In this connection I offer in evidence Document 910-PS. This is Exhibit USA 310. These are secret notes bearing the date line: Department of the Interior, Cracow, 3oth March, 1942, and they concern Himmler's statements upon the "planned Germanisation" of the Government General. This document was obtained from the Third Army Intelligence Centre at Freising, Germany, and I now quote from Page 2 of the English text, from Line 3 to the end of the report. This appears in the German text at Page 2, Line 21, continuing to the end of the report. The document states, and I quote:-

"The Reichsfuehrer S.S. (Himmler) developed additional trains of ideas to the effect that in the first Five Year Plan for resettlement after the war the new German Eastern territories should first be filled; afterwards it is intended to provide the Crimea and the Baltic countries

[Page 433]

with a German upper-class at least. Into the Government General perhaps further German Island Settlements should be newly transplanted from European nations, an exact decision in this respect, however, has not been issued. In any case, it is wished that at first a heavy colonisation along the San and the Bug be achieved so that these parts of Poland are encircled with alien population. Hitherto, it has been always proved that this kind of resettlement leads most quickly to the desired nationalisation."

"Thanks to the heroic courage of our soldiers, this territory has become German, and the time will come when the valley of the Vistula, from its source to its mouth at the sea, will be as German as the valley of the Rhine."

Proof of the fact that the conspirators confiscated the property of Poles in furtherance of their Germanisation and slave labour programme is contained in Document 1352-PS, previously introduced by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit USA 176. This exhibit contains a number of reports by one Kusche, who appears to have been one of Himmler's chief deputies in Poland. Mr. Dodd quoted from one of Kusche's confidential reports, dated 22nd May, 1940, at our Page 4, Paragraph 5 of the English text. In the German text it is at Page 9, Lines 16 to 18. In this statement Kusche pointed out that it was possible, without difficulty, to confiscate small farms and that - and I now quote - "The former owners of Polish farms together with their families will be transferred to the Old Reich by the employment agencies, for employment as farm workers."

I now desire to quote from another report by Kusche contained in the same exhibit and bearing the same date - 22nd May, 1940. I think the upper right-hand corner numbers might simplify it. The report from which I now quote is marked secret and is entitled "Details of the Confiscation in the Bielitz Region." Initially, I should like to quote from the last paragraph at the bottom of Page ii of this exhibit. This document, you will recall, is 1352-PS, Exhibit USA 176, last paragraph at the bottom of Page 1. The German text is at Page 11, Paragraphs 1 and 2. Kusche stated, and I quote:-

"Some days ago the commandant of the concentration camp being built at Auschwitz called on Staff Leader Muller and requested support

[Page 434]

for the carrying out of his assignments. He said that it was absolutely necessary to confiscate the agricultural enterprises within a certain area around the concentration camp, since not only the fields but also the farmhouses of these border directly on the camp. A local inspection held on the 21St of this month revealed the following: there is no room for doubt that agricultural enterprises bordering on the concentration camp must be confiscated at once. In addition, the camp commandant requests that further plots of farmland be placed at his disposal, so that he can keep the prisoners busy. This too can be done without further delay since enough land can be made available for the purpose. The owners of the plots are all Poles."

"I had the following discussion with the head of the labour office in Bielitz:

The lack of agricultural labourers still exists in the Old Reich. The transfer of the previous owners of the confiscated enterprises, together with their entire families, to the Reich, is possible without any further consideration. It is only necessary for the labour office to receive the lists of the persons in time in order to enable it to take the necessary steps (collection of transportation, distribution over the various regions in need of such labour)."

"The confiscation of these Polish enterprises in Alzen will also be carried out within the next few days. The commandant of the concentration camp will furnish S.S. men and a truck for the execution of the action. Should it not yet be possible to take the Poles from Alzen to Auschwitz" - and Auschwitz, your Honours will recall, is where the concentration camp was - "they should be transferred to the empty castle at Zator. The liberated Polish property is to be given to the needy racial German farmers for their use."

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We ask the Court to take judicial notice of it. It is in the Reichsgesetzblatt.

Apparently, some question arose at one point as to whether the decree required that a determination be made, in each case involving the property of a Pole, that the property was required "for the public welfare, particularly in the interests of Reich defence or the strengthening of Germanism." The answer supplied by the conspirators was firm and clear. In any case in which the property of a Pole is involved, the "strengthening of Germanism" required its seizure. In this connection I offer in evidence Document R- 92, which is Exhibit USA 312. This document, which is dated 15th April, 1941, bears the letterhead of the Reich Leader S.S., Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood, and is entitled "Instruction for internal use on the application of the law concerning property of the Poles Of 17th September, 1940." This document was captured by the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps. I quote from Page 2, Lines 11 to 14 of the English text. In the German text this statement appears at Page 3, Paragraph 2, Sub-paragraph. I quote: -

"The conditions permitting seizure according to Section 2, Sub-section 2, are always present if the property belongs to a Pole, for the Polish real estate will be needed without exception for the consolidation of the German nationhood."

The magnitude of the conspirators' confiscation programme in Poland was staggering. I ask your Honours to turn to the chart on the sixth page of Document R-92, which was introduced into evidence a moment ago as Exhibit USA 312.

This chart shows that as of 31st May, 1943, the staggering total of 693,252 estates, comprising 6,097,525 hectares, had been seized, and 9,508 estates, comprising 270,446 hectares, had been confiscated by the Estate Offices Danzig, West Prussia, Poznan, Zichenau, and Silesia. This, it will be noted, represented the seizure and confiscation by only four offices.

That, your Honours, concludes our discussion on Poland, and I now turn to Czechoslovakia. At this point of the proceedings we shall introduce only one document upon Czechoslovakia. This one document, however, contains a startling revelation of the conspirators' plans to Germanise Bohemia and Moravia. It relates how three plans, each characterised by its severity, were discussed, and finally how the Fuehrer decided on plan (c), which involved the assimilation of about one-half of the Czech population by the Germans, and the extermination of the other half. Moreover, the plan envisaged a large influx into Czechoslovakia of Germans whose loyalty to the Fuehrer was unquestioned. I offer this document in evidence. It is Document 862-PS, and it is Exhibit USA 313. This is a top secret report dated 15th October,

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"On 9th October of this year, the office of the Reich Protector held an official conference in which State Secretary S.S. Lt. General K. H. Frank spoke about the following" - S.S. Gruppenfuehrer K. H. Frank, it may be noted, was Secretary of State under defendant von Neurath, who at the date of this report was the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

THE PRESIDENT: Who did you say Frank was?

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Frank was an S.S. Gruppenfuehrer, and Secretary of State under defendant von Neurath. He is not the defendant Hans Frank. At the date of this particular report von Neurath, under whom K. H. Frank served was the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Continuing the quotation:-

"Since creation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Party agencies, industrial circles, as well as agencies of the central authorities of Berlin, have considered a solution for the Czech problem.

After ample deliberation, the Reich Protector expressed his views about the various plans in a memorandum. In this, three ways of solution were indicated:

(a) German infiltration of Moravia and confinement of the Czech nationals to a residual Bohemia. This solution is considered unsatisfactory, because the Czech problem, even if in diminished form, will continue to exist.

(b) Many arguments can be brought up against the most radical solution, namely, the deportation of all Czechs. Therefore, in the memorandum it is concluded that it cannot be carried out within a reasonable period of time.

(c) Assimilation of the Czechs, i.e., absorption of about half of the Czech nationals by the Germans, in so far as this is of racial or other value. This can also be effected in other ways, e.g., by increased employment of Czechs in the Reich territory (with the exception of the Sudeten-German border districts), in other-words, by dispersing the concentrations of Czech nationals.

The other half of the Czech nationals must be deprived of their power, eliminated and shipped out of the country by all sorts of methods. This applies particularly to the racially Mongoloid part and to the major part of the intellectual class. The latter can scarcely be converted ideologically and would become a burden by constantly making claims for the leadership over the other Czech classes, and thus interfering with a rapid assimilation.

Elements which counteract the planned Germanisation ought to be handled roughly and eliminated.

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The above development naturally presupposes an increased influx of Germans from the Reich territory into the Protectorate.

After a discussion, the Fuehrer has chosen solution (c) (Assimilation) as a directive for the solution of the Czech problem and decided that, while keeping up the autonomy of the Protectorate on the surface, the Germanisation will have to be carried out in a centralised way, by the office of the Reich Protector, for years to come.

From the above no particular conclusions are drawn by the Armed Forces. This is the line which has always been taken here. In this connection I refer to my memorandum submitted to the Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, dated 12th July, 1939, file No. 6/39, top secret, entitled: The Czech Problem (Attached as annex).

The Representative of the Armed Forces with the Reich Protector in Bohemia and Moravia.
Signed, Friderici, General of Infantry."

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