balance sheet of the Czechoslovak National Bank.
“The balance sheet of the Czech National Bank showed the following figures for ‘other assets’ in million of crowns: . 31 December 1938, 845; 31 December 1939, 3,576; 31 December 1942, 17,366.”
I now quote an excerpt from the section entitled, “Taxes”: “When war broke out the Nazis fixed the war contribution . of the Protectorate at an annual sum of 2,000 million crowns
(14.2 million pounds sterling). The Nazis claimed that they were entitled to this on the grounds that the Czechs did not have to fight, because the Germans fought for them.
“Immediately after the occupation the Germans seized the proceeds of various indirect taxes and diverted them into the Reich Treasury.”
Gentlemen,
the excerpt which I just read from the report of the Czechoslovak Government gives an adequate picture of the manner in which, after having seized Czechoslovakia, the Hitlerites subjected it to wanton plunder in every field of its economic life–agriculture, industry, and finance.
Having seized the entire economic resources of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Hitlerite Government forced this economy to serve their criminal interests, extracting everything possible in order to prepare for further aggression against the peoples of Europe and for new military attacks with the monstrous aim of achieving world domination by the German “master race.”
I shall now pass to the reading of the fourth section of the official report of the Polish Government dealing with crimes com mitted by the Hitlerites in occupied Poland.
This report has already been presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-93 (Docu- ment Number USSR-93) and, according to Article 21 of the Charter, constitutes irrefutable evidence.
I quote an excerpt from this report which the Tribunal will find on Page 14 of the document book:
“Expropriation and plunder of public and private property.
the excerpt which I just read from the report of the Czechoslovak Government gives an adequate picture of the manner in which, after having seized Czechoslovakia, the Hitlerites subjected it to wanton plunder in every field of its economic life–agriculture, industry, and finance.
Having seized the entire economic resources of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Hitlerite Government forced this economy to serve their criminal interests, extracting everything possible in order to prepare for further aggression against the peoples of Europe and for new military attacks with the monstrous aim of achieving world domination by the German “master race.”
I shall now pass to the reading of the fourth section of the official report of the Polish Government dealing with crimes com mitted by the Hitlerites in occupied Poland.
This report has already been presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-93 (Docu- ment Number USSR-93) and, according to Article 21 of the Charter, constitutes irrefutable evidence.
I quote an excerpt from this report which the Tribunal will find on Page 14 of the document book:
“Expropriation and plunder of public and private property.
“a) On 27 September 1939 the German military authorities issued a decree concerning the sequestration and confiscation of Polish property in the western provinces. ‘The property of the Polish State, Polish public institutions, municipalities and unions, individuals, and corporations can be sequestered and confiscated,’ stated Paragraph 1 of the said decree.
“b) The right of the military authorities to dispose of Polish property in the incorporated provinces passed to the ‘Haupt- treuhandstelle Ost’ (created by Goring on 1 November 1939) with headquarters in Berlin and branch offices in Poland. It was entrusted with the administration of confiscated property of the Polish State, as well as with the general policy in Poland in accordance with the plan devised by the Reich Government.
“c) By a decree of 15 January 1940, the entire property of the Polish State was placed under ‘protection,’ which practically meant confiscation of all State property in the incorporated territories. A special decree of 12 February 1940 dealt with agriculture and forestry in the same way.
share-holders were forced to surrender their shares at prices far below their actual value; the bank paid for these shares with coupons which had been withdrawn from circulation, and confiscated by the Germans in the districts previously ceded in accordance with the Munich agreement.
“(c) The Hermann Goring Werke. “The seizure by the Germans of the Czechoslovak banks and thus of the industry, through the big Berlin banks, was accomplished with the help of the gigantic Hermann Giiring Werke which seized the greatest Czechoslovak industries, one by one, at the smallest financial cost, that is to say, under the pretext of Aryanization, by pressure from the Reich, by financial measures, and finally by threatening Gestapo measures and concentration camps.
“Finally, all the large Czechoslovak enterprises, factories, and armament plants, and the coal and iron industries fell into German hands. The huge chemical industry was seized by the German concern, I. G. Farben Industrie.”
I skip the paragraph concerning the same methods adopted in the case of light industry and pass on to the next count of the report,
“Financial Spoliation.”
“After the occupation of the territory, ceded apparently in accordance with the Munich agreement, the Germans refused to take over part of the Czechoslovak State debt, although they acquired very valuable State property in the districts taken away from Czechoslovakia. Government bonds of low denominations amounting to a total of 1,600 million crowns were in circulation in the occupied territory.
“The Germans reserved the right to use these obligations in Czechoslovakia as legal tender.”
Gentlemen,
Further on in this report we find a detailed account of the Hitlerite campaign of spoliation directed against the financial economy of the Czechoslovak Republic. With a view to saving time I shall refrain from quoting this excerpt and -shall merely submit the balance sheet of the Czechoslovak National Bank.
“The balance sheet of the Czech National Bank showed the following figures for ‘other assets’ in million of crowns: . 31 December 1938, 845; 31 December 1939, 3,576; 31 December 1942, 17,366.”
I now quote an excerpt from the section entitled, “Taxes”: “When war broke out the Nazis fixed the war contribution of the Protectorate at an annual sum of 2,000 million crowns
(14.2 million pounds sterling). The Nazis claimed that they were entitled to this on the grounds that the Czechs did not have to fight, because the Germans fought for them. “Immediately after the occupation the Germans seized the proceeds of various indirect taxes and diverted them into the Reich Treasury.”
“b) The right of the military authorities to dispose of Polish property in the incorporated provinces passed to the ‘Haupt- treuhandstelle Ost’ (created by Goring on 1 November 1939) with headquarters in Berlin and branch offices in Poland. It was entrusted with the administration of confiscated property of the Polish State, as well as with the general policy in Poland in accordance with the plan devised by the Reich Government.
“c) By a decree of 15 January 1940, the entire property of the Polish State was placed under ‘protection,’ which practically meant confiscation of all State property in the incorporated territories. A special decree of 12 February 1940 dealt with agriculture and forestry in the same way.
share-holders were forced to surrender their shares at prices far below their actual value; the bank paid for these shares with coupons which had been withdrawn from circulation, and confiscated by the Germans in the districts previously ceded in accordance with the Munich agreement.
“(c) The Hermann Goring Werke. “The seizure by the Germans of the Czechoslovak banks and thus of the industry, through the big Berlin banks, was accomplished with the help of the gigantic Hermann Giiring Werke which seized the greatest Czechoslovak industries, one by one, at the smallest financial cost, that is to say, under the pretext of Aryanization, by pressure from the Reich, by financial measures, and finally by threatening Gestapo measures and concentration camps.
“Finally, all the large Czechoslovak enterprises, factories, and armament plants, and the coal and iron industries fell into German hands. The huge chemical industry was seized by the German concern, I. G. Farben Industrie.”
I skip the paragraph concerning the same methods adopted in the case of light industry and pass on to the next count of the report,
“Financial Spoliation.”
“After the occupation of the territory, ceded apparently in accordance with the Munich agreement, the Germans refused to take over part of the Czechoslovak State debt, although they acquired very valuable State property in the districts taken away from Czechoslovakia. Government bonds of low denominations amounting to a total of 1,600 million crowns were in circulation in the occupied territory.
“The Germans reserved the right to use these obligations in Czechoslovakia as legal tender.”
Gentlemen,
Further on in this report we find a detailed account of the Hitlerite campaign of spoliation directed against the financial economy of the Czechoslovak Republic. With a view to saving time I shall refrain from quoting this excerpt and -shall merely submit the balance sheet of the Czechoslovak National Bank.
“The balance sheet of the Czech National Bank showed the following figures for ‘other assets’ in million of crowns: . 31 December 1938, 845; 31 December 1939, 3,576; 31 December 1942, 17,366.”
I now quote an excerpt from the section entitled, “Taxes”: “When war broke out the Nazis fixed the war contribution of the Protectorate at an annual sum of 2,000 million crowns
(14.2 million pounds sterling). The Nazis claimed that they were entitled to this on the grounds that the Czechs did not have to fight, because the Germans fought for them. “Immediately after the occupation the Germans seized the proceeds of various indirect taxes and diverted them into the Reich Treasury.”
Gentlemen,
The excerpt which I just read from the report of the Czechoslovak Government gives an adequate picture of the manner in which, after having seized Czechoslovakia, the Hitlerites subjected it to wanton plunder in every field of its economic life–agriculture, industry, and finance.
Having seized the entire economic resources of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Hitlerite Government forced this economy to serve their criminal interests, extracting everything possible in order to prepare for further aggression against the peoples of Europe and for new military attacks with the monstrous aim of achieving world domination by the German “master race.”
The excerpt which I just read from the report of the Czechoslovak Government gives an adequate picture of the manner in which, after having seized Czechoslovakia, the Hitlerites subjected it to wanton plunder in every field of its economic life–agriculture, industry, and finance.
Having seized the entire economic resources of the Czechoslovak Republic, the Hitlerite Government forced this economy to serve their criminal interests, extracting everything possible in order to prepare for further aggression against the peoples of Europe and for new military attacks with the monstrous aim of achieving world domination by the German “master race.”
Turning now to the plunder and pillage of private and public property by the Hitlerites in Yugoslavia, I must, Your Honors, read the appropriate extracts of the official report of the Yugoslav Government, submitted to the International Military Tribunal by the Soviet Prmecution as Exhibit USSR-36 (Document Number USSR-36). This report, in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter, is sub-mitted as irrefutable evidence.
Count 6 of this report, entitled “Plunder of Public and Private Property,” reads as follows-this count is on Page 32 of the.document book:
“6. Plunder of public and private property.
“Along with the exploitation of manpower the plundering of public and private property was systematically carried out in Yugoslavia. T’his plunder was carried out in various ways and within the scope of the different measures taken. In this way, too, Germany succeeded in completely exhausting , the economic and financial forces in occupied Yugoslavia and in destroying her almost completely from the economic point of view.
“We shall cite here only a few examples of this systematic plunder:
“A. Currency and credit measures.
“Just as in other occupied countries, the Germans, immediately after their entry into Yugoslavia, carried out a series of currency measures which enabled them to take out of Yugoslavia in great quantities goods and other valuables at an insignificant price. As early as 14 April 1941″-that is to say, even before the occupation of Yugoslavia was actually com pleted-”the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, ‘on the basis of the authority received from the Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces,’ issued the
‘Proclamation Concerning Occupied Yugoslav Tesritory.’
Count 6 of this report, entitled “Plunder of Public and Private Property,” reads as follows-this count is on Page 32 of the.document book:
“6. Plunder of public and private property.
“Along with the exploitation of manpower the plundering of public and private property was systematically carried out in Yugoslavia. T’his plunder was carried out in various ways and within the scope of the different measures taken. In this way, too, Germany succeeded in completely exhausting , the economic and financial forces in occupied Yugoslavia and in destroying her almost completely from the economic point of view.
“We shall cite here only a few examples of this systematic plunder:
“A. Currency and credit measures.
“Just as in other occupied countries, the Germans, immediately after their entry into Yugoslavia, carried out a series of currency measures which enabled them to take out of Yugoslavia in great quantities goods and other valuables at an insignificant price. As early as 14 April 1941″-that is to say, even before the occupation of Yugoslavia was actually com pleted-”the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, ‘on the basis of the authority received from the Fuhrer and Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces,’ issued the
‘Proclamation Concerning Occupied Yugoslav Tesritory.’
“Article 9 of this proclamation fixes an obligatory rate of exchange of 20 Yugoslav dinars for 1 German mark.
Thus the value of the dinar in relation to the Reichsmark was artificially and by force lowered. The real rate of exchange before the war was much more favorable to the Yugoslav currency.
“This proves clearly the violation of the appropriate regulations of the Hague Convention, as well as the existence a plan prepared in advance for the depreciation of Yugoslav currency.”
I submit to the Tribunal a certified photographic copy of the aforementioned proclamation as Exhibit Number USSR-140 (Document Number USSR-140).
Thus the value of the dinar in relation to the Reichsmark was artificially and by force lowered. The real rate of exchange before the war was much more favorable to the Yugoslav currency.
“This proves clearly the violation of the appropriate regulations of the Hague Convention, as well as the existence a plan prepared in advance for the depreciation of Yugoslav currency.”
I submit to the Tribunal a certified photographic copy of the aforementioned proclamation as Exhibit Number USSR-140 (Document Number USSR-140).
“The second predatory measure in the field of currency policy was the introduction of German bonds (Reichskreditkassen- schein) as an obligatory means of payment in the occupied territory of Yugoslavia. This measure was also mentioned in Paragraph IX of the proclamation submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Numlber USSR-140. These so-called occupation marks, which were without any economic foundation and without any value whatsoever in Germany itself, were printed in Yugoslavia in accordance with the needs of the German forces of occupation and authorities and in this way served as a means for enabling them to make purchases at a very low price. “On 30 June 1942″-that is to say, more than a year later- “these Reich bonds were withdrawn. This took place after the Germans had already bought up almost everything that could be purchased in Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslav State Bank had been liquidated and all its properties plundered. In its stead the Germans created the so-called Serbian National Bank. “However, so that the Germans would suffer no loss through this measure, the Serbian National Bank was forced to exchange the so-called occupation marks for new dinars.
The marks thus exchanged were simply withdrawn from the Serbian National Banlk by the Germans against receipt. In this way one of the most shameless plunders was carried out, which cost Yugoslavia many thousands of millions of dinars.”
I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-194 (Document Number USSR-194), “the German decree of 30 June 1942 concerning the withmdrawal of notes issued by the Reichskreditkasse and also a certified copy of the decree concerning the Serbian National Bank, of 29 May 1941,” as Exhibit Number USSR-135 (Document Number USSR-135).
The marks thus exchanged were simply withdrawn from the Serbian National Banlk by the Germans against receipt. In this way one of the most shameless plunders was carried out, which cost Yugoslavia many thousands of millions of dinars.”
I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-194 (Document Number USSR-194), “the German decree of 30 June 1942 concerning the withmdrawal of notes issued by the Reichskreditkasse and also a certified copy of the decree concerning the Serbian National Bank, of 29 May 1941,” as Exhibit Number USSR-135 (Document Number USSR-135).
“It can be seen from these documents that the German occupation authorities carried out by force the illegal liquidation of the Yugoslav State Bank, under the pretext that Yugoslavia no longer existed, and that they took advantage of this liquidation in order to plunder the country on an enormous scale.
“The Germans established the so-called Serbian National Bank exclusively for the purpose of creating an instrument for their predatory econonic and currency policy in Serbia.
The bank was administered by officials whom they themselves appointed.
“The measures taken with regard to Yugoslav metal coins are also very characteristic. The Yugoslav coinage, which contained a certain percent of silver and brass, was withdrawn, and replaced by coins of very poor metal alloy. Naturally, the Germans carried to Germany a large quantity of the most valuable Yugoslav coins.
The bank was administered by officials whom they themselves appointed.
“The measures taken with regard to Yugoslav metal coins are also very characteristic. The Yugoslav coinage, which contained a certain percent of silver and brass, was withdrawn, and replaced by coins of very poor metal alloy. Naturally, the Germans carried to Germany a large quantity of the most valuable Yugoslav coins.
“B. Requisitions and fines.”
The Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 40 of the document book: “Reich Minister Speer, head of the Armament and War Production Ministry, declared that fixed prices were the Magna Carta of the Armament Program
.
” The Defendant Goring, on 26 March 1943, issued a decree demanding a further decrease in the prices of all goods imported from the occupied countries. “This lowering of prices was attained by means of currency measures as well as by means of requisitioning, confiscation, fines, and in particular, through a special price policy. “By means of requisitioning, a policy of fixed low prices, and compulsory sales, the Government of the Reich was enabled to plunder thoroughly the Yugoslav people.
The Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 40 of the document book: “Reich Minister Speer, head of the Armament and War Production Ministry, declared that fixed prices were the Magna Carta of the Armament Program
.
” The Defendant Goring, on 26 March 1943, issued a decree demanding a further decrease in the prices of all goods imported from the occupied countries. “This lowering of prices was attained by means of currency measures as well as by means of requisitioning, confiscation, fines, and in particular, through a special price policy. “By means of requisitioning, a policy of fixed low prices, and compulsory sales, the Government of the Reich was enabled to plunder thoroughly the Yugoslav people.
This went so far that even the quisling institutions collaborating with the Germans frequently had to declare that the quotas of goods demanded by the Germans could not be filled. “Thus, a report made by the district chief, for the Moravski Districtn-quisling administration of Milan Nedic-”on 12 February 1942, stated:
“1. If they are deprived of so many cattle, the peasants will not be able to cultivate their fields. On the one hand, they are ordered to cultivate every inch of ground, on the other hand, their cattle are ruthlessly confiscated.
“2. The cattle are purchased at such a low price that the peasants feel that they are hardly compensated at all for the loss of their cattle.
“2. The cattle are purchased at such a low price that the peasants feel that they are hardly compensated at all for the loss of their cattle.
“Similar examples from other regions or districts of Yugoslavia are very numerous.
“In order to plunder the country, the Germans often reverted to the systematic imposition of money fines.
For instance the cash fines imposed by the ‘Felidkornmandantur’ in Belgrade during 1943 alone amountsd to 48,818,068 dinars. In Nish, during the first 3- l/2 months of 1943, the cash fines amounted to 5,065,000 dinars.
“In order to plunder the country, the Germans often reverted to the systematic imposition of money fines.
For instance the cash fines imposed by the ‘Felidkornmandantur’ in Belgrade during 1943 alone amountsd to 48,818,068 dinars. In Nish, during the first 3- l/2 months of 1943, the cash fines amounted to 5,065,000 dinars.
“Finally, we should Like to give here a few details regarding the clearing accounts through which the export of Yugoslav goods to Germany was carried out. As early as 1 March 1943 the clearing balance in favor of Serbia amounted to 219 million Reichsmark, or 4,380 million dinars. By the end of the occupation Germany owed Serbia 10,000 million dinars.
“The situation was the same in all the other provinces of Yugoslavia, and only the methods of plundering varied according to local conditions.
“The situation was the same in all the other provinces of Yugoslavia, and only the methods of plundering varied according to local conditions.
“C. Confiscations.
“Confiscations were one of the most widespread and effective means of plundering Yugoslavia.
“Before the occupation of Yugoslavia was completed in 1941,a decree on confiscation was issued by the Germans in the combat zone. Pursuant to this decree the Germans confiscated enormous quantities of agricultural products, raw materials,
semi-manufactured, and other goods.”
I submit to the Tribunal a certified copy of the above-mentioned
decree as Exhibit Number USSR-206 (Document Number USSR-206). “Immediately after the occupation of the country, the German occupation authorities introduced by means of numerous decrees, the system of confiscation of private and public
property.”
“Before the occupation of Yugoslavia was completed in 1941,a decree on confiscation was issued by the Germans in the combat zone. Pursuant to this decree the Germans confiscated enormous quantities of agricultural products, raw materials,
semi-manufactured, and other goods.”
I submit to the Tribunal a certified copy of the above-mentioned
decree as Exhibit Number USSR-206 (Document Number USSR-206). “Immediately after the occupation of the country, the German occupation authorities introduced by means of numerous decrees, the system of confiscation of private and public
property.”
In order to save time I skip a part of this section of the document which quotes concrete examples of the confiscation of property belonging to the Yugoslav population, and I pass on to the next count, which is entitled,
“Other Methods of Plunder.” The members of the Tribunal will find this section on Page 52:
“Together with the aforesaid methods of plunder, which were carried out on the basis of various decrees, laws, and regulations, more primitive methods of looting were practiced throughout the Yugoslav territory. They were not sporadic incidents but constituted a part of the German system for enslavement and exploitation.
“The Germans plundered everything from industrial and economic undertakings, down to cattle, food, and even sim-plest objects for personal use.”
I shall cite a few examples:
“1. Immediately after their entry into Yugoslavia, the Germans looted all the bigger finance and storehouses. They generally engaged in this form of looting at night, after the so-called curfew hours.
“2. The order of Major General Kuebler -which has already been submitted to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as Document Number USSR-132-”contains the following passage:
“1. Immediately after their entry into Yugoslavia, the Germans looted all the bigger finance and storehouses. They generally engaged in this form of looting at night, after the so-called curfew hours.
“2. The order of Major General Kuebler -which has already been submitted to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as Document Number USSR-132-”contains the following passage:
“‘Troops must treat these members of the population who maintain an unfriendly attitude toward the occupation forces in a brutal and ruthless manner, depriving the enemy of every means of existence by the destruction of localities which have been abandoned and by seizing all available stocks.’
“On the basis of this and similar orders, the Germans ceaselessly looted the country under the pretext of so-called ‘control of existing stocks,’ using the opportunities afforded by the ‘destruction of localities which had been abandoned.’
“On the basis of this and similar orders, the Germans ceaselessly looted the country under the pretext of so-called ‘control of existing stocks,’ using the opportunities afforded by the ‘destruction of localities which had been abandoned.’
“3. Punitive expeditions, which became an everyday event during the occupation, were, naturally, always accompanied by the looting of the victims’ property.
In the same way they robbed their prisoners and the bodies of those who had fallen fighting in the Free National Army, as well as all the in ternees in the concentration camps.
“4. Not even churches were spared. Thus, for example, the German unit ‘Konrad-Einheit,’ which operated in the vicinity of Sibenik, looted the Church of St. John in Zablad.” There are numerous examples of the same ‘kind. “During the 4 years the whole of Yugoslavia was systematically looted.
This was carried out either through numerous so-called ‘legal measures,’ or through mass looting on the part of the Germans. The Nazi occupation forces showed great inventive ability and applied to Yugoslavia the experience which they had gained in other occupied countries.
,
“These criminal measures damaged the Yugoslav State and its citizens to such an extent that one can consider it simply . as economic destruction of the country.”
From this Your Honors,
May see that the plunder of public and private property in Yugoslavia was conducted by the Hitlerites according to a preconceived plan, that it affected every class and every branch of the country’s economy, and caused enormous material loss to the Yugoslav State and to its citizens.
In the same way they robbed their prisoners and the bodies of those who had fallen fighting in the Free National Army, as well as all the in ternees in the concentration camps.
“4. Not even churches were spared. Thus, for example, the German unit ‘Konrad-Einheit,’ which operated in the vicinity of Sibenik, looted the Church of St. John in Zablad.” There are numerous examples of the same ‘kind. “During the 4 years the whole of Yugoslavia was systematically looted.
This was carried out either through numerous so-called ‘legal measures,’ or through mass looting on the part of the Germans. The Nazi occupation forces showed great inventive ability and applied to Yugoslavia the experience which they had gained in other occupied countries.
,
“These criminal measures damaged the Yugoslav State and its citizens to such an extent that one can consider it simply . as economic destruction of the country.”
From this Your Honors,
May see that the plunder of public and private property in Yugoslavia was conducted by the Hitlerites according to a preconceived plan, that it affected every class and every branch of the country’s economy, and caused enormous material loss to the Yugoslav State and to its citizens.
THE PRESIDENT (Lord Justice Sir Geoffrey Lawrence): I believe this would be a convenient time to recess.
/Arecess was taken.]
/Arecess was taken.]
MR. COUNSELLOR SHENIN: After the invasion of Greece, the Hitlerite conspirators pursued their policy of merciless despoliation of the occupied countries and immediately began to plunder her national property. The official report of the Greek Government on the crimes committed by the Hitlerites has already been submitted to the Tribunal.
The appropriate section of this report entitled, “Exploitation,” gives the concrete facts of the plunder of public and private property in Greece. I quote the following excerpts from the part, “Exploitation,” from this report of the Greek Government, which will be found on Page 59 of the document book:
“Owing to her geographical position, Greece was used by the Germans as a base of operations for the war in North Africa. They also used Greece as a rest center for thousands of their troops from the North African and Eastern fronts, thus con- centrating in Greece much larger forces than were actually necessary for purpose of occupation.
“A large part of the local supplies of fruit, vegetables, potatoes, olive oil, meat, and dairy products were confiscated to supply these forces. As current production was not sufficient for these needs, they resorted to the requisitioning of live- stock on a large scale, with the result that the country’s live- stock became seriously depleted.”
In addition to requisitioning supplies for their armies, the Hitlerite conspirators exacted enormous sums of money from Greece to cover the so-called cost of occupation. In the report of the Greek Government the following remark is made on the subject-this is on Page 60 of the document book-I read:
The appropriate section of this report entitled, “Exploitation,” gives the concrete facts of the plunder of public and private property in Greece. I quote the following excerpts from the part, “Exploitation,” from this report of the Greek Government, which will be found on Page 59 of the document book:
“Owing to her geographical position, Greece was used by the Germans as a base of operations for the war in North Africa. They also used Greece as a rest center for thousands of their troops from the North African and Eastern fronts, thus con- centrating in Greece much larger forces than were actually necessary for purpose of occupation.
“A large part of the local supplies of fruit, vegetables, potatoes, olive oil, meat, and dairy products were confiscated to supply these forces. As current production was not sufficient for these needs, they resorted to the requisitioning of live- stock on a large scale, with the result that the country’s live- stock became seriously depleted.”
In addition to requisitioning supplies for their armies, the Hitlerite conspirators exacted enormous sums of money from Greece to cover the so-called cost of occupation. In the report of the Greek Government the following remark is made on the subject-this is on Page 60 of the document book-I read:
“Between August 1941 and December 1941 the sum of 26,206,085,000 drachmas was paid to the Germans, representing a sum of 60 percent more than the estimated national income during the same period. In fact, according to the estimates of two Axis experts, Dr. Barberin, from Germany, and Dr. Bartoni, an Italian, the national income for that year amounted to only 23,000 million drachma. In the following year, as the national income decreased, this money was taken from national funds.”
Another method of plundering Greece which the Hitlerites applied on a vast scale was the so-called requisitions and confiscations.
In order to save time, I shall, with the permission of the Tribunal, merely read into the record a brief excerpt from the Greek report dealing with this question. I quote:
“One of the enemy’s first measures on occupying Greece was to seize all the existing stocks in the country by requisition or open confiscation. Among other goods, they requisitioned from the wholesale and retail trade 71,000 tons of currants and 10,000 tons of olive oil; they confiscated 1,435 tons of coffee, 1,143 tons of sugar, 2,520 tons of rice, and a whole shipload of wheat valued at 530,000 dollars.”
As the country was divided among three occupying powers, the Hitlerites blockaded that part of Greece which was occupied by their own troops and forbade the export of food supplies from that zone. The Hitlerites began to confiscate all existing stocks of food and other goods, a measure which reduced the population to a state of extreme misery and starvation.
This plundering had such consequences for the Greek nation that, finally, even the Germans themselves were forced to realize that they had gone too far.
The practical result of this was that towards the end of 1942 the German authorities promised the International Commission of the Red Cross that they would return to the population all the local products confiscated and exported by the armies of occupation. The Germans also undertook to replace them by the importation of products of the same caloric value.
This pledge was not fulfilled.
As in all the occupied countries, the Germans issued and put into circulation an unlimited amount of currency. It should be noted that this currency represented the so-called occupation marks without any security. I quote an excerpt from this report, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 63 in the document book. I read:
“From the very first they–the GermaneUput into circu-lation 10,000 million occupation marks, a sum equal to half the money in circulation at that date. By April 1944 the monetary circulation had reached 14,000 million drachmas, that is, it had
increased 700 percent since the start of the occupation.”
This plundering had such consequences for the Greek nation that, finally, even the Germans themselves were forced to realize that they had gone too far.
The practical result of this was that towards the end of 1942 the German authorities promised the International Commission of the Red Cross that they would return to the population all the local products confiscated and exported by the armies of occupation. The Germans also undertook to replace them by the importation of products of the same caloric value.
This pledge was not fulfilled.
As in all the occupied countries, the Germans issued and put into circulation an unlimited amount of currency. It should be noted that this currency represented the so-called occupation marks without any security. I quote an excerpt from this report, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 63 in the document book. I read:
“From the very first they–the GermaneUput into circu-lation 10,000 million occupation marks, a sum equal to half the money in circulation at that date. By April 1944 the monetary circulation had reached 14,000 million drachmas, that is, it had
increased 700 percent since the start of the occupation.”
The Germans, after causing great inflation in that way, purchased all goods at prices fixed before the occupation. All goods purchased, as well as valuables, articles of gold, furniture, and so forth, were shipped by the Germans to Germany.
Προσεχτε ιδιαιτέρως την παρακάτω αναφορά.
Finally, as in every country they occupied, the Hitlerites put into operation in Greece also the so-called “clearing system.”
Under this system, all goods marked for export were first confiscated or put under embargo by the military authorities. Then they were bought up by German firms at arbitrarily fixed prices. The price of the goods established in this one-sided way was then credited to Greece. The prices for merchandise imported from Germany were fixed at from 200 to 500 percent higher than their normal value. Finally, Greece was abo debited with the price of merchandise imported from Germany for the needs of the occupation forces. The Germans called this cynical method of plundering “clearing.”
Προσεχτε ιδιαιτέρως την παρακάτω αναφορά.
Finally, as in every country they occupied, the Hitlerites put into operation in Greece also the so-called “clearing system.”
Under this system, all goods marked for export were first confiscated or put under embargo by the military authorities. Then they were bought up by German firms at arbitrarily fixed prices. The price of the goods established in this one-sided way was then credited to Greece. The prices for merchandise imported from Germany were fixed at from 200 to 500 percent higher than their normal value. Finally, Greece was abo debited with the price of merchandise imported from Germany for the needs of the occupation forces. The Germans called this cynical method of plundering “clearing.”
I quote a short excerpt from the report of the Greek Government which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 64 of the document book. I read
“In consequence, notwithstanding the fact that Greece exported the whole of her available resources to Germany,the clearing account showed a credit balance of 264,157,574.03 marks in favor of Germany when the Germans left. At the
time of their arrival.the credit balance in favor of Greece was 4,353,428.82 marks.”
In this way, Your Honors, the Hitlerites plundered the Greek people.
————————————————————————————–
“In consequence, notwithstanding the fact that Greece exported the whole of her available resources to Germany,the clearing account showed a credit balance of 264,157,574.03 marks in favor of Germany when the Germans left. At the
time of their arrival.the credit balance in favor of Greece was 4,353,428.82 marks.”
In this way, Your Honors, the Hitlerites plundered the Greek people.
————————————————————————————–
May it please Your Honors,
I pass on to the statement of the facts of the monstrous plunder and pillage to which private, public, and state property was subjected by the Hitlerite usurpers in the temporarily occupied territories of the Soviet Union. The irrefutable original documents which I shall have the honor to present for your consideration, Your Honors, will prove that long before their attack on the U.S.S.R., the fascist conspirators had conceived and prepared their criminal plans for the plunder and spoliation of its riches and of its national wealth.
Like all other military crimes committed by the Hitlerites in countries occupied by them, the plunder and pillage of these territories was planned and organized beforehand by the major war criminals whom the determination and valor of the Allied nations have brought to justice.
The crimes committed by those who carried out the conspirators’ criminal plans over wide areas of the Soviet land, on the fertile steppes of the Ukraine, in the fields and forests of Belorussia, in the rich cornfields of the Kuban and the Don, in the blossoming gardens of the Crimea, in the approaches to Leningrad and 5n the Soviet Baltic States-all these monstrous crimes, all this mass plunder and wholesale pillage of the sacred wealth created by the peaceable and honest work of the Soviet peoples, Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, and others-all these crimes were directly planned, designed, prepared, and organized by the criminal Hitlerite Government and the Supreme Command of Armed Forces-the major war criminals, now occupying the dock.
I shall begin with evidence as to the premeditated nature of the crimes committed on U.S.S.R. territory. I shall prove that the wholesale indiscriminate pillage of private, public, and state property committed by the German fascist usurpers was not an isolated occurrence, not a local phenomenon. It was not the result of the disintegration or the thefts of individual army units but was, on the contrary, an essential and indissoluble part of the general plan of attack on the U.S.S.R. and represented, moreover, the fundamental purpose, the chief motive underlying this criminal aggression.
May I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal if, in stating the facts connected with the preparations for this type of crimes, I am obliged to refer very briefly also to several of the documents already wbmitted to the Tribunal by my American colleagues. I shall endeavor, however, to avoid repetitions and shall mainly quote such extracts from these documents as have not been previously read into the record.
It is known t t simultaneously with the elaboration of “Plan Barbarossa,”
which provided for all strategic questions connected with the attack on the U.S.S.R., purely economic problems arising from the plan were elaborated.
In the document known under the title, “Conference of 29 April 1941 with Branches of the Anned Forces,” and presented to the Tribunal by the American prosecution on 10 December as Document Number 1157-PS, we read:
Like all other military crimes committed by the Hitlerites in countries occupied by them, the plunder and pillage of these territories was planned and organized beforehand by the major war criminals whom the determination and valor of the Allied nations have brought to justice.
The crimes committed by those who carried out the conspirators’ criminal plans over wide areas of the Soviet land, on the fertile steppes of the Ukraine, in the fields and forests of Belorussia, in the rich cornfields of the Kuban and the Don, in the blossoming gardens of the Crimea, in the approaches to Leningrad and 5n the Soviet Baltic States-all these monstrous crimes, all this mass plunder and wholesale pillage of the sacred wealth created by the peaceable and honest work of the Soviet peoples, Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, and others-all these crimes were directly planned, designed, prepared, and organized by the criminal Hitlerite Government and the Supreme Command of Armed Forces-the major war criminals, now occupying the dock.
I shall begin with evidence as to the premeditated nature of the crimes committed on U.S.S.R. territory. I shall prove that the wholesale indiscriminate pillage of private, public, and state property committed by the German fascist usurpers was not an isolated occurrence, not a local phenomenon. It was not the result of the disintegration or the thefts of individual army units but was, on the contrary, an essential and indissoluble part of the general plan of attack on the U.S.S.R. and represented, moreover, the fundamental purpose, the chief motive underlying this criminal aggression.
May I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal if, in stating the facts connected with the preparations for this type of crimes, I am obliged to refer very briefly also to several of the documents already wbmitted to the Tribunal by my American colleagues. I shall endeavor, however, to avoid repetitions and shall mainly quote such extracts from these documents as have not been previously read into the record.
It is known t t simultaneously with the elaboration of “Plan Barbarossa,”
which provided for all strategic questions connected with the attack on the U.S.S.R., purely economic problems arising from the plan were elaborated.
In the document known under the title, “Conference of 29 April 1941 with Branches of the Anned Forces,” and presented to the Tribunal by the American prosecution on 10 December as Document Number 1157-PS, we read:
“Purpose of the conference: Explanation of the administrative organization of the economic section of undertaking ‘Barbarossa-Oldenburg’. …”
Further on in this document it is indicated that the Fuhrer, contrary to previous practice in the preparation measures envisaged, ordered that all economic questions were to be worked out by one center and that this center is to be “the special-purpose economic staff Oldenburg under the direction of Lieutenant General Schubert” and that it is to be under the Reich Marshal, that is, Goring.
Thus, as early as April 1941, the Defendant Goring was in charge of all preparations for plundering the U.S.S.R.
To finish with this document, I should like to recall that provision is made in it, even at that early date, for the organization of special economic inspectorates and commands at Leningrad, Murmansk, Riga, Minsk, Moscow, Tula, Gorki, Kiev, Baku, Yaroslavl, and many other Soviet industrial towns. The document points out that the tasks of these inspectorates and commands included “the economic utilization of suitable terrritory” that is, as is explained below, “all questions of food supply and rural economy, industrial economy, including raw materials and manufactured articles; forestry, finance and banking, museums, commerce, trade, and manpower.” As you see, Your Honors,
the tasks were extremely wide and extraordinarily concrete.
The Plan Barbarossa-Oldenburg was further developed in the socalled “directives for economic management of the newly occupied eastern territories” which were also elaborated and issued secretly kefore the attack on the U.S.S.R.
Before passing on to the “Green File” I should like to present to the Tribunal and read out in part another document-the so-called ”File of the District Agricultural Leader,” which was submitted to the Tribunal by my colleague Colonel Smirnov as Document Number USSR-89., These very detailed instructions for future district agricultural leaders which were also worked out and published in advance, bore the title of “District Agricultural Leaders File,” and were dated 1June 1941. Naturally this document, too, is also marked “top secret.”
This instruction begins, “12 Commandments for the Behavior of Germans in the East and Their Attitude towards Russians.”
My colleague, Colonel Smirnov, read into the record only one of those commandments; and ‘I, with the Tribunal’s permission, shall read into the record the other commandments. The first commandment states-the members of the Tribunal will find it on Page 69 of the document book. I read:
Further on in this document it is indicated that the Fuhrer, contrary to previous practice in the preparation measures envisaged, ordered that all economic questions were to be worked out by one center and that this center is to be “the special-purpose economic staff Oldenburg under the direction of Lieutenant General Schubert” and that it is to be under the Reich Marshal, that is, Goring.
Thus, as early as April 1941, the Defendant Goring was in charge of all preparations for plundering the U.S.S.R.
To finish with this document, I should like to recall that provision is made in it, even at that early date, for the organization of special economic inspectorates and commands at Leningrad, Murmansk, Riga, Minsk, Moscow, Tula, Gorki, Kiev, Baku, Yaroslavl, and many other Soviet industrial towns. The document points out that the tasks of these inspectorates and commands included “the economic utilization of suitable terrritory” that is, as is explained below, “all questions of food supply and rural economy, industrial economy, including raw materials and manufactured articles; forestry, finance and banking, museums, commerce, trade, and manpower.” As you see, Your Honors,
the tasks were extremely wide and extraordinarily concrete.
The Plan Barbarossa-Oldenburg was further developed in the socalled “directives for economic management of the newly occupied eastern territories” which were also elaborated and issued secretly kefore the attack on the U.S.S.R.
Before passing on to the “Green File” I should like to present to the Tribunal and read out in part another document-the so-called ”File of the District Agricultural Leader,” which was submitted to the Tribunal by my colleague Colonel Smirnov as Document Number USSR-89., These very detailed instructions for future district agricultural leaders which were also worked out and published in advance, bore the title of “District Agricultural Leaders File,” and were dated 1June 1941. Naturally this document, too, is also marked “top secret.”
This instruction begins, “12 Commandments for the Behavior of Germans in the East and Their Attitude towards Russians.”
My colleague, Colonel Smirnov, read into the record only one of those commandments; and ‘I, with the Tribunal’s permission, shall read into the record the other commandments. The first commandment states-the members of the Tribunal will find it on Page 69 of the document book. I read:
“Those of you who are sent to work in the East must adopt as your guiding principle the rule that output alone is decisive. I must ask you to devote your hardest and most unsparing efforts to this end.”
What sort of “work” is meant is clearly shown by the following commandments. I quote extracts from this document:
“5th commandment: It is essential that you should always bear in mind the end to be attained. You must pursue this aim with the utmost stubbornness; but the methods used may be elastic to a degree. The methods employed are left to the discretion of the individual. .. .
“6th commandment: Since the newly incorporated territories must be secured permanently to Germany and Europe, much will depend on how you establish yourself there. …lack of character in individuals will constitute a definite ground for removing them from their work. Anyone recalled for this reason can never again occupy a responsible position in the Reich proper.”
In this way the future “agricultural leaders” were not only ordered to be implacable, merciless, and cruel in their plundering activities, but were also warned of what would happen to them if they were not implacable enough or if they showed “lack of character.”
The following commandments develop the same idea:
“7th commandment: Do not ask, ‘How will this benefit the peasants?’ but ‘How will it benefit Germany’
“8th commandment: Do not talk-act! You can never talk a Russian around or persuade him with words. He can talk better than you can, for he is a born ‘dialectic’. … “Only your will must decide, but this will must be directed to the execution of great tasks. Only in this case will it be ethical even in its cruelty.
What sort of “work” is meant is clearly shown by the following commandments. I quote extracts from this document:
“5th commandment: It is essential that you should always bear in mind the end to be attained. You must pursue this aim with the utmost stubbornness; but the methods used may be elastic to a degree. The methods employed are left to the discretion of the individual. .. .
“6th commandment: Since the newly incorporated territories must be secured permanently to Germany and Europe, much will depend on how you establish yourself there. …lack of character in individuals will constitute a definite ground for removing them from their work. Anyone recalled for this reason can never again occupy a responsible position in the Reich proper.”
In this way the future “agricultural leaders” were not only ordered to be implacable, merciless, and cruel in their plundering activities, but were also warned of what would happen to them if they were not implacable enough or if they showed “lack of character.”
The following commandments develop the same idea:
“7th commandment: Do not ask, ‘How will this benefit the peasants?’ but ‘How will it benefit Germany’
“8th commandment: Do not talk-act! You can never talk a Russian around or persuade him with words. He can talk better than you can, for he is a born ‘dialectic’. … “Only your will must decide, but this will must be directed to the execution of great tasks. Only in this case will it be ethical even in its cruelty.
Keep away from the Russians they are not Germans, they are Slavs.
“9th commandment: We do not wish to convert the Russians to National Socialism; we wish only to make them a tool in our hands. You must win the youth of Russia by assigning their task to them-by taking them firmly in hand and administering ruthless punishment to those who practice sabotage or fail to accomplish the work expected of them.
“The investigation of personal records and pleas takes up time which is needed for your German task. You are neither investigating magistrates nor yet the Wailing Wall.
“11th commandment: . . .his (Russian) stomach is elastic,therefore-no false pity for him!”
“The investigation of personal records and pleas takes up time which is needed for your German task. You are neither investigating magistrates nor yet the Wailing Wall.
“11th commandment: . . .his (Russian) stomach is elastic,therefore-no false pity for him!”
Such were these commandments for agricultural leaders, which one should-to be more exact-call “commandments for cannibals.” The file begins with theee “commandments,” which are followed by a perfectly clear-cut program for the plundering of .U.S.S.R. agriculture. At the beginning of this program we read:
“Fundamental economical directives for the Organization of Economic Policy in the East, Agricultural Group.
“As regards food policy, the aim of this campaign is:
“Fundamental economical directives for the Organization of Economic Policy in the East, Agricultural Group.
“As regards food policy, the aim of this campaign is:
“1. To guarantee food supplies for many years ahead for the German Armed Forces and the German civilian population.”
As you see, Your Honors, a perfectly clear and candid formulation of the aims of the attack on the U.S.S.R. is given. Of course, it does not exhaust these aims. This aim was not confined to the stealing of provisions, and provisions were far from being the only thing stolen. This is only an extract from the agricultural leaders’ file, and they were not the only people to be entrusted with tasks of pillage and to perform these tasks.
The file as a whole contains the following sections of a carefully thought out and extremely concrete program for the plunder of the Soviet Union’s agriculture. I read the table of contents. Your Honors will find this document on Page 67 of the document book:
“1. com-mandments.
2. General economic directives.
3. Organization chart.
4. Instructions for the regional agricultural leader.
5. Instructions for securing personnel.
6. State farms:Directives on the taking over and management of State farms.
7.Directives for taking over and managing collective farms.
8.Agriculture machine depots, directives regarding administration.
9; Directives for registration.
10. Furnishing food supplies for the cities.
11. Schedules for .agricultural work.
12. Price lists.”
I am not, Your Honor,
going to take up your time by reading the whole of this document, which consists of 98 typewritten pages. I am presenting it to the Tribunal in its entirety, to be included in the files of the Trial.
I shall read from this document, already presented to the Tri bunal by my American colleagues on 10 December of last year as Exhibit Number USA-147 (Document 1058-PS), only a few short lines. It is a note of the record of a speech made by Rosenberg at a secret conference on 20 June 1941, dealing with questions of the East. In his speech, Rosenberg stated particularly:
“The problem of feeding German nationals undeniably heads the German demands on the East just now, and here the southern regions and the northern Caucasus must help to balance the German food situation. We certainly do not consider ourselves obliged to feed the Russian people as well from the produce of these fertile regions. We know that this is a cruel necessity, which has nothing to do with any humane feelings. It will undoubtedly be necessary to carry out evacuation on a large scale and the Russians are doomed to live through some very hard years.”
Thus did the leaders of Hitlerite Germany formulate the tasks they set themselves when preparing their attack on thesoviet Union.
Already in August 1942-that is, from 26 to 28 August-Gauleiter Koch, who had just arrived from Hitler’s headquarters, spoke at the conference in Rovno. The record of this conference was found in Rosenberg’s archives. This document was kindly put at our disposal by our American colleagues. It is registered as Document Number 264-PS, but it has not been presented to the Tribunal.
I read into the record an excerpt from this record. The members of the Tribunal will find it on Page 72 in the document book. I read: “He”-KOCH-”explained the political situation and his tasks as Reich Commissione.r”-in the following way-” ‘There is no free Ukraine. We must aim at making the Ukrainians work for Germany, and not at making the people here happy. The Ukraine will have to make good the German shortages. This task must be accomplished without regard for losses. …
” ‘The Fuhrer has ordered 3 million tons of grain from the Ukraine for the Reich, and they must be delivered.. ..’ “
I shall show later how far this original. figure-3 million tons of grain-was exceeded by the Hitlerite plunderers,’ whose avid appetites grew from month to month.
. All these aims of plunder had been planned in advance by the criminal Hitlerite Government, who worked out an organized scheme for carrying out organized plunder and practical methods of pillaging the occupied territories.
With the Tribunal’s permission I shall read extracts from a secret document by Reich Marshal Goring which was captured by units of the Red Army. This document bears the title, “Directives for Economic Management in the Newly Occupied Areas in the East (Green File),” and extracts of it have already been mentioned by my colleagues. This document is presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-10 (Document Number USSR-10).
The title page of the document reads-Page 76 of the document book:
“Eastern Staff for Economic Leadership; top secret.
“Note: The present directives are to be considered as top-secret documents (documents of State importance) until X-Day; after X-Day they will no longer be secret and will be treated as open documents for official use only.
“Directives on the subject of economic management in -the,newly occupied areas in the East (Green File).
“Part I. Economic tasks and organization, Berlin, June 1941 printed by the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.”
As is clear from the text of the document, these directives were published immediately before Germany’s attack on the U.S.S.R. “for the information of military and econoinic authorities regarding economic tasks in the eastern territories to be occupied.”
In setting forth the “main economic tasks” the directives state in the first paragraph: “1. According to the Fuhrer’s order, it is essential in the interests of Germany that every possible measure far the immediate and complete exploitation of the occupied territories be adopted. Any measure liable to hinder the achievement of this purpose should be waived or cancelled.
“II. The exploitation of the regions to be occupied immediately should be carried out primarily in the economic field con-trolling food supplies and crude oil. The main economic purpose of the campaign is to obtain the greatest possible quantity of food and crude oil for Germany. In addition, other raw materials from the occupied territories must be supplied to the German war economy as far as is technically possible and as Ear as the claims of the industries to be maintained outside the Reich permit.”
I omit the next part of the excerpt, and I pass on to the following excerpt, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 78: “The idea that order should be restored in the occupied territories and their economic Life re-established as soon as possible is entirely mistaken. On the contrary, the treatment of the different parts of the country must be a very different one. Order should only be restored and industry promoted in regions where we can obtain considerable reserves of agricultural products or crude oil.”
I omit the rest of this quotation in order to save time. Further, the plan devised in advance for the organized plunder of the Soviet Union provided in detail for the removal from the U.S.S.R. to Germany of all raw materials, supplies, and stocks of goods available. In confirmation of this I cite excerpts from this document so that I shall not have to read it in full. The members of the Tribunal will find these excerpts on Page 83, 87, and 88 of the document book:
“All raw materials, semimanufactured, or finished products of which we can make use are to be withdrawn from commerce. This will be done by IV Wi and by the economic authorities by means of appeals and orders, by ordering confiscation or by military supervision, or both.”
Page 88-from the section “Raw Material and the Exploitation of
Commercial Resources”: “Platinum, magnesium, and rubber are to be secured at once and transported to Germany as soon as possible.”
Back of Page 87:
“Food products, articles for personal use, and clothing discovered in combat and rear zones are to be placed at the disposal of IV A for immediate military requirements.”
Back of Page 83-in the section of the directives entitled “Economic Organization” we find a project of an apparatus with wide ramifications which was to carry out this organized plunder of the U.S.S.R. I shall read a series of excerpts from this section, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 79 of the document book:
“A. General questions.
“To guarantee undivided economic leadership in the theater of military activities, as well as in the administrative areas to be established at a later date, the Reich Marshal has organized the ‘Staff for Economic Leadership East’ directly under himself and headed by his representative, State Secretary Korner.”
Second excerpt:
“The orders of. the Reich Marsh.al apply to all economic spheres, including food supply and rural economy.” In directing your attention to these two excerpts, Your Honors, I consider it definitively proved that the Defendant Goring not only had personal charge of the preparations for the plunder of private public, and state property, but later on directed personally the vast apparatus specially set up for these criminal purposes. You can judge of the projected organization of this apparatus, by the fol- lowing extracts from the Green File. I read:
Organization of Economic Administration in the operational area.
“1. The economic establishments, subordinated to the Economic Staff East, insofar as their activities cover the theater of military activities, are incorporated in the army staffs and are submdinate to them in military matters, namely:
“A. In the rear area: One economic inspectorate at each of the chief commands of the rear area; one or several mobile units of the economic section with the security divisions; one IV Wi group at each of the field command Headquarters.
“B. In the army adrriinistration ldistrict: One IV Wi group (liaison officer Wi Ru Amt) with the army commander. One IV Wi group for each of the field commands attached to the army of the region; in addition, as and when necessary,
economic units are sent forward to the armies in the field.
These units are subordinate in military matters to the army command.”
Further on, in Paragraph 4 of this same section, under the title “Structure of the Individual Economic Institutions” the whole plan of construction of the Economic Staff East is described.
I shall cite it in my own words in order to save time. The members of the Tribunal will find the document to which I refer at the back of Page 79 in the document book.
Chief of the Economic Staff with the leadership group (field of activity, leadership .questions, also manpower); Group IA, in charge of food and agriculture, running the entire agricultural production and also the assembling of supplies for the army; Group W, in charge of industry, raw materials, forestry, finance, banking Property, and trade; Group M, in charge of troop requirements, armaments, and transport; economic inspectorates attached to army groups, in charge of the economic exploitation of the rear area.
Economic task forces organized in the zone of each security division and consisting of one officer as commander, and several specialists in different branches of the work. Economic groups attached to the field commands, who are responsible for supplying the immediate requirements of the troops stationed within the sphere of activity of the field command ‘and for preparing the economic exploitation of the country in the interesbs of war economy.
To these economic groups were attached experts on manpower, food production and agriculture, industrial economy and general economic questions; the economic section, attached to the army command, with special technical battalions and platoons as well as special intelligence subsections for industrial research, particularly in the field of raw materials and crude oil, and subsections for discovering and securing agricultural produce and machines, including tractors.
This same plan abo provides for special technical units for crude oil-battalions and companies-and also the so-called mining battalions.
Thus, under the direct control of the Defendant Goring, a whole army of plunderers of all ranks and branches was provided, prepared trained, and drilled in advance for the organized pillage and looting of the national property of the U.S.S.R.
As you see, Your Honors, a perfectly clear and candid formulation of the aims of the attack on the U.S.S.R. is given. Of course, it does not exhaust these aims. This aim was not confined to the stealing of provisions, and provisions were far from being the only thing stolen. This is only an extract from the agricultural leaders’ file, and they were not the only people to be entrusted with tasks of pillage and to perform these tasks.
The file as a whole contains the following sections of a carefully thought out and extremely concrete program for the plunder of the Soviet Union’s agriculture. I read the table of contents. Your Honors will find this document on Page 67 of the document book:
“1. com-mandments.
2. General economic directives.
3. Organization chart.
4. Instructions for the regional agricultural leader.
5. Instructions for securing personnel.
6. State farms:Directives on the taking over and management of State farms.
7.Directives for taking over and managing collective farms.
8.Agriculture machine depots, directives regarding administration.
9; Directives for registration.
10. Furnishing food supplies for the cities.
11. Schedules for .agricultural work.
12. Price lists.”
I am not, Your Honor,
going to take up your time by reading the whole of this document, which consists of 98 typewritten pages. I am presenting it to the Tribunal in its entirety, to be included in the files of the Trial.
I shall read from this document, already presented to the Tri bunal by my American colleagues on 10 December of last year as Exhibit Number USA-147 (Document 1058-PS), only a few short lines. It is a note of the record of a speech made by Rosenberg at a secret conference on 20 June 1941, dealing with questions of the East. In his speech, Rosenberg stated particularly:
“The problem of feeding German nationals undeniably heads the German demands on the East just now, and here the southern regions and the northern Caucasus must help to balance the German food situation. We certainly do not consider ourselves obliged to feed the Russian people as well from the produce of these fertile regions. We know that this is a cruel necessity, which has nothing to do with any humane feelings. It will undoubtedly be necessary to carry out evacuation on a large scale and the Russians are doomed to live through some very hard years.”
Thus did the leaders of Hitlerite Germany formulate the tasks they set themselves when preparing their attack on thesoviet Union.
Already in August 1942-that is, from 26 to 28 August-Gauleiter Koch, who had just arrived from Hitler’s headquarters, spoke at the conference in Rovno. The record of this conference was found in Rosenberg’s archives. This document was kindly put at our disposal by our American colleagues. It is registered as Document Number 264-PS, but it has not been presented to the Tribunal.
I read into the record an excerpt from this record. The members of the Tribunal will find it on Page 72 in the document book. I read: “He”-KOCH-”explained the political situation and his tasks as Reich Commissione.r”-in the following way-” ‘There is no free Ukraine. We must aim at making the Ukrainians work for Germany, and not at making the people here happy. The Ukraine will have to make good the German shortages. This task must be accomplished without regard for losses. …
” ‘The Fuhrer has ordered 3 million tons of grain from the Ukraine for the Reich, and they must be delivered.. ..’ “
I shall show later how far this original. figure-3 million tons of grain-was exceeded by the Hitlerite plunderers,’ whose avid appetites grew from month to month.
. All these aims of plunder had been planned in advance by the criminal Hitlerite Government, who worked out an organized scheme for carrying out organized plunder and practical methods of pillaging the occupied territories.
With the Tribunal’s permission I shall read extracts from a secret document by Reich Marshal Goring which was captured by units of the Red Army. This document bears the title, “Directives for Economic Management in the Newly Occupied Areas in the East (Green File),” and extracts of it have already been mentioned by my colleagues. This document is presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-10 (Document Number USSR-10).
The title page of the document reads-Page 76 of the document book:
“Eastern Staff for Economic Leadership; top secret.
“Note: The present directives are to be considered as top-secret documents (documents of State importance) until X-Day; after X-Day they will no longer be secret and will be treated as open documents for official use only.
“Directives on the subject of economic management in -the,newly occupied areas in the East (Green File).
“Part I. Economic tasks and organization, Berlin, June 1941 printed by the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.”
As is clear from the text of the document, these directives were published immediately before Germany’s attack on the U.S.S.R. “for the information of military and econoinic authorities regarding economic tasks in the eastern territories to be occupied.”
In setting forth the “main economic tasks” the directives state in the first paragraph: “1. According to the Fuhrer’s order, it is essential in the interests of Germany that every possible measure far the immediate and complete exploitation of the occupied territories be adopted. Any measure liable to hinder the achievement of this purpose should be waived or cancelled.
“II. The exploitation of the regions to be occupied immediately should be carried out primarily in the economic field con-trolling food supplies and crude oil. The main economic purpose of the campaign is to obtain the greatest possible quantity of food and crude oil for Germany. In addition, other raw materials from the occupied territories must be supplied to the German war economy as far as is technically possible and as Ear as the claims of the industries to be maintained outside the Reich permit.”
I omit the next part of the excerpt, and I pass on to the following excerpt, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 78: “The idea that order should be restored in the occupied territories and their economic Life re-established as soon as possible is entirely mistaken. On the contrary, the treatment of the different parts of the country must be a very different one. Order should only be restored and industry promoted in regions where we can obtain considerable reserves of agricultural products or crude oil.”
I omit the rest of this quotation in order to save time. Further, the plan devised in advance for the organized plunder of the Soviet Union provided in detail for the removal from the U.S.S.R. to Germany of all raw materials, supplies, and stocks of goods available. In confirmation of this I cite excerpts from this document so that I shall not have to read it in full. The members of the Tribunal will find these excerpts on Page 83, 87, and 88 of the document book:
“All raw materials, semimanufactured, or finished products of which we can make use are to be withdrawn from commerce. This will be done by IV Wi and by the economic authorities by means of appeals and orders, by ordering confiscation or by military supervision, or both.”
Page 88-from the section “Raw Material and the Exploitation of
Commercial Resources”: “Platinum, magnesium, and rubber are to be secured at once and transported to Germany as soon as possible.”
Back of Page 87:
“Food products, articles for personal use, and clothing discovered in combat and rear zones are to be placed at the disposal of IV A for immediate military requirements.”
Back of Page 83-in the section of the directives entitled “Economic Organization” we find a project of an apparatus with wide ramifications which was to carry out this organized plunder of the U.S.S.R. I shall read a series of excerpts from this section, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 79 of the document book:
“A. General questions.
“To guarantee undivided economic leadership in the theater of military activities, as well as in the administrative areas to be established at a later date, the Reich Marshal has organized the ‘Staff for Economic Leadership East’ directly under himself and headed by his representative, State Secretary Korner.”
Second excerpt:
“The orders of. the Reich Marsh.al apply to all economic spheres, including food supply and rural economy.” In directing your attention to these two excerpts, Your Honors, I consider it definitively proved that the Defendant Goring not only had personal charge of the preparations for the plunder of private public, and state property, but later on directed personally the vast apparatus specially set up for these criminal purposes. You can judge of the projected organization of this apparatus, by the fol- lowing extracts from the Green File. I read:
Organization of Economic Administration in the operational area.
“1. The economic establishments, subordinated to the Economic Staff East, insofar as their activities cover the theater of military activities, are incorporated in the army staffs and are submdinate to them in military matters, namely:
“A. In the rear area: One economic inspectorate at each of the chief commands of the rear area; one or several mobile units of the economic section with the security divisions; one IV Wi group at each of the field command Headquarters.
“B. In the army adrriinistration ldistrict: One IV Wi group (liaison officer Wi Ru Amt) with the army commander. One IV Wi group for each of the field commands attached to the army of the region; in addition, as and when necessary,
economic units are sent forward to the armies in the field.
These units are subordinate in military matters to the army command.”
Further on, in Paragraph 4 of this same section, under the title “Structure of the Individual Economic Institutions” the whole plan of construction of the Economic Staff East is described.
I shall cite it in my own words in order to save time. The members of the Tribunal will find the document to which I refer at the back of Page 79 in the document book.
Chief of the Economic Staff with the leadership group (field of activity, leadership .questions, also manpower); Group IA, in charge of food and agriculture, running the entire agricultural production and also the assembling of supplies for the army; Group W, in charge of industry, raw materials, forestry, finance, banking Property, and trade; Group M, in charge of troop requirements, armaments, and transport; economic inspectorates attached to army groups, in charge of the economic exploitation of the rear area.
Economic task forces organized in the zone of each security division and consisting of one officer as commander, and several specialists in different branches of the work. Economic groups attached to the field commands, who are responsible for supplying the immediate requirements of the troops stationed within the sphere of activity of the field command ‘and for preparing the economic exploitation of the country in the interesbs of war economy.
To these economic groups were attached experts on manpower, food production and agriculture, industrial economy and general economic questions; the economic section, attached to the army command, with special technical battalions and platoons as well as special intelligence subsections for industrial research, particularly in the field of raw materials and crude oil, and subsections for discovering and securing agricultural produce and machines, including tractors.
This same plan abo provides for special technical units for crude oil-battalions and companies-and also the so-called mining battalions.
Thus, under the direct control of the Defendant Goring, a whole army of plunderers of all ranks and branches was provided, prepared trained, and drilled in advance for the organized pillage and looting of the national property of the U.S.S.R.
Your Honors,
I will not take up your time by reading the whole text of the Green File; I shall limit myself to enumerating in remaining sections, which bear the following titles-Page 77 in the document book:
I will not take up your time by reading the whole text of the Green File; I shall limit myself to enumerating in remaining sections, which bear the following titles-Page 77 in the document book:
“Execution of individual economic tasks; Economic transport; Problems of military protection of economy; Procuring of supplies for the troops out of the resources of the country; Utilization of manpower, particularly of the local population; War booty, paid labor, captured material, prize courts; Economic objectives of war industries; Raw materials and utilization of goods available; Finance and credit; Foreign trade and clearings; Price control.”
Thus the plunder of all branches of the U.S.S.R.’s national economy was foreseen.
To conclude I shall read into the record Keitel’s order, dated 16 June 1941, 6 days before the attack on the U.S.S.R., in which he instructed all military units of the German Army to be ready to execute all the !directives of the Green File. I shall now read this order-you will find this, Your Honors, at the back of Page 89 of the document book:
Thus the plunder of all branches of the U.S.S.R.’s national economy was foreseen.
To conclude I shall read into the record Keitel’s order, dated 16 June 1941, 6 days before the attack on the U.S.S.R., in which he instructed all military units of the German Army to be ready to execute all the !directives of the Green File. I shall now read this order-you will find this, Your Honors, at the back of Page 89 of the document book:
“By the Fiihrer’s order, the Reich Marshal has issued ‘Directives for the Guidance of the Economic Administration of the Territories To Be Occupied.’
“These directives (Green File) are intended for the guidance of the military command and economic authorities in the economic tasks within the territories to be occupied in the immediate future. They contain directives for supplying the army from the resources of the country and give orders to army units to assist the economic authorities. Army units must comply with these directions and orders.
“The immediate and thorough exploitation of the territories to be occupied in the immediate future in the interest of Germany’s war economy, especially in the field of fuel and food supply, is of the highest importance for the further conduct of the war.”
I omit the second part of this order which contains detailed instructions as to how the directives of the Green File should be executed, and I read only the last paragraph of Keitel’s order:
“The exploitation of the country must be carried out on wide scale, with the help of field and local headquarters, in the most important agricultural and ojl-producing districts.
“These directives (Green File) are intended for the guidance of the military command and economic authorities in the economic tasks within the territories to be occupied in the immediate future. They contain directives for supplying the army from the resources of the country and give orders to army units to assist the economic authorities. Army units must comply with these directions and orders.
“The immediate and thorough exploitation of the territories to be occupied in the immediate future in the interest of Germany’s war economy, especially in the field of fuel and food supply, is of the highest importance for the further conduct of the war.”
I omit the second part of this order which contains detailed instructions as to how the directives of the Green File should be executed, and I read only the last paragraph of Keitel’s order:
“The exploitation of the country must be carried out on wide scale, with the help of field and local headquarters, in the most important agricultural and ojl-producing districts.
“Chief of the High Command of the Wehrmacht, Keitel.”
The concluding provision of this ‘document, which says that “the exploitation of the country must be carried out on a wide scale” was strictly observed by units of the German Anny; and the occupied regions of the U.S.S.R., from the very first day of the war, were subjected to the most merciless plunder. In confirmation of this, I shall later present to the Tribunal a series of original German documents, orders, directives, instructions, decrees, and so forth, issued by German military ,authorities. Meanwhile, to finish with the Green File, I may state in conclusion that this striking document is definite evidence of the remarkable qualifications for plunder and the vast experience in brigandage of the Hitlerite conspirators. The program for plundering the occupied territories of the Soviet Union, conceived on a wide scale and elaborated in detail by the conspirators, was put into practice by the Hitlerite aggrmrs from the very first days of their .attack on the U.S.S.R. Apart from the organized plunder carried out by the vast apparatus specially formed for this purposean apparatus con-sisting of all kinds of agricultural leaders, inspectors, specialists in economics, technical and intelligence battalions and companies, economic groups and detachments, military agronomists, and so forth-the so-called “material interest” of the German soldiers and. officers, who had unlimited possibilities of robbing the civilian Population and sending their booty to Germany, was widely encouraged by the Hitlerite Government and the High Command of the German Army. The universal plundering of the population of the towns and villages of the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. and the mass removal to Germany of the personal property of Soviet citizens, the property taken from the collective farms and co-operative unions and the property of the State itself, was carried out according to a Prearranged plan wherever the German fascist aggressors appeared.
I turn,
Your Honors, to the presentation of individual Soviet Government documents on this question.
A few months Hitlerite Germany’s treacherous attack on the U.S.S.R., the Soviet Government had already received irrefutable data about the war crimes committed by the Hitlerite armies in the Soviet territories they occupied.
My colleagues have already presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-51 a note of the People’s Commissar for Foreign affairs of the U.S.S.R., Molotov, dated 6 January 1942.
In order to avoid repetition and to save time, I shall read only a few excerpts from this note which have a direct bearing on the subject of my presentation. You will find the quoted extracts, underlined on Page 100 of the document book:
The concluding provision of this ‘document, which says that “the exploitation of the country must be carried out on a wide scale” was strictly observed by units of the German Anny; and the occupied regions of the U.S.S.R., from the very first day of the war, were subjected to the most merciless plunder. In confirmation of this, I shall later present to the Tribunal a series of original German documents, orders, directives, instructions, decrees, and so forth, issued by German military ,authorities. Meanwhile, to finish with the Green File, I may state in conclusion that this striking document is definite evidence of the remarkable qualifications for plunder and the vast experience in brigandage of the Hitlerite conspirators. The program for plundering the occupied territories of the Soviet Union, conceived on a wide scale and elaborated in detail by the conspirators, was put into practice by the Hitlerite aggrmrs from the very first days of their .attack on the U.S.S.R. Apart from the organized plunder carried out by the vast apparatus specially formed for this purposean apparatus con-sisting of all kinds of agricultural leaders, inspectors, specialists in economics, technical and intelligence battalions and companies, economic groups and detachments, military agronomists, and so forth-the so-called “material interest” of the German soldiers and. officers, who had unlimited possibilities of robbing the civilian Population and sending their booty to Germany, was widely encouraged by the Hitlerite Government and the High Command of the German Army. The universal plundering of the population of the towns and villages of the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. and the mass removal to Germany of the personal property of Soviet citizens, the property taken from the collective farms and co-operative unions and the property of the State itself, was carried out according to a Prearranged plan wherever the German fascist aggressors appeared.
I turn,
Your Honors, to the presentation of individual Soviet Government documents on this question.
A few months Hitlerite Germany’s treacherous attack on the U.S.S.R., the Soviet Government had already received irrefutable data about the war crimes committed by the Hitlerite armies in the Soviet territories they occupied.
My colleagues have already presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-51 a note of the People’s Commissar for Foreign affairs of the U.S.S.R., Molotov, dated 6 January 1942.
In order to avoid repetition and to save time, I shall read only a few excerpts from this note which have a direct bearing on the subject of my presentation. You will find the quoted extracts, underlined on Page 100 of the document book:
“Every step which the German fascist army and its allies took on the occupied Soviet territory of the Ukraine and Moldavia, Bielorussia and Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, the Karelo- Finnish territory and the Russian districts and regions is marked by the ruin or destruction of countless objects of material and cultural value.”
The last paragraph of this quotation: “In the villages occupied by German authorities, the peaceful peasant population is subjected to unrestrained depredation and robbery. The farmers are robbed of their property, acquired through whole decades of persistent toil, robbed of their houses, cattle, grain, clothing-of everything, down to their children’s last little garments and the last handful of grain. In many cases, the Germans drive the rural population, including old people, women, and children,, out of their dwellings as soon as the village is occupied and they are compelled to seek shelter in mud huts, dugouts, forests, or even under the open sky. In broad daylight the invaders strip the clothing and footgear from anyone they meet on the road, including children, savagely ill-treating those who try to protest against, or offer any kind of resistance to, such high- . way robbery. “In the villages liberated by the Red Army in the Rostov and Voroshilovgrad regions in the Ukraine, the peasants were plundered again and again by the invaders.
As successive German army units passed through these areas each of them renewed their ‘searches, lootings, arsons, and executions for failure to deliver up provisions. The same thing took place in Moscow, Kalinin, Tula, Orel, Leningrad, and other regions, from which the remnants of the German troops are now being driven by the Red Army.”
-In’ order to save time I shall not read the next paragraphs of this note, but shall give an account of them to the Tribunal in own words. They contain a whole series of concrete facts of the looting of the peaceful population in different regions of the Soviet Union and the names of the victims as well as the list of such things and belongings as were taken from these peaceful citizens. Further, this note reads as follows:
“The marauding orgies of the German officers and soldiers have spread to all the Soviet areas they have seized. The German authorities have legitimatized marauding in their armies and encouraged looting and violence. The German Government sees in this practice the realization of their bandit principle that every German combatant must have ‘a personal interest in the war.’ Thus, in a confidential order of 17 July 1941, addressed to all commanders of propaganda squads in the German Army and discovered by Red Army units when the 68th German Infantry Division was routed, explicit instructions are given to foster. in every officer and soldier of the German Army the feeling that he has a material interest in the war. Similar orders inciting the army to mass looting and murder of the civil population are also issued by the armies of the countries fighting on the German side.
“On the German-Soviet front, and especially in the vicinity of Moscow, more and more fascist officers and soldiers can be met dressed in pilfered clothes, their pockets crammed with stolen goods and their tanks stuffed ,with women’s and children’s wearing apparel torn from their victims’ bodies. The German Army is becoming more and more an army of ravenous thieves and marauders, who are looting and sacking flourishing towns and villages of the Soviet Union, ravaging and destroying the property and belongings of the laboring population of our villages and towns, the fruit of its honest toil. These are facts testifying to the extreme moral depravity and degeneracy of the Hitlerite Army, whose looting, thievery, and marauding have earned it the contempt and the curses of the entire Soviet nation.”
Several months later, on 27 April 1942, in connection with the information which continued to come in regarding the crimes com- mitted by the German fascist armies, Molotov, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R., published for the second time a note on the monstrous misdeeds, atrocities, and acts of violence of the German fascist invaders in occupied Soviet territories and on the responsibility of the German Government and the Figh Command for these crimes. This second note is also submitted to the Tribunal . . .
As successive German army units passed through these areas each of them renewed their ‘searches, lootings, arsons, and executions for failure to deliver up provisions. The same thing took place in Moscow, Kalinin, Tula, Orel, Leningrad, and other regions, from which the remnants of the German troops are now being driven by the Red Army.”
-In’ order to save time I shall not read the next paragraphs of this note, but shall give an account of them to the Tribunal in own words. They contain a whole series of concrete facts of the looting of the peaceful population in different regions of the Soviet Union and the names of the victims as well as the list of such things and belongings as were taken from these peaceful citizens. Further, this note reads as follows:
“The marauding orgies of the German officers and soldiers have spread to all the Soviet areas they have seized. The German authorities have legitimatized marauding in their armies and encouraged looting and violence. The German Government sees in this practice the realization of their bandit principle that every German combatant must have ‘a personal interest in the war.’ Thus, in a confidential order of 17 July 1941, addressed to all commanders of propaganda squads in the German Army and discovered by Red Army units when the 68th German Infantry Division was routed, explicit instructions are given to foster. in every officer and soldier of the German Army the feeling that he has a material interest in the war. Similar orders inciting the army to mass looting and murder of the civil population are also issued by the armies of the countries fighting on the German side.
“On the German-Soviet front, and especially in the vicinity of Moscow, more and more fascist officers and soldiers can be met dressed in pilfered clothes, their pockets crammed with stolen goods and their tanks stuffed ,with women’s and children’s wearing apparel torn from their victims’ bodies. The German Army is becoming more and more an army of ravenous thieves and marauders, who are looting and sacking flourishing towns and villages of the Soviet Union, ravaging and destroying the property and belongings of the laboring population of our villages and towns, the fruit of its honest toil. These are facts testifying to the extreme moral depravity and degeneracy of the Hitlerite Army, whose looting, thievery, and marauding have earned it the contempt and the curses of the entire Soviet nation.”
Several months later, on 27 April 1942, in connection with the information which continued to come in regarding the crimes com- mitted by the German fascist armies, Molotov, People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R., published for the second time a note on the monstrous misdeeds, atrocities, and acts of violence of the German fascist invaders in occupied Soviet territories and on the responsibility of the German Government and the Figh Command for these crimes. This second note is also submitted to the Tribunal . . .
THE PRESIDENT: General, what do you mean by “published”?
MR. COUNSELLOR SHENIN: What I mean is that this note was first sent to all the governments with whom the U.S.S.R. Government maintained diplomatic relations. The text of the note was also published in the Soviet official press.
This document has already been presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-51 (Document Number USSR-51). I shall read a few brief excerpts from this document which have a direct bearing on the subject of my presentation.
This document has already been presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-51 (Document Number USSR-51). I shall read a few brief excerpts from this document which have a direct bearing on the subject of my presentation.
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps we had better adjourn now, and you can read it after the adjournment.
/The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours.]
Afternoon Session
MARSHAL (Colonel Charles W. Mays): May it please the Court: I desire to announce that the Defendant Streicher will be absent on account of illness.
MARSHAL (Colonel Charles W. Mays): May it please the Court: I desire to announce that the Defendant Streicher will be absent on account of illness.
MR. COUNSELLOR SHENIN: I shall read now excerpts from the note of the People’s Commissar.. .
The proceedings were interrupted by technical difficulties in the interpreting system.
The proceedings were interrupted by technical difficulties in the interpreting system.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn.
A recess was taken..
A recess was taken..
Mετα την διακοπή για τεχνικούς λόγους η συνεδρίαση συνεχίσθηκε με συνεχές
Σφυροκόπημα εναντίον της Γερμανίας του Χιτλερ . Διακόπτω εδώ καθ όσον δεν γίνεται να σας μεταβιβάσω την συνέχεια της όλης δίκης. Έκρινα ότι κάποια κομμάτια αν και μεγάλα Είναι καλό να ξαναγίνονται γίνονται γνωστά ιδίως για Ελλάδα έτσι για την Ιστορία .
Κάποιοι λένε ότι η Ιστορία πολλές φορές επαναλαμβάνεται αυτό είναι κάτι που η ίδια η Ιστορία μπορεί να το απαντήσει.
Η Ιστορια είναι μια πολύ σοβαρή υπόθεση
Σφυροκόπημα εναντίον της Γερμανίας του Χιτλερ . Διακόπτω εδώ καθ όσον δεν γίνεται να σας μεταβιβάσω την συνέχεια της όλης δίκης. Έκρινα ότι κάποια κομμάτια αν και μεγάλα Είναι καλό να ξαναγίνονται γίνονται γνωστά ιδίως για Ελλάδα έτσι για την Ιστορία .
Κάποιοι λένε ότι η Ιστορία πολλές φορές επαναλαμβάνεται αυτό είναι κάτι που η ίδια η Ιστορία μπορεί να το απαντήσει.
Η Ιστορια είναι μια πολύ σοβαρή υπόθεση
.jpg)