Archive/File: imt/ tgmwc/judgment/j-invasion-ussr
Last-Modified: 1997/09/13

                          Judgment
                           of the
               International Military Tribunal
                           For The
             Trial of German Major War Criminals

                           London
               His Majesty's Stationery Office
                            1951

                                                   [Page 33]

       THE AGGRESSIVE WAR AGAINST THE UNION OF SOVIET
                     SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

On the 23rd August, 1939 Germany signed the non-aggression
pact with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The evidence has shown unmistakably that the Soviet Union on
their part conformed to the terms of this pact; indeed the
German Government

                                                   [Page 34]

itself had been assured of this by the highest German
sources. Thus, the German Ambassador in Moscow informed his
Government that the Soviet Union would go to war only if
attacked by Germany, and this statement is recorded in the
German War Diary under the date of 6th June, 1941.

Nevertheless, as early as the late summer of 1940, Germany
began to make preparations for an attack on the U.S.S.R., in
spite of the non-aggression pact. This operation was
secretly planned under the code name "Case Barbarossa", and
the former Field Marshal Paulus testified that on 3rd
September, 1940, when he joined the German General Staff, he
continued developing "Case Barbarossa", which was finally
completed at the beginning of November, 1940; and that even
then, the German General Staff had no information that the
Soviet Union was preparing for war.

On the 18th December, 1940 Hitler issued Directive No. 21,
initialed by Keitel and Jodl, which called for the
completion of all preparations connected with the
realization of "Case Barbarossa" by the 15th May, 1941. This
directive stated:

     "The German armed forces must be prepared to crush
     Soviet Russia in a quick campaign before the end
     of the war against England .. Great caution has to
     be exercised that the intention of an attack will
     not be recognized."

Before the directive of the 18 December had been made, the
Defendant Goering had informed General Thomas, chief of the
Office of War Economy of the OKW, of the plan, and General
Thomas made surveys of the economic possibilities of the
U.S.S.R., including its raw materials, its power and
transport system, and its capacity to produce arms.

In accordance with these surveys, an economic staff for the
Eastern territories with many military-economic units
(inspectorates, commandos, groups) was created under the
supervision of the Defendant Goering. In conjunction with
the military command, these units were to achieve the most
complete and efficient economic exploitation of the occupied
territories in the interest of Germany.

The framework of the future political and economic
organisation of the occupied territories was designed by the
Defendant Rosenberg over a period of three months, after
conferences with and assistance by the Defendants Keitel,
Jodl, Raeder, Funk, Goering, Ribbentrop, and Frick, or their
representatives. It was made the subject of a most detailed
report immediately after the invasion.

These plans outlined the destruction of the Soviet Union as
an independent State, and its partition, the creation of so-
called Reich Commissariats, and the conversion of Estonia,
Latvia, Byelorussia, and other territories into German
colonies.

At the same time Germany drew Hungary, Rumania, and Finland
into the war against the U.S.S.R. In December, 1940 Hungary
agreed to participate on the promise of Germany that she
should have certain territories at the expense of
Yugoslavia.

In May 1941 a final agreement was concluded with Antonescu,
the Prime Minister of Rumania, regarding the attack on the
U.S.S.R., in which Germany promised to Rumania, Bessarabia,
Northern Bukovina, and the right to occupy Soviet territory
up to the Dnieper.

On the 22nd June, 1941, without any declaration of war,
Germany invaded Soviet territory in accordance with the
plans so long made.

                                                   [Page 35]

The evidence which has been given before this Tribunal
proves that Germany had the design carefully thought out, to
crush the U.S.S.R. as a political and military power, so
that Germany might expand to the east according to her own
desire. In Mein Kampf, Hitler had written:

     "If new territory were to be acquired in Europe,
     it must have been mainly at Russia's cost, and
     once again the new German Empire should have set
     out on its march along the same road as was
     formerly trodden by the Teutonic Knights, this
     time to acquire soil for the German plough by
     means of the German sword and thus provide the
     Nation with its daily bread." But there was a more
     immediate purpose, and in one of the memoranda of
     the OKW, that immediate purpose was stated to be
     to feed the German Armies from Soviet territory in
     the third year of the war, even if "as a result
     many millions of people will be starved to death
     if we take out of the country the things necessary
     for us."

The final aims of the attack on the Soviet Union were
formulated at a conference with Hitler on July 16, 1941, in
which the Defendants Goering, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann
participated:

     "There can be no talk of the creation of a
     military power west of the Urals, even if we
     should have to fight 100 years to achieve this ..
     All the Baltic regions must become part of the
     Reich. The Crimea and adjoining regions (north of
     the Crimea) must likewise be incorporated into the
     Reich. The region of the Volga as well as the Baku
     district must likewise be incorporated into the
     Reich. The Finns want Eastern Karelia. However, in
     view of the large deposits of nickel, the Kola
     peninsula must be ceded to Germany."

It was contended for the defendants that the attack upon the
U.S.S.R. was justified because the Soviet Union was
contemplating an attack upon Germany, and making
preparations to that end. It is impossible to believe that
this view was ever honestly entertained.

The plans for the economic exploitation of the U.S.S.R., for
the removal of masses of the population, for the murder of
Commissars and political leaders, were all part of the
carefully prepared scheme launched on 22 June without
warning of any kind, and without the shadow of legal excuse.
It was plain aggression.

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