The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)
Nuremberg, war crimes, crimes against humanity

The Trial of German Major War Criminals

Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany
16th April to 1st May, 1946

One-Hundred-and-Thirteenth Day: Wednesday, 24th April, 1946
(Part 1 of 9)


[Page 187]

THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl.

DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Tribunal, I left off yesterday at the last document of Volume 1. It is the affidavit of the witness Ernst von Palizieux, and I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. The affidavit is given the number Frank 9, and that completes the first volume.

THE PRESIDENT: The first volume, what page?

DR. SEIDL: That was Page 92 of the first volume, Exhibit Frank 9.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. That is the end of the first volume, isn't it?

DR. SEIDL: Yes, that is the end of the first volume. Volumes II, III and IV of the document book comprise extracts from the diary of the defendant, Dr. Frank, I do not propose to number all these extracts individually, but I ask the Tribunal to accept the whole diary as Exhibit 10, and I propose to quote only a few short extracts. For example, Pages 1 to 27, Mr. President, are extracts from the diary which have already been submitted by the prosecution. I have put the extracts submitted by the prosecution in a longer collection and by quoting the entire passages I have attempted to prove that some of these extracts do not represent the true and essential content of the diary. Those are Exhibits USA 173, on Page 1 of the document book, USSR 223 on Page 3, USA 271 on Page 8, and USA 611 on Page 11. On Page 14 there appears to be a misprint. The USA number is not 016 but 613. That is Page 14 of the document book.

THE PRESIDENT: It begins on Page 13 in my copy, doesn't it?

DR. SEIDL: No, it is on Page 14. It is an entry dated 25 January, 1943.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, the document that I have got and which I think you are referring to is Document 2233-PS, Exhibit USA 613. That is on Page 13. I don't think it makes any difference.

DR. SEIDL: In that case it must bean error by the Translation Department. At any rate I don't think it is important - I mean this quotation.

I now turn to Page 20 of the document book, a quotation by the Soviet Prosecution. On Page 22 there is a quotation by the Soviet Prosecution. Page 24 contains a quotation by the prosecution both of the United States and the Soviet Union, Exhibit USA 295. Perhaps I may point out that these extracts are only a few examples, merely to show that in a number of cases the impression must be a different one, if one either reads the entire speech or at least a considerable portion of it.

I then turn to Page 31 of the document book, an entry dated 10 October, 1939, in which the defendant, Dr. Frank, gives instructions to negotiate with the Reich Food Ministry regarding the delivery of five thousand tons of grain per week, continuing on Page 32.

On Page 34, there is an entry of 8 March, 1940, and I quote the first three lines:

"The Governor General states: In close connection therewith is the actual governing of Poland. The Fuehrer has ordered me to regard the Government General as the home of the Polish people. Accordingly, no Germanisation policy of any kind is possible."
I now pass on to Page 41 of the document book; an entry dated 19 January, 1940. I quote the first five lines:
"Dr. Walbaum: (Chief of the Health Department): The state of health in the Government General is satisfactory. Much has already been accomplished in this field. In Warsaw alone 7000,000 typhus injections

[Page 188]

have been given. This is a huge total, even for German standards; it is actually a record."
The next quotation is on Page 50 of the document book, an entry dated 19 February, 1940.
"The Governor General is further of the opinion that the need for the official interpretation of Polish law will become greater. We should probably have to reach some form of Polish government or regency, and the head of the Polish legal system would then be responsible for such a task."
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid there seems to have been some slight difference in the paging and therefore if you would give us carefully and somewhat more slowly the actual date of the document we should be able to find it perhaps for ourselves. The pages do not seem to correspond.

DR. SEIDL: The last quotation which I read was dated 19 February, 1940. I now turn to a quotation, that is, an entry of 26 February, 1940:

"In this connection ... the Governor General expresses ..."
This is on Page 51 in my book. The entry is of 26 February, 1940.

THE PRESIDENT: Page 40 in ours.

DR. SEIDL:

"In this connection the Governor General expresses the wish of Field Marshal General Goering to establish the German administration in such a way that the Polish way of living, as such, is secured. It should not give the impression that Warsaw is a city which is becoming Germanised but rather that, according to the Fuehrer's will, it will be one of the cities which, within the framework of the constitution intended for Poland, will continue to exist as a Polish community in the reduced Polish State."
A further entry, dated 26 February, 1940, deals with the question of higher education.
"The Governor General points out in this connection that the universities and high schools have been closed. However, in the long run it would be an impossible state of affairs to discontinue medical education. The Polish commercial school system should also be revived."
The next quotation is on Page 56 of my document book. An entry of 1 March, 1940.
"The Governor General announces in this connection that the directive has now been issued to give free rein to Polish development, as far as possible within the interests of the German Reich. The present attitude is that the Government General is the home of the Polish people."
A further entry deals with the question of workers in the Reich territory. Page 60 of my book, entry of 19 September, 1940 - I beg your pardon, 12 September, 1940.

THE PRESIDENT: Wait a moment. You mean the first of September, do you?

DR. SEIDL: The 12 of September - no, it should be 12 March, there is obviously a misprint; 12 March, 1940, Page 197 of the diary.

"The Governor General, Dr. Frank, emphasises that, although one could collect an adequate number of workers by force by following the methods of the slave trade, by using a sufficient number of police and by procuring sufficient means of transportation, the use of propaganda, for a number of reasons, deserves preference under all circumstances."
The next quotation is on Page 68 in my document book; an entry of 23 April, 1940. I quote the last five lines:
"The Governor General states: The Government General is merely attempting to offer the Polish nation protection in an economic respect as well. He would almost be willing to assume that one could achieve better results with Poles than with autocratic trustees."

[Page 189]

I now turn to Page 71 of my document book, an entry dated 25 May, 1940. Here the Governor General gives an explanation to the President of the Polish Court of Appeals, Bronschinski. I quote the last four lines:
"We do not wish to carry on a war of extermination here against a people. The protection of the Polish people by the Reich in the German zone of interest gives you the possibility of continuing your development according to your national traditions."
I turn to Page 77 of my document book, an entry from Volume III, July to September, Page 692. I quote:
"The Governor General then spoke of the food difficulties still existing in the Government General" - (he was speaking to Major General Kuechler) - "and asked the general to see to it that the provisioning and other requirements of newly arrived troops should be as light a burden as possible on the food situation of the Government General. Above all, every kind of confiscation should cease."
I turn to Pages 85 and 86, entries in Volume III, July to September, 1940, Page 819 of the diary. This entry deals with the establishment of the Medical Academy which was planned by the Governor General. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of this fact.

The next quotation is on Page 95 of the document book, an entry dated 9 October, 1940, from the speech of the Governor General on the occasion of the opening of the autumn trade fair at Radom. I quote line 5:

"It is clear that we ... "
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, the important things for us are the page in the diary and the date. We seem to have the pages in the diary and the dates, so if you will tell us them that will be of the greatest help to us.

DR. SEIDL: The date is 9 October, Pages 966-967 of the diary. I quote line 6:

"It is clear that we do not wish to denationalise nor shall we germanise."
The next quotation-

THE PRESIDENT: The translation in our book of that sentence is:

"It is clear that we neither want to denationalise nor de- germanise."
DR. SEIDL: That is apparently an error in the translation.

THE PRESIDENT: In which translation, in the one I have just read out?

DR. SEIDL: In the English translation. I shall now quote literally:-

"It is clear that we wish neither to denationalise nor to germanise."
The other makes no sense.

THE PRESIDENT: That is what I read. Well, it is right in our book anyhow.

DR. SEIDL: The Governor General wished to say that we did not want to deprive the Poles of their national character and that we did not intend to make them into Germans.

I now turn to Page 101, an entry dated 27 October, 1940, Pages 1026 to 1027 of Volume IV of the diary. A conference with the Reich Foreign Minister. Line 7 reads:-

"He, the Governor General, had complained to the Fuehrer that the wages of Polish agricultural labourers had been reduced by fifty per cent. and that, in addition, their wages had for the most part been used for purposes contrary to the spirit of this exchange of workers."
The next quotation is dated 29 October, 1940. It is on Page 1085, in Volume IV:-
"Professor Watzke further states that Reichsleiter Rosenberg's office was attempting to confiscate the so- called Polish library in Paris, for inclusion in the ancestral heritage in Berlin. The Department of Schools was of the opinion that the property of this Polish library belonged to the State Library in Warsaw, since 17,000 volumes were already in that city.

[Page 190]

The Governor General ordered that this Polish library should be transferred from Paris to Warsaw without delay."
I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of the next entry, dated June 6 and 7, 1940, which refers to an economic conference. I shall not read from that entry.

The next quotation is dated 25 February, 1940. It deals with a labour conference of the departmental chiefs, prefects and heads of State in the district of Radom. I quote Page 13:-

"Thereupon the Governor General spoke, and made the following statements."
It goes on from Page 13:-
"I shall, therefore, summarise all the points.

1. The Government General comprises that part of the occupied Polish territory which is not an integral part of the German Reich.

2. This territory has primarily been designated by the Fuehrer as the homestead of the Polish people. In Berlin the Fuehrer, as well as Field Marshal Goering, emphasised to me again and again that this territory would not be germanised. It was to be set aside as the national territory of the Polish people; in the name of the German people it was to be placed at the disposal of the Polish nation as their reservation."

End of the quotation.

The speech of the Governor General ends two pages further. I quote the last paragraph:-

"There is one thing I should like to tell you: The Fuehrer has urged me to guarantee the self- administration of the Poles as far as possible. Under all circumstances they must be granted the right to choose the Woits and the minor mayors and village magistrates from among the Poles. This would be to our interest as well."
I now turn to the entry of 4 March, 1940. From the volume, "Labour Conferences, February, 1940, to November, 1940." Page 8.
"The Governor General submits for consideration the question of whether a slight pressure could not be exerted through proper use of the Compulsory Labour Order. He refuses to ask Berlin for the promulgation of a new decree defining special measures for the application of force and threats. Measures which might lead to unrest should be avoided. The shipping of people by force has nothing in its favour."
The last quotation in my document book is on Page 143. It is an entry dated January 27, 1941, Volume 1, Page 115. A conference with State Secretary Dr. Buehler, and the Reich Finance Minister, Count Schwerin von Krosigk. I quote the last paragraph:-
"It is due to the efforts of all personnel employed in the Government General that, after surmounting extraordinary difficulties of a specific nature, a general improvement in the economic situation can now be noted. The Government General, from the day of its birth, has most conscientiously met the demands of the Reich for strengthening the German war potential. It is, therefore, permissible to ask that in the future, in order that a sound and planned economy be maintained in the Government General which, in turn, would prove of benefit to the Reich, no excessive demands be made on the Government General."
That completes Volume 11 of the document book.

I now come to Volume 111, and I ask the Tribunal to refer to a quotation on Page 17 in my document book. It is an entry following a Government meeting of 18 October, 1941. 1 quote the eighth line from the bottom; it is a statement of the Governor General:-

"I shall occasionally complain, when replying to these demands of the Reich, that our strength has been exhausted and that we can no longer

[Page 191]

assume responsibility toward the Fuehrer. No instructions, orders, threats, etc., can induce me to answer anything but an emphatic 'no' to demands which, even under the stress of war-time conditions, are no longer tolerable. I will not permit a situation to arise such as you, Herr Naumann, expressly indicated, such, for example, as placing large areas of the disposal of the troops for manoeuvres and thus completely disrupting the food supply which is already utterly insufficient."
The next quotation is on Pages 36 and 37 of my document book. It is an entry, dated 16 January, 1942, and the quotation to which I am referring is on Pages 65 and 66 of the diary:-
"Later on a short discussion took place in the King's Hall of the Castle."
It was with the Chief of the Ukrainian Committee. I quote:-
"The Governor General desires a larger employment of Ukrainians in the administration of the Government General. In all offices in which Poles are employed there should also be a number of Ukrainians in proportion to the figure of their population. He asked Professor ...


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