The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Twenty-First Day: Monday, 17th December, 1945
(Part 4 of 16)


[CAPTAIN SAM HARRIS continues]

I now offer in evidence Document EC-3, which is Exhibit USA 318, which was likewise found among the captured O.K.W. files at Fechenheim. This document, your Honour, is offered as direct proof of the fact, to which we have previously referred, that even in the food surplus areas of the occupied regions of the Ukraine, the conspirators planned to allocate food on a basis

[Page 10]

which left virtually nothing for those persons who were not engaged in the compulsory production of commodities for the German war machine. This document, as well as Document EC- 126, which was introduced a few moments ago, and others we offer, should, it is submitted, be read in the light of the explicit provision in Article 52 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, that requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the needs of the army of occupation.

I first quote from our Page 3, Lines 21 to 23 of the English text of EC-3. In the German text it is Page 13, Lines 1 to 3. The particular document from which I am about to quote is a top secret memorandum, dated 16th September, 1941, concerning a meeting of German military officials presided over by defendant Goering. This is our Page 3, Sir, Lines 21 to 23 of EC-3. The memorandum was signed by General Nagel, liaison officer between defendant Goering's Four Year Plan Office and the O.K.W. I now quote:--

"At this conference which was concerned with the better exploitation of the occupied territories for the German food economy, the Reich Marshal -- Goering -- called attention to the following... "
I next quote from the first two paragraphs of Page 4 of the English text. The German text is at Page 13, the third and fourth paragraphs:
"It is clear that a graduated scale of food allocations is needed.

First in line are the combat troops, then the remainder of troops in enemy territory, and then those troops stationed at home. The rates are adjusted accordingly. The supply of the German non-military population follows and only then comes the population of the occupied territories."

I now quote from another portion of this document, starting at Page 1 of the English text. This is a memorandum, dated 25th November, 1941, relating to the general principles of economic policy in the newly-occupied Eastern territories, as prescribed in a conference held in Berlin on 8th November, 1941. This memorandum was also written by General Nagel. It is on the stationery of the Liaison Staff of Supreme Headquarters, Armament Procurement Office with the Reich Marshal Goering.

I quote from Lines 13 to the bottom of Page 1.

THE PRESIDENT: Is not this document, the part you are going to read now, merely cumulative of EC-126, which you have just read to us, that economic policy directive?

CAPTAIN HARRIS: It affords further proof, Sir, of the conspirators' plans to exploit the Eastern Occupied Areas. I can omit it, if you like, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: It does not seem to add anything.

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Very well, Sir.

I shall pass on to the next point.

On 17th July, 1941, Hitler and the defendant Keitel issued a decree appointing defendant Rosenberg as the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. This was the day following the meeting at the Fuehrer's headquarters, which is reported in Document L-221 and from which we have already quoted at length.

The decree appointing Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories is set forth in Document 1997- PS, which is Exhibit USA 319 and I offer it as evidence. I quote from Articles 2 and 4 on Page 1 of this decree. The German text is at Pages 27 and 28, Articles 2 and 4.

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"The civil administration in the newly-occupied Eastern territories, where these territories are not included in the administration of the territories bordering on the Reich or the Government General, is subject to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

I appoint Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. He will hold office in Berlin."

Defendant Rosenberg's views well fitted him for this task as one of the chief executors of the conspirators' plans in the Soviet Union. His views were plainly expressed in a speech delivered on 20th June, 1940, and are set forth in Document 1058-PS, now Exhibit USA 147. I refer your Honour to the first three sentences of the English text. The German text appears on Page 9, last five lines and continuing through to line 2 of Page 10. In the speech, defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:
"The job of feeding the German people stands, this year, without a doubt, at the top of the list of Germany's claims on the East; and here the Southern territories and the Northern Caucasus will have to serve as a balance for the feeding of the German people. We see absolutely no reason for any obligation on our part to feed also the Russian people with the products of that surplus territory. We know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any feelings."
I next offer in evidence Document EC-347, which is Exhibit USA 320. This document was likewise found among the captured files of the O.K.W. It contains a set of directives issued by defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

I quote from the first two full paragraphs of Page 1 of this exhibit. The German text is at Page 39, Paragraphs 4 and 5. In these directives defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:- -

"The principal task of the civilian administration in the occupied Eastern territories is to represent the interests of the Reich. This basic principle is to be given precedence in all measures and considerations. Therefore, the occupied territories, in the future, may be permitted to have a life of their own in a form yet to be determined. However, they remain parts of the Greater German living space and are always to be governed according to this guiding principle.

The regulations of the Hague Convention on Land Warfare, which concern the administration of a country occupied by a foreign belligerent power, are not applicable, since the U.S.S.R. is to be considered dissolved and, therefore, the Reich has the obligation of exercising all governmental and other sovereign functions in the interests of the country's inhabitants. Therefore, any measures are permitted which the German administration deems necessary and suitable for the execution of this comprehensive task."

THE PRESIDENT: Has not that been read before?

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Not to my knowledge, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Implicit in defendant Rosenberg's statement that the Hague Regulations are not applicable to the Soviet Union is the recognition by him that the conspirators' actions in the Soviet Union flagrantly violated the Hague Regulations. The statement indicates that the conspirators were utterly contemptuous of applicable principles of International Law.

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Mr. Dodd has already introduced into evidence Document 294- PS, now Exhibit USA 185, in connection with the slave labor presentation. This document is a top-secret memorandum, dated 25th October, 1942, which was found in defendant Rosenberg's files. It was written by Braeutigam, who was a high official in defendant Rosenberg's Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. I should like to quote two additional passages from this document. I quote from the English text Page 1, the first full paragraph, Lines 17 to 20. The German text is at Page 1, the first full paragraph, Lines 22 to 25.
"In the East, Germany is carrying on a three-fold war: A war for the destruction of Bolshevism, a war for the destruction of the Greater Russian empire, and finally a war for the acquisition of colonial territory for colonising purposes and economic exploitation.

With the inherent instinct of the Eastern peoples, the primitive man soon found out also that for Germany the slogan: 'Liberation from Bolshevism' was only a pretext to enslave the Eastern peoples according to her own methods."

This completes, your Honour, the list of the exhibits with respect to the Soviet Union which we propose to introduce at this time. As I mentioned at the outset of this presentation, these exhibits do not disclose all of the conspirators' plans with respect to the occupied countries, but they do, we submit, show a constant pattern, a pattern of ruthless Germanisation and destruction.

In conclusion we desire to offer in evidence two documents which disclose that German industrialists and financiers aided and abetted Himmler in his relentless programme of Germanisation, exploitation, oppression and destruction.

I first offer in evidence Document EC-454, which is Exhibit USA 321. This document was found in the vaults of the Stein Bank in Cologne among the files of the banker, Baron Kurt von Schroeder, by a joint British-American team, headed by Colonel Kellam on the British side and Captain Roth on the American side. It is a carbon copy of a letter from von Schroeder to Himmler, dated 27th August, 1943, and bears von Schroeder's initials. I quote it in its entirety:--

"My very Honourable Reichsfuehrer:

With great joy I learn of your appointment as Reichsminister of the Interior and take the liberty to extend my heartiest congratulations to you on assuming your new post.

A strong hand is now very necessary in the operation of this department and it is universally welcomed, but especially by your friends, that it was you who were chosen for this by the Fuehrer. Please be assured that we will always do everything in our power at all times to assist you in every possible way.

I am pleased to inform you at this opportunity that your circle of friends has again placed at your disposal this year a sum slightly in excess of RM 1,000,000 for special purposes.' An exact list showing the names of the contributors will be sent to you shortly.

Again all my very best wishes -- as well as those of my family -- I remain yours, in old loyalty and esteem.

Heil Hitler! Yours truly."

I next offer in evidence -- and this is the final exhibit, your Honour -- Document EC-453, which is Exhibit USA 322. This document was likewise

[Page 13]

found in the Stein Bank in Cologne by the above-mentioned joint British-American team. It is a carbon copy of a letter from von Schroeder to Himmler, dated 21st September, 1943, bearing von Schroeder's initials, with the enclosed list of contributors----

THE PRESIDENT: Captain Harris, on what principle do you suggest that either of these letters can possibly be evidence in this case?

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Your Honour, at the time the motion to postpone the trial as to Gustav Krupp was argued before this Tribunal, the British Chief Prosecutor specifically stated that if it should be the decision of the Tribunal that Krupp should be dismissed, the evidence as to the part which he, his firm, and other industrialists played in the preparation and conduct of the war would still be given to this Tribunal as forming part of the general conspiracy in which these defendants were involved, with divers other persons not now before the Court.

The evidence we are now offering, your Honour, is precisely of the type indicated by Sir Hartley Shawcross. It is evidence which goes to prove the length and breadth of the general conspiracy which is alleged in the Indictment. Evidence showing contributions to one of the leading conspirators, a conspirator who was in the forefront of the unlawful programme to plunder public and private property and to Germanise a large part of the world, is, it is submitted, relevant to this proceeding.

May I continue?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

CAPTAIN HARRIS: I quote the last letter, EC-453, in its entirety:--

"Dear Reichsfuehrer:

I thank you very much for your kind letter of the 14th of this month with which you made me very happy. At the same time I am enclosing a list with the total amount of funds made available to you by your circle of friends and totaling RM 1,000,000. We are very glad indeed to render some assistance to you in your special tasks and to be able to provide some small relief for you in your still further extended sphere of duties.

Wishing you, dear Reichsfuehrer, the best of luck, I remain in old loyalty and esteem.

Heil Hitler! Yours very truly."

I had intended, Your Honour, to quote the names of the contributors; but I shall not, if your Honour considers it unnecessary.

THE PRESIDENT: I don't think it would add to the expedition of the trial, do you?

CAPTAIN HARRIS: Very well, sir. I am exceedingly grateful to your Honour for your very kind attention.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Storey.

COLONEL STOREY: Does your Honour want to proceed now before the recess?

THE PRESIDENT: No, perhaps we had better adjourn now for 10 minutes.

(A recess was taken.)


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