Twentieth Day:
Friday, 14th December, 1945
[Page 422] [Page 423]
Defendant Frank further stated:
1. The task for the economic treatment of the various
administrative regions is different, depending on
whether a country which will be incorporated politically
into the German Reich is involved, or whether we are to
deal with the Government General, which, in all
probability, will not be made a part of Germany.
In the first-mentioned territories the reconstruction
and expansion of the economy, the safeguarding of all
their production facilities and supplies must be aimed
at, as well as a complete incorporation into the Greater
German economic system at the earliest possible time. On
the
[Page 424] [Page 425]
This figure of 1.6 million will barely suffice to
transfer from the Reich:
The Jews from the liberated East (over 600,000), groups
of the remaining Jews, preferably the younger age groups
from Germany proper, Austria, Sudetengau and the
Protectorate (altogether over 1 million)."
The plans for the deportation of thousands of innocent
people, which are set forth in the document from which I
have just quoted, were not mere theories spun by lawyers.
They represented, as the next three documents to be offered
in evidence will show, a programme which was, in fact,
ruthlessly executed.
I next offer in evidence Document 2233-PS-G, the Frank
Diaries, 1939, from 25th October to 15th December, which is
Exhibit USA 302. This document was obtained from the 7th
Army Documentation Centre at
[Page 426]
I first quote Lines 15 to 17 of Page 1 of the English text.
These extracts are found in the front page, Lines 1 to 8 of
the German text. The minutes state, and I quote:-
The task is to obtain the greatest possible agricultural
production from the new Eastern Gaus without regard to
questions of ownership."
The Government General will have to receive the Jews who
are ordered to emigrate from Germany and the New Eastern
Gaus." [Page 427]
Your Honours will also recall defendant Goering's directive
in Document EC-410, now Exhibit USA 298, also introduced a
few moments ago, that all industrial enterprises in the
Government General not absolutely necessary for the
maintenance of the naked existence of the Polish population
must be removed to Germany. A bare and naked existence, by
the precepts of the conspirators, meant virtual starvation.
For the Jews who were forcibly deported to the Government
General there was, of course, absolutely no hope. They were,
in effect, deported to their graves. The defendant Frank, by
his own admissions, had dedicated himself to their complete
annihilation. I refer your Honours to the Frank Diaries,
Conference Volume, 1941, October to December, which is
Document 2233-PS-D, and which was introduced by Major Walsh
as Exhibit USA 281. The particular statement to which I want
to call your attention particularly is on Page 4, Document
2233-PS. I believe it appears at Page 77, Lines 9 and 10 of
the German text. I quote the following from defendant
Frank's statement:-
[Page 428] [
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(Part 6 of 9)
[CAPTAIN SAM HARRIS continues]
"In the first interview which the chief of the Central
Division and the liaison officer between the Armament
Department Upper East and the Chief Administrative
Officer (subsequently called Governor General) had with
Minister Frank on 3rd October, 1939, in Posen, Frank
explained the directive and the economic and political
responsibilities which had been conferred upon him by
the Fuehrer and according to which he intended to
administer Poland. According to these directives, Poland
can only be administered by utilising the country
through means of ruthless exploitation; deportation of
all supplies, raw materials, machines, factory
installations, etc., which are important for the German
war economy; availability of all workers for work within
Germany; reduction of the entire Polish economy to the
absolute minimum necessary for the bare existence of the
population; and the closing of all educational
institutions, especially technical schools and colleges
in order to prevent the growth of the new Polish
intelligentsia. Poland, defendant Frank stated (and this
is an exact quotation), 'Poland shall be treated as a
colony; the Poles shall be the slaves of the Greater
German World Empire.'"
I should like also to quote from the last six lines of the
English text. In the German text it is Lines 18 to 23 of
Page 30.
"By destroying Polish industry, its subsequent
reconstruction after the war would become more
difficult, if not impossible, so that Poland would be
reduced to its proper position as an agrarian country
which would have to depend upon Germany for the
importation of industrial products."
As further proof of the defendants' plan to plunder and
despoil the Government General of Poland, I next offer in
evidence Document EC-410, which is Exhibit USA 298. In
addition to the proof of the defendants' plans to plunder
and despoil the Government General, this document
demonstrates the difference in treatment which the
conspirators planned for the incorporated area of Poland and
the Government General. It is a copy of a directive issued
and signed by defendant Goering on 19th October, 1939, and
was likewise found among the captured O.K.W. files. I quote
from Lines 1 to 19 on Page 1 of the English text, Page 1514,
Paragraph 4, Line 11. In the German text it is all of Page 1
and the first line of Page 2. Defendant Goering's directive
states, and I quote:-
"In the meeting of 13th October, I have given detailed
instructions for the economical administration of the
occupied territories. I will repeat them here in short:
Once the Government General had been stripped of its
industrial potential, the defendants planned to leave the
country desolate. Not even the war damage was to be
repaired. This is the clear import of the documents
previously introduced, and is likewise made clear by
Document EC-411, which is Exhibit USA 299. I offer this
document in evidence. This is a copy of an order dated 20th
November, 1939, by defendant Hess, in his capacity as Deputy
Fuehrer. This document was also found in the captured O.K.W.
files. I quote the English and German texts in their
entirety. Defendant Hess stated, and I quote:-
"I hear from Party members who came from the Government
General that various agencies, as, for instance, the
Military Economic Staff, the Reich Ministry for Labour,
etc., intend to reconstruct certain industrial
enterprises in Warsaw. However, in accordance with a
decision by Minister Dr. Frank, as approved by the
Fuehrer, Warsaw shall not be rebuilt nor is it the
intention of the Fuehrer to rebuild or reconstruct any
industry in the Government General."
Turning from the defendants' programme of economic
spoliation in the Government General to their programme of
deportation and resettlement, I next offer in evidence
Document 661-PS, which is Exhibit USA 300. This is a secret
report prepared by the Academy of German Law in January,
1940, upon plans for the mass migration of Poles and Jews
from incorporated areas of Poland to the Government General,
and for the forcible deportation of able-bodied Poles to
Germany. This document was obtained from the Ministerial
Collecting Centre at Kassel, Germany. The date does not
appear in the English translation, but it is clearly set
forth on the cover page of the original document as January,
1940. Before quoting from this document, I ask first, that
the Tribunal take judicial notice of the decree of 11th
July, 1934, embodied in the Reichsgesetzblatt, Part 1, Page
605, which provided that the Academy of German Law would be
a public corporation of the Reich under the supervision of
the Reich Ministers of Justice and the Interior, and that
their task would be:-
"To promote the reconstruction of German legal life and
to realise, in constant close collaboration with the
competent legislative organisations, the National
Socialist programme in the entire sphere of law."
Secondly, before quoting from the afore-mentioned report of
the Academy of Law, I should like to offer in evidence
Document 2749-PS, which is Exhibit USA 301. This is the
title page of the publication of the Academy of German Law
for 1940. It is offered for the purpose of showing that
defendant Frank was the president of the Academy of German
Law during the period that the above-mentioned secret report
of the Academy was made. The document specifically states,
and I quote:-
"Reich Minister Dr. Hans Frank, President of the Academy
for German Law: 7th year 1940."
"For the carrying out of costly and long term measures
for the increase of agricultural production the
Government General can, at most, absorb 1 to 1.5 million
resettlers, as it is already over-populated. By further
absorption of 1.6 million resettlers the 1925 Reich
census figure of 133 inhabitants per square kilometre
would be reached, which, because of already existing
rural over-population and lack of industry, would
practically result in a double over-population.
Continuing the quotation, the report goes on with respect to
transfers from the Reich:
"The Polish intelligentsia, who have been politically
active in the past, and potential political leaders; the
leading economic personalities, comprising owners of
large estates, industrialists and business men, etc.;
the peasant population, so far as it has to be removed
in order to carry out, by strips of German settlements,
the encirclement of Polish territories in the East."
Next I quote the last paragraph on Page 1 of the English
text. The German text is at Page 8, Lines 3-10:-
"In order to relieve the living space of the Poles in
the Government General as well as in the liberated East,
one should temporarily remove cheap labour by the
hundreds of thousands, employ them for a few years in
the Old Reich, and thereby hamper their native
biological propagation. (Their assimilation into the Old
Reich must be prevented.)"
Finally, I quote from the last paragraph of Page 2 of the
English text. In the German text it is the last five lines
of Page 40:-
"Strictest care is to be taken that secret circulars,
memoranda and official correspondence which contain
instructions detrimental to the Poles are kept steadily
under lock and key so that they will not some day fill
the White Books printed in Paris or the U.S.A."
Your Honours will recall, from your own experiences, the
vicious propaganda campaigns conducted by Nazi Germany to
discredit the Polish books when they made their appearance
in countries friendly to Poland. The last paragraph from
this document which I have just read gives the lie to that
whole Nazi propaganda campaign.
"The Reichsfuehrer S.S." - meaning Himmler - "wishes
that all Jews be evacuated from the newly gained Reich
territories. Up to February approximately 1,000,000
people are to be brought in this way into the Government
General. The families of good racial extraction present
in the occupied Polish territory (approximately
4,000,000 people) should be transferred into the Reich
and individually housed, thereby being uprooted as a
people."
I next offer in evidence Document EC-305, which is Exhibit
USA 303. This exhibit is the top secret minutes of a meeting
held on 12th February, 1940, under the chairmanship of the
defendant Goering on "Questions Concerning the East." The
document was found in the captured O.K.W. files. Himmler and
defendant Frank, likewise, were present at this meeting.
"By way of introduction the General Field Marshal" -
meaning defendant Goering - " explained that the
strengthening of the war potential of the Reich must be
the chief aim of all measures to be taken in the East."
I next quote the first two lines of the last paragraph on
Page 1 of the English text. The German text appears at Page
2, Lines 2 to 4.
"Agriculture:
I then quote from the first sentence of the second paragraph
of Page 2 of the English text. This is at Page 3, Lines 22-
24 of the German text.
"Special questions concerning the Government General:
Finally, I quote paragraph numbered 2 under Roman numeral II
of Page 2 of the English text. These statements appear in
the German text at Page 4, Lines 3-19.
"The following reported on the situation in the Eastern
territories: 2. Reichsstatthalter Gauleiter Forster, who
said, 'The population of the Danzig/West Prussia Gau
(newly acquired territories) is 1.5 million, of whom
240,000 are Germans, 850,000 well-established Poles and
300,000 immigrant Poles, Jews and asocials (1,800 Jews).
87,000 persons have been evacuated, 40,000 of these from
Gotenhafen. From there also the numerous shirkers, who
are now looked after by welfare, will have to be
deported to the Government General. Therefore an
evacuation of 20,000 additional persons can be counted
on for the current year.'"
Comparable reports were made by other Gauleiters at the
meeting. These figures, it may be noted, were only as of
February, 1940. The forcible deportations which are reported
in the exhibits from which I have just read, did not involve
merely ordering the unfortunate victims to leave their homes
and take up new residences elsewhere. These deportations
were accomplished
"Very frequently a member of the Waffen S.S. thinks
about the deportation of the people living here. These
thoughts came to me today when watching the very
difficult work out there performed by the Security
Police, supported by your men, who help them a great
deal. Exactly the same thing happened in Poland in
weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul away
thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands;
where we had to have the toughness - you should hear
this but also forget it again - to shoot thousands of
leading Poles."
I repeat the latter part of the statement:
"Where we had to have the toughness - you should. hear
this but also forget it again - to shoot thousands of
leading Poles."
Those Poles from the incorporated area who managed to
survive the journey to the Government General could look
forward, at best, to extreme hardship, and exposure to every
form of degradation and brutality. Your Honours will recall
defendant Frank's statement contained in Document EC-344-16,
now Exhibit USA 297, which was introduced a short while ago,
that the Polish economy would be reduced to the absolute
minimum necessary for the bare existence of the population.
"We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them, and
wherever it is possible."
I turn next to that aspect of the conspirators' programme
which involved the forcible Germanisation of persons in the
incorporated area who were deemed to possess German blood. I
refer now again to the incorporated area, to those persons
who were deemed to possess German blood. Such