Afternoon Session
THE PRESIDENT: The motion that was made this morning on behalf of the Defendant Kaltenbrunner is denied, and the affidavit is admitted and will not be stricken from the record. But the Tribunal wished me to say that it is open to the Defendants’ Counsel, in accordance with the Charter and the Rules, to make a motion, in writing, if they wish to do so, for the attendance of Pfaffenberger for cross-examination and to state in that motion the reasons therefor.
DR. KAUFFMANN: May I now bring up a question similar, though in some respects different, from that of Pfaffenberger? I request that the evidence of Dr. Hoettl, which was read into the record this morning be stricken out again for the following two reasons. As far as I know, Dr. Hoettl is here in Nuremberg . . .
THE PRESIDENT: One minute. Do you understand that the Tribunal has just denied the motion that you made this morning?
DR. KAUFFMANN: Yes, I understood that perfectly.
THE PRESIDENT: What is your motion now?
DR. KAUFFMANN: I should like to ask that the evidence of Dr. Hoettl be stricken from the record. My reasons for this request are rather different from those given this morning in the Pfaffenberger case.
As can be seen from the affidavit, Dr. Hoettl was interrogated on the 26th of November hardly 3 weeks ago. Moreover I gather that Dr. Hoettl is kept in custody here in Nuremberg. No delay would therefore be involved if this witness were called to the stand.
This man held a significant position in the SS and for that reason I have already applied in writing that he be called as a witness. I am convinced that there is a large amount of important evidence which he can reveal to the Court. Dr. Hoettl’s deposition is infinitely important. The death of millions of people is involved here. His affidavit is based largely on inferences, on hearsay; I believe that the facts are very different, and I would not like to apply later, after weeks or months, for the witness to be brought into Court.
MAJOR WALSH: If the Court please, excerpts from the affidavit of Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl were read into the record this morning for the purpose . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Wait—what was the number?
MAJOR WALSH: Document 2738-PS.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, go on.
MAJOR WALSH: Dr. Hoettl’s affidavit 2738 was in part read into the record this morning for the sole purpose of showing the approximate number of Jews, according to his estimates, that had met death at the hands of the German State. No other portion of his testimony was referred to and the evidence offered was only for the sole purpose of establishing his estimate of the number. His position in the Party and in the state, as well as the position of Adolf Eichmann, the source of his information, was also stated into the record.
I believe that Dr. Hoettl, if he is desired for any other purpose by the Defense, may be called by the Defense, but the Prosecution had no other purpose in utilizing his evidence.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to add anything more?
MAJOR WALSH: That is all, Sir.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal makes the same ruling in this case as in the case of Pfaffenberger, namely, that the affidavit is admitted in evidence but that it is open to Defendants’ Counsel to make a motion, in writing, for the attendance of the witness for cross-examination and to state in that motion the reasons for it.
MAJOR WALSH: During the morning session the Court requested certain information concerning documents that had been offered and accepted in evidence. I refer to Document 1061-PS, the report “The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More.” This report, I am told, was prepared for presentation at a meeting of the SS Police leaders to be held on 18 May 1943. That is indicated on Page 45 of the translation before the Court.
This document was captured by the 7th United States Army and delivered by them to the G-2 of the United States Forces in the European Theater. In turn they were delivered to Colonel Storey of the United States prosecutors’ staff, some months ago. The Court also ignored . . .
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, I think the Tribunal also wished to know whether you could tell us to whom the report had been made?
MAJOR WALSH: The report, Sir, according to the teletypes—the daily teletypes, Sir—was addressed to the Higher SS and Police Leader East, SS Obergruppenführer and General of the Police Krüger, or his deputy.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
MAJOR WALSH: The Court further inquired about Document L-53 and I have obtained some information concerning this document. This document was captured by T-Force of the Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment Number 220, found among the German records at Weimar, Germany, sometime prior to 10 May 1945.
The Court further inquired, concerning this document, the meaning of the letters “WB.” I regret that I have been unable to obtain definite information as to the meaning of “WB” but it has been suggested to me that it might mean Westbund or Western Ally because it is used in connection with the capture—the destruction of all prisoners before capture by either the WB or the Red Armies, and I presume that it may mean Westbund.
The slaughter of the Jews in Europe cannot be expressed in figures alone, for the impact of this slaughter is even more tragic to the future of the Jewish people and mankind. Ancient Jewish communities with their own rich spiritual, cultural, and economic life, bound up for centuries with the life of the nations in which they flourished, have been completely obliterated. The contribution of the Jewish people to civilization, the arts, the sciences, industry, and culture, need not, I am sure, be elaborated upon before this Tribunal. Their destruction, carried out continuously, deliberately, intentionally, and methodically by the Nazis, represents a loss to civilization of special qualities and abilities that cannot possibly be recouped.
I have not attempted to recount the multitudinous and diabolical crimes committed against the Jewish people by the state which these defendants ruled, because, with sober regard for contemporary and historical truth, a detailed description of some of these crimes would transcend the utmost reaches of the human faculty of expression. The mind already recoils and shrinks from the acceptance of the incredible facts already related. Rather, it is my purpose to elucidate the pattern, the successful and successive stages, the sequence and concurrence of the crimes committed, the pre-determined means to a pre-ordained end.
Yet, these cold, stark, brutal facts and figures, drawn largely from the defendants’ own sources and submitted in evidence before this Tribunal, defy rebuttal.
From conception to execution, from the Party program of 1920 to the gloating declarations of Himmler and the Defendant Frank in 1943 and 1944, the annihilation of the Jewish people in Europe was man-made—made by the very men, sitting in the defendants’ box, brought to judgment before this Tribunal.
Before closing may I acknowledge with appreciation the untiring services of the group of the staff of the United States’ Prosecution, through whose painstaking search, analysis, and study, this presentation of evidence was made possible: Captain Seymour Krieger, Lieutenant Brady Bryson, Lieutenant Frederick Felton, Sergeant Isaac Stone, and Mr. Hans Nathan.
COL. STOREY: If the Tribunal please, the next presentation, concerning Germanization and spoliation in occupied countries, will be presented by Captain Sam Harris.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): May the Tribunal please, documents relating to the Nazi program of Germanization and spoliation have been assembled in a document book bearing the letter “U.” These document books are now being distributed for the use of the members of the Tribunal. I ask Your Honors to note that the tabs on the side of the document book are numbered 1 to 30. The index sheet at the front of the book keys these numbers to the EC, PS, and R numbers of our exhibits.
For Your Honors’ convenience we have also numbered the pages of each exhibit in pencil at the upper right-hand corner of each exhibit.
The documents which we shall introduce were collected by Lieutenant Kenyon, who sits at my right, and by Doctors Derenberg and Jacoby. Without their untiring efforts, this presentation would not have been possible.
Evidence has already been introduced by Mr. Alderman to prove that the defendants conspired to wage aggressive war. It has also been proved that the desire for Lebensraum was one of the chief forces motivating the conspirators to plan, launch, and wage their wars of aggression. We propose at this time to present evidence disclosing what the conspirators intended to do with conquered territories, called by them Lebensraum, after they had succeeded in overpowering the victims of their aggressions.
We have broadly divided this subject into two categories: Germanization and spoliation. When we speak of plans to germanize, we mean plans to assimilate conquered territories politically, culturally, socially, and economically into the German Reich. Germanization, we shall demonstrate, meant the obliteration of the former national character of the conquered territories and the extermination of all elements which could not be reconciled with the Nazi ideology. By spoliation, we mean the plunder of public and private property and, in general, the exploitation of the people and the natural resources of occupied countries.
We propose, with the permission of Your Honors, to introduce at this time 30 documents in all. These documents lay bare some of the secret plans of the conspirators to germanize, to plunder, to despoil, and to destroy. They do not, of course, tell the whole story of all the conspirators’ plans in this field. In some instances proof of the plan is derived from the acts committed by the conspirators. But these few documents are particularly illuminating with respect to the conspirators’ plans for Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Russia; and they indicate the outlines of carefully conceived plans for the rest of Europe. Others who follow will fill in this outline by showing a series of outrages committed on so vast a scale that no doubts will exist that they were committed according to plan.
Poland was, in a sense, the testing ground for the conspirators’ theories upon Lebensraum; and I turn to that country first.
The four western provinces of Poland were purportedly incorporated into Germany by an order of 8 October 1939. This order, which was signed by Hitler, Lammers, and Defendants Göring, Frick, and Hess, is set forth in Reichsgesetzblatt, 1939, Part I, Page 2042; and we ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice thereof. These areas of Poland are frequently referred to in correspondence among the conspirators as “incorporated Eastern Territories.” The remainder of Poland, which was seized by the Nazi invaders, was established as the Government General of Poland by an order of Hitler dated 12 October 1939. By that same order Defendant Hans Frank was named Governor General of the newly created Government General; and Defendant Seyss-Inquart was named Deputy Governor General. This order is set forth in Reichsgesetzblatt, 1939, Part I, Page 2077; and we ask the Tribunal also to take judicial notice of it.
The plans with respect to Poland were rather complicated; and I believe that the significance of specific items of proof may be more readily apparent if, in advance of the introduction of the documents, I am permitted briefly to indicate the broad pattern of these plans.
We submit that the documents we are about to introduce on Poland show the following:
First: The conspirators specifically planned to exploit the people and material resources of the Government General of Poland in order to strengthen the Nazi war machine, to impoverish the Government General, and to reduce it to a vassal state. At a later stage plans were formulated for creating islands of German settlements in the more fertile regions of the Government General in order to engulf the native Polish population and accelerate the process of Germanization.
Second: The incorporated area of Poland, which was deemed to be a part of the German Reich, was to be ruthlessly germanized. To that end, the conspirators planned:
(a) To permit the retention of the productive facilities in the incorporated area, all of which, of course, would be dedicated to the Nazi war machine.
(b) They planned to deport to the Government General many hundreds of thousands of Jews, members of the Polish intelligentsia, and other non-compliant elements. We shall show that the Jews who were deported to the Government General were doomed to speedy annihilation. Moreover, since the conspirators felt that members of the Polish intelligentsia could not be germanized and might serve as a center of resistance against their New Order, they too were to be eliminated.
(c) They planned to deport all able-bodied Polish workers to Germany for work in the Nazi war machine. This served the twofold purpose of helping to satisfy the labor requirements of the Nazi war machine and preventing the propagation of a new generation of Poles. Mr. Dodd has already produced abundant proof on this topic, and I shall do no more than refer to it.
(d) They planned to mould all persons in the incorporated area who were deemed to possess German blood into German subjects who would religiously adhere to the principles of National Socialism. To that end the conspirators set up an elaborate racial register. Those who resisted or refused to co-operate in this program were sent to concentration camps.
(e) They planned to bring thousands of German subjects into the incorporated area for purposes of settlement.
(f) And finally, they planned to confiscate the property—particularly the farms—of the Poles, the Jews, and all dissident elements. The confiscation of the property of Jews was part of the conspirators’ larger program of extermination of the Jews. Confiscation likewise served three additional purposes: (1) It provided land for the new German settlers and enabled the conspirators to reward their adherents; (2) dispossessed Polish property owners could be shipped to Germany for work in the production of implements of war; and (3) the separation of Polish farmers from their wives furthered the plan to prevent the growth of a new generation of Poles.
We turn now to the specific items of proof.
I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-344 (16), which is Exhibit Number USA-297. This document is a report of an interview with Defendant Frank on 3 October 1939 and was found among the files of the OKW, which were assembled in bulk at the Fechenheim document center. This particular document was included in a large report prepared in the OKW by one Captain Varain at the direction of General Thomas, then chief of the military economic staff of the OKW. I quote from the first 19 lines of Page 3 of the English text. The German text appears on Page 29, lines 25-36, and Page 30, lines 1-6. The report states, and I quote:
“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 Governor General) had with Reich Minister Frank on 3 October 1939 in Posen, Frank explained the instruction which had been entrusted to him by the Führer and the economic political directives according to which he intended to administer Poland. According to these directives, Poland could be administered only by utilizing the country by means of ruthless exploitation; removal of all supplies—raw materials, machines, factory installations, et cetera—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; closing of all institutions, especially technical schools and colleges in order to prevent the growth of a 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 of this Exhibit. In the German text it is lines 18 to 23 of Page 30. Defendant Frank further stated, and I quote:
“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 importation of industrial products.”
As further proof of the defendant’s plan to plunder and despoil the Government General of Poland, I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-410, which is Exhibit Number USA-298. In addition to the proof of the defendant’s 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 Göring on 19 October 1939 and was likewise found among the captured OKW files. I quote from lines 1 to 19 on Page 1 of the English text. In the German text it is all of Page 1 and the first line of Page 2. Defendant Göring’s directive states, and I quote:
“In the meeting of October 13th I have given detailed instructions for the economical administration of the occupied territories. I will repeat them here in short:
“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 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 other hand, there must be removed from the territories of the Government General all raw materials, scrap materials, machines, et cetera which are of use for the German war economy. Enterprises which are not absolutely necessary for the meager maintenance of the naked existence of the population must be transferred to Germany, unless such transfer would require an unreasonably long period of time and would make it more practical to exploit those enterprises by giving them German orders to be executed at their present location.”
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 Number EC-411, which is Exhibit Number USA-299. I offer this document in evidence. This document is a copy of an order dated 20 November 1939, by Defendant Hess, in his capacity as Deputy Führer. This document was also found in the captured OKW 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 Labor, et cetera, intend to reconstruct certain industrial enterprises in Warsaw. However, in accordance with a decision by Minister Dr. Frank approved by the Führer, Warsaw shall not be rebuilt nor is it the intention of the Führer to rebuild or reconstruct any industry in the Government General.”
Turning from the defendants’ program of economic spoliation in the Government General to their program of deportation and resettlement, I next offer in evidence Document Number 661-PS, which is Exhibit Number 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 center 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 11 July 1934, embodied in the Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 605, 11 July 1934, 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 its task would be:
“To promote the reconstruction of German legal life and to realize, in constant close collaboration with the competent legislative organizations, the National Socialist program in the entire sphere of the law.”
Second, before quoting from the afore-mentioned report of the Academy of German Law, I should like to offer in evidence Document Number 2749-PS, which is Exhibit Number 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.”
Now, if I may ask Your Honors to turn to Document Number 661-PS, I should first like to quote Page 1, lines 6 to 24, of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 6, lines 6 to 10; and line 22, Page 6, to line 4, Page 7. I quote:
“In the carrying out of costly and long-term measures for the increase of agricultural production, the Government General can, at the most, absorb 1 to 1.5 million resettlers, as it is already over-populated in many cases. . . . By further absorption of 1.6 million resettlers the 1925 Reich census figure of 133 inhabitants per square kilometer would be reached, which practically, because of already existing rural over-population and lack of industry, would result in a double over-pressure.
“This figure of 1.6 million will barely suffice for deportations 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).”
Continuing the quotation, the report goes on with respect to transfers from the Reich, and I continue to quote:
“The Polish intelligentsia, who have been branded as politicians, and potential political leaders; the leading economic personalities, comprising owners of large estates, industrialists and businessmen, et cetera; 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 labor 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 5 lines on Page 40:
“Strictest care is to be taken that secret documents, 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 Honors 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 of this document which I have just read gives the lie to that whole Nazi propaganda campaign.
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 program which was, in fact, ruthlessly executed.
I next offer in evidence Document Number 2233(g)-PS, the Frank diaries, 1939, from 25 October to 15 December, which is Exhibit Number USA-302. This document was obtained from the 7th Army document center at Heidelberg. I quote from the last paragraph of Page 1, carrying over to the first two lines of Page 2 of the English text. In the German text the statements appear at Page 19, lines 19 to 28. Defendant Frank stated, and I quote:
“The Reichsführer SS”—meaning Himmler—“wishes that all Jews be evacuated from the newly gained Reich territories. Up to February approximately 1 million 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 million people) should be transferred into the Reich and individually housed, thereby being uprooted as a people.”
I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-305, which is Exhibit Number USA-303. This exhibit is the top-secret minutes of a meeting held on 12 February 1940, under the chairmanship of Defendant Göring, on “Questions Concerning the East.” The document was found in the captured OKW files. Himmler and Defendant Frank likewise were present at this meeting.
I initially quote from Page 1, lines 15 to 17, 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:
“By way of introduction the General Field Marshal”—meaning Defendant Göring—“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: The task consists of obtaining the greatest possible agricultural production from the new eastern Gaue, disregarding questions of ownership.”
I next quote from 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. . . . The Government General will have to receive the Jews who are ordered to emigrate from Germany and the new eastern Gaue.”
Finally, I quote the 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). There have been evacuated 87,000 persons, 40,000 of these from Gdynia. 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 Gauleiter at the meeting. The figures that were quoted, 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 to take up new residences elsewhere. These deportations were accomplished according to plan in an utterly brutal and inhuman manner. Document Number 1918-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-304, affords striking proof of this fact; and I offer it in evidence. This is a speech delivered by Himmler to officers of the SS on a day commemorating the presentation of the Nazi flag. It is contained in a compilation of speeches delivered by Himmler, and was captured by the Counter-Intelligence branch of the United States Army. The exact date of the speech does not appear in the exhibit, but its contents plainly show that it was delivered sometime after Poland had been overrun. I quote from the second to the eighth lines of Page 1 of the English text. In the German text this quotation appears on Page 52, lines 2 to 10. In this speech Himmler said, and I quote:
“Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks about the deportation of these people 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, ten thousands, a hundred thousand; 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 statement:
“Where we had to have the toughness . . . to shoot thousands of leading Poles.”
Such Poles from the incorporated area as 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 Honors will recall Defendant Frank’s statement contained in Document Number EC-344(16), now Exhibit Number 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.
Your Honors Will also recall Defendant Göring’s directive in Document Number EC-410, now Exhibit Number 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 Honors to the Frank diaries, conference volume, 1941, October to December, which is Document Number 2233(d)-PS, which was introduced by Major Walsh earlier as Exhibit Number USA-281. The particular statement that I want to quote appears on Page 4, Your Honor, of Document Number 2233-PS. I believe it appears at Page 77, lines 9 and 10 of the German text. I quote—this is what Defendant Frank stated, “We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them, and wherever it is possible. . . .”
I turn next to that aspect of the conspirators’ program which involved the forcible Germanization of persons in the incorporated area who were deemed to possess German blood. I refer you now, Your Honors, to the incorporated area, to persons who were deemed to possess German blood. Such persons, the evidence will show, were given the choice of the concentration camp or submission to Germanization. Himmler was the chief executioner of this program; and initially I should like to introduce a few documents which disclose the powers bestowed upon him and his conception of his task.
First, I offer in evidence Document Number 686-PS. This is Exhibit Number USA-305. This is a copy of a secret decree signed by Hitler and Defendants Göring and Keitel, dated 7 October 1939, entrusting Himmler with the task of executing the conspirators’ Germanization program. This particular document came from the ministerial collection center at Kassel, Germany. I quote from Page 1, lines 9 to 21 of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 1, lines 13 to 25:
“The Reichsführer SS”—that was Himmler—“has the obligation in accordance, with my directives:
“1. To bring back for final return into the Reich all German nationals and racial Germans in the foreign countries.
“2. To eliminate the harmful influence of such alien parts of the population which represent a danger to the Reich and the German folk community.
“3. The forming of new German settlements by resettling and, in particular, by settling the returning German citizens and racial Germans from abroad.
“The Reichsführer SS is authorized to take all necessary general and administrative measures for the execution of his obligation.”
Himmler’s conception of his task under this decree is plainly stated in the foreword which he wrote for the Deutsche Arbeit issue of June-July 1942. The foreword is contained in Document Number 2915-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-306. I quote from the first four lines of the English text. The German text appears at Page 157:
“It is our task”—Himmler wrote—“to germanize the East, not in the old sense—that is, to teach the people there the German language and German law—but to see to it that only people of purely German, Germanic blood live in the East. Signed, Himmler.”
I next offer in evidence Document Number 2916-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-307. This document contains various materials taken out of Der Menscheneinsatz of 1940, a confidential publication issued by Himmler’s office for the consolidation of German nationhood. I quote initially from Page 1, lines 7 to 11. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 51, first four lines under the letter “D.” I quote:
“The removal of foreign races from the incorporated Eastern Territories is one of the most essential goals to be accomplished in the German East. This is the chief national political task, which has to be executed in the incorporated Eastern Territories by the Reichsführer SS, Reich Commissioner for the Preservation of German Nationality.”
I next quote from lines 33 to 39 of Page 1 of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear on Page 52, lines 14 to 20. I quote:
“There are the following two primary reasons which make the regaining of this lost German blood an urgent necessity:
“1. Prevention of a further increase of the Polish intelligentsia through families of German descent, even if they are Polonized.
“2. Increase of the population by racial elements desirable for the German nation and the acquisition of ethno-biologically unobjectionable forces for the German reconstruction of agriculture and industry.”
Further light is thrown upon the goals which the conspirators had set for their Germanization program in conquered Eastern areas by a speech delivered by Himmler on 14 October 1943. This speech was published by the National Socialist leadership staff of the OKW. The document came to us through the Document Section, 3rd U.S. Infantry Division. Excerpts from this speech are set forth in L-70, which is Exhibit Number USA-308. I quote all of the English text; and in the German text these excerpts appear at Page 23, lines 6 to 11, 12 to 15, 20 to 23, and Page 30, lines 7 to 16. Himmler said, and I quote:
“Therefore, I consider that in dealing with members of a foreign country, especially some Slav nationality, we must not start from German points of view, we must not endow these people with decent German thoughts and logical conclusions of which they are not capable, but we must take them as they really are.
“Obviously in such a mixture of peoples there will always be some racially good types. Therefore I think that it is our duty to take their children with us, to remove them from their environment, if necessary, by robbing or stealing them. Either we win over the good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or . . . we destroy that blood.”
Continuing the German text on Page 30, lines 7 to 16, which is a continuation of the English text, I believe, Your Honor—Himmler stated and I quote:
“For us the end of this war will mean an open road to the East, the creation of the Germanic Reich in this way or that . . . the fetching home of 30 million human beings of our blood, so that still during our lifetime we shall be a people of 120 million Germanic souls. That means that we shall be the sole and decisive power in Europe. That means that we shall then be able to tackle the peace, during which we shall be willing for the first 20 years to rebuild and spread out our villages and towns, and that we shall push the borders of our German race 500 kilometers farther to the East.”
In furtherance of the unlawful plans disclosed by the last four exhibits, which have been offered in evidence, the conspirators contrived a racial register in the incorporated area of Poland. The racial register was, in effect, an elaborate classification of persons deemed to be of German blood, and contained provisions setting forth some of the rights, privileges, and duties of the persons in each classification. Persons were classified into four groups:
(1) Germans who had actively promoted the Nazi cause;
(2) Germans who had been more or less passive in the Nazi struggle, but had retained their German nationality;
(3) Persons of German extraction who, although previously connected with the Polish nation, were willing to submit to Germanization;
(4) Persons of German descent, who had been “politically absorbed by the Polish nation,” and who would be resistant to Germanization.
The racial register was inaugurated under a decree of 12 September 1940 issued by Himmler as Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German nationhood, and this is contained in Document Number 2916-PS, previously introduced in evidence. That is Exhibit Number USA-307. I quote from Page 4 of the English text, lines 14 to 46. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 92, lines 29 to the end of the page, and lines 1 to 9 of Page 93. I quote:
“For inter-office use the list of racial Germans will be divided into four groups:
“1. Racial Germans who fought actively in the ethnic struggle. Besides the membership of a German organization, every other deliberated activity in favor of the Germans against a foreign nationality will be considered an active manifestation.
“2. Racial Germans who did not actively intervene in favor of the German nationality but had preserved their traceable German nationality.
“3. Persons of German descent who became connected with the Polish nation in the course of the years but have, on account of their attitude, the pre-requisites to become full-fledged members of the German national community. To this group belong also persons of non-German descent who live in a people’s mixed marriage with an ethnic German in which the German spouse has prevailed. Persons of Masurian, Kushubian, Slonzak, or Upper Silesian descent, who are to be recognized as racial Germans usually belong to this group 3.
“4. Persons of German descent politically absorbed by the Polish nation (renegades). Persons not included on the list of radial Germans are Poles or other foreign nationals. Their treatment is regulated by B II. . . .
“Members of groups 3 and 4 have to be educated as full Germans, that is, they have to be re-germanized in the course of time through an intensive educational training in Old Germany.
“The establishment of members of group 4 has to be based on the doctrine that German blood must not be utilized in the interest of a foreign nation. Against those who refuse re-Germanization, Security Police measures are to be taken. . . .”
The basic idea of creating a racial register for persons of German extraction was later incorporated in a decree of 4 March 1941 signed by Himmler and the Defendants Frick and Hess. This decree is dated 4 March 1941; and is set forth in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1941, Part 1, Page 118. We ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice thereof.
The entire apparatus of the SS was thrown behind the vigorous execution of these decrees. Proof of this fact is contained in Document Number R-112, which is Exhibit Number USA-309, and I now offer it in evidence. This exhibit contains directives issued by Himmler as the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German nationhood. I quote first from the last two paragraphs of the English text of the directives, 16 February 1942, which is on Page 3 of this exhibit. In the German text this provision appears on Page 1 of the first decree, dated 16 February 1942, Paragraph 1 and 2. The directive provided, and I now quote:
“I. Where racial Germans have not applied for entry in the German ethnical list you will instruct the subordinate agencies to turn over their names to the local State Police (superior) Office. Subsequently, you will report to me.
“II. The local State Police (superior) Office will charge the persons whose names are turned over to it to prove within 8 days that they have applied for entry in the German ethnical list.
“If such proof is not submitted, the person in question is to be taken into protective custody for transfer to a concentration camp.”
The measures taken against persons in the fourth category—“Polonized Germans” as the conspirators called them—were particularly harsh. These persons were resistant to Germanization, and ruthless measures calculated to break their resistance were prescribed. Where the individual’s past history indicated that he could not be effectively germanized, he was thrown into a concentration camp.
Some of these measures are set forth in Subparagraph A of Paragraph II on Page 5 of Document R-112, and I quote in full from the English text of that particular paragraph. This passage is set forth in the German text at Pages 2 and 3 of the second decree dated 16 February 1942 under II. This is what the directive provides:
“II. The re-Germanization of the Polonized Germans presupposes their complete separation from Polish surroundings. For that reason the persons entered in Division 4 of the German ethnical list are to be dealt with in the following manner:
“A. They are to be resettled in Old Reich territory.
“1. The Higher SS and Police Leaders are charged with evacuating and resettling them in Old Reich territory according to instructions which will follow later.
“2. Asocial persons and others who are of inferior hereditary quality will not be included in the resettlement. Their names will be turned over at once by the Higher SS and Police Leaders (Inspectors of Security Police and Security Service) to the competent State Police (superior) Office. The latter will arrange for their transfer to a concentration camp.
“3. Persons with a particularly bad political record will not be included in the resettlement action. Their names will also be given by the Higher SS and Police Leaders (Inspectors of Security Police and Security Service) to the competent State Police (superior) Office for transfer to a concentration camp.
“The wives and children of such persons are to be resettled in Old Reich territory and to be included in the Germanization measures. Where the wife also has a particularly bad political record and cannot be included in the resettlement action, her name, too, is to be turned over to the competent State Police (superior) Office with a view to transferring her to a concentration camp. In such cases the children are to be separated from their parents and dealt with according to III, Paragraph 2 of this decree.
“Persons are to be considered as having a particularly bad political record who have offended the German nation to a very great degree (for example, those who participated in persecutions of Germans, or boycotts of Germans, et cetera.)”
Coincident with the program of germanizing persons of German extraction in the incorporated areas, the conspirators, as previously indicated, undertook to settle large numbers of Germans of proven Nazi convictions in that area. This aspect of their program is clearly shown by an article by SS Obergruppenführer and General of the Police Wilhelm Koppe, who was one of Himmler’s trusted agents.
Excerpts from this article are contained in Document Number 2915-PS, which was earlier introduced as Exhibit Number USA-306. I quote from the second paragraph of the English text of this exhibit. The German text appears at the third line from the bottom of Page 170 and continues to the first full paragraph of Page 171. I now quote Koppe’s statement:
“The victory of German weapons in the East must, therefore, be followed by the victory of the German race over the Polish race, if the regained Eastern sphere—according to the Führer’s will—shall henceforth remain for all time an essential constituent part of the Greater German Reich. It is therefore of decisive importance to infiltrate German farmers, laborers, civil servants, merchants, and artisans into the regained German region so that a living and deep-rooted bastion of German people can be formed as a protective wall against foreign penetration and possibly as a starting point for the racial infusion of the territories farther east.”
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.
[A recess was taken.]
CAPT. HARRIS: Up to this point we have been speaking of the Germanization measures in the incorporated areas. I should like now briefly to turn to the Germanization program in the Government General.
In the Government General there were relatively few persons, at the outset, who qualified as Germans according to the conspirators’ standards. Hence little would be served by the introduction of a racial register categorizing persons of German extraction on the model of the one instituted in the incorporated area; and to our knowledge, no such racial register was prescribed in the Government General. Rather, the plan seems to have been (a) to make the Government General a colony of Germany, which—as Your Honors will recall from Document EC-344(16), which has been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-297—was the objective expressed by the Defendant Frank; and (b) to create so-called “German island settlements” in the productive farming areas. These island settlements were to be created by an influx of German persons who faithfully adhered to the principles of National Socialism.
In this connection I offer in evidence Document Number 910-PS. This is Exhibit Number USA-310. These are secret notes bearing the date line, “Department of the Interior, Kraków, 30 March 1942,” and they concerned Himmler’s statements upon the planned Germanization of the Government General. This document was obtained from the 3rd Army intelligence center 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 Reichsführer SS”—Himmler—“developed additional trains of ideas to the effect that, in the first 5-year plan for resettlement after the war, the new German Eastern territories should first be filled; it is intended afterwards to provide the Crimea and the Baltic countries 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 colonization along the San and the Bug be achieved so that the parts of Poland with alien populations are encircled. Hitherto, it has been always proved that this kind of encircling leads most quickly to the desired nationalization.”
In this same connection, I offer in evidence Document Number 2233(h)-PS. This is Defendant Frank’s diary, 1941, Volume II, Page 317. This is Exhibit Number USA-311. I quote from the last sentence at the bottom of our Page 3 of the English text of this exhibit. In the German text this passage appears on Page 317, lines 25 to 28. Defendant Frank stated in this diary, and I quote:
“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.”
I now turn to another phase of the program that I mentioned earlier, that is the conspirators’ plan to confiscate the property of Poles, Jews, and dissident elements. As I previously mentioned, the evidence will show that these plans were designed to accomplish a number of objectives. Insofar as the Jews were concerned, they were part and parcel of the conspirators’ overall program of extermination. Confiscation was also a means of providing property for German settlers and of rewarding those who had rendered faithful service to the Nazi State. This phase of their program likewise made available dispossessed Polish farmers for slave labor in Germany and operated to further the conspirators’ objective of preventing the growth of another generation of Poles.
Proof of the fact that the conspirators confiscated the property of Poles in furtherance of their Germanization and slave labor program is contained in Document Number 1352-PS, previously introduced by Mr. Dodd as Exhibit Number 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 22 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 labor offices 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, 22 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 Bielsko Region.” Initially, I should like to quote from the last paragraph at the bottom of Page 1 of this exhibit. This exhibit, you will recall, is 1352-PS, 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 Müller and requested support 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 in some cases the farm houses of these border directly on the concentration 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 farm land be placed at his disposal, so that he can keep the prisoners busy. This, too, can be done without difficulty since enough land can be made available for the purpose. The owners of the plots are all Poles.”
I next quote from Page 2, lines 22 to 31, of the English text of this same exhibit. The German text is at Page 12, Paragraph 2, continuing through to line 22 from the top of the page. I quote:
“I had the following discussion with the chief of the labor office in Bielsko:
“The lack of agricultural laborers still exists in the Old Reich. The transfer of the previous owners of the confiscated agricultural enterprises to the Reich as farm workers, together with their entire families, is possible without any difficulty. It is only necessary for the labor 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 labor).”
Finally, I quote from Page 3 of this same exhibit, lines 6 to 13 of the English text. The German text appears at Page 13, the last three lines, continuing through to Page 14, line 9:
“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 SS 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 Honors 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.”
In order to regularize the program of confiscation, Defendant Göring issued a decree on September 17, 1940. This decree appears in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1940, Part I, Page 1270; and I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. Under Section 2 of this decree sequestration of movable and immovable property, stores, and other intangible property, interests of Jews and “persons who have fled or are not merely temporarily absent”, was made mandatory. In addition, sequestration was authorized under Section 2, Subsection 2, if the property was required “for the public welfare, particularly in the interests of Reich defense or the strengthening of German folkdom.” By Section 9 of this decree, issued by Defendant Göring, confiscation of sequestrated property was authorized “if the public welfare, particularly the defense of the Reich, or the strengthening of German folkdom, so requires.” However, Section 1, Subsection 2, of the decree provided that property of German nationals was not subject to sequestration and confiscation; and Section 13 provided that sequestration would be suspended if the owner of the property asserted that he was a German. The decree, on its face, indicates very clearly a purpose to strip Poles, Jews, and dissident elements of their property. It was, moreover, avowedly designed to promote Germanism.
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 defense or the strengthening of German folkdom.” 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 German folkdom” required its seizure. In this connection I offer in evidence document Number R-92, which is Exhibit Number USA-312. This document, which is dated 15 April 1941, bears the letterhead of the Reich Leader SS, 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 17 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, Subparagraph 2. I quote:
“The objective conditions permitting seizure according to Section II, Subsection 2(a), are to be assumed whenever, for example, the property belongs to a Pole, for the Polish real estate will be needed without exception for the preservation of the German folkdom.”
In the Government General Defendant Frank promulgated a decree on 24 January 1940 authorizing sequestration for the “performance of tasks serving the public interest” and liquidation of “anti-social or financially unremunerative concerns.” The decree is embodied in the Verordnungsblatt of the Government General, Number 6, 27 January 1940, Page 23; and we ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. The undefined criteria in this decree obviously empowered Nazi officials in the Government General to engage in wholesale seizure of property.
The magnitude of the conspirators’ confiscation program in Poland was staggering. I ask Your Honors to turn to the chart on the sixth page of Document Number R-92, which was introduced into evidence a moment ago as Exhibit Number USA-312.
This chart shows that as of 31 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, Posen, Ciechanów, and Silesia. This, it will be noted, represented the seizure and confiscation of only four offices.
That, Your Honors, 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 germanize Bohemia and Moravia. It relates how three plans, each characterized by its severity, were discussed; and finally how the Führer 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 Führer was unquestioned. I offer this document in evidence. It is Document Number 862-PS, and it is Exhibit Number USA-313. This is a top-secret report, dated 15 October 1940, which was written by General Friderici, Deputy General of the Wehrmacht in Bohemia and Moravia. On the face of the document, it appears that only four copies were made. The document we offer in evidence is the original document, which was found among the captured files of the OKW. This document bears the handwritten letters “K” and “J” on the first page on the left-hand side, and I am advised that the handwriting is unquestionably that of Defendants Keitel and Jodl. I quote the document in its entirety:
“On 9 October of this year the office of the Reich Protector held an official conference in which State Secretary SS Gruppenführer R. H. Frank spoke about the following . . . .”
SS Gruppenführer 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?
CAPT. HARRIS: Frank was an SS Gruppenführer, 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, that is, absorption of about half of the Czech nationals by the Germans insofar as these are of racial or otherwise valuable importance. This will also be caused, among other things, 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 and would become a burden by constantly making claims for the leadership over the other Czech classes and thus interfering with a possible rapid assimilation.
“Elements which counteract the planned Germanization ought to be handled roughly and eliminated.
“The above development naturally pre-supposes an increased influx of Germans from the Reich territory into the Protectorate.
“Having been reported, the Führer 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 Germanization will have to be carried out in a centralized way by the office of the Reich Protector for years to come.
“From the above no particular conclusions are to be 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 12 July 1939, file number 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.”
With the permission of Your Honors, I should like to comment further upon some parts of this memorandum. First, I invite your attention to solution (a). This solution would have called for German infiltration into Moravia and the forcible removal of the Czechs from that area to Bohemia. As Your Honors know, Moravia lies between Bohemia and Slovakia. Thus solution (a) would have involved the erection of a German State between Bohemia and Slovakia, and would have prevented effective inter-communications between the Czechs and the Slovaks. In this manner, the historic desire for unity of these two groups of peace-loving people and the continued existence of their Czechoslovakian State would have been frustrated. Solution (a), it may be noted, was rejected because the surviving Czechs, even though compressed into a “residual Bohemia”, would have remained to plague the conspirators.
Solution (b) which involved the forcible deportation of all Czechs was rejected, not because its terms were deemed too drastic, but rather because a more speedy resolution of the problem was desired.
Solution (c), as shown in the exhibit, was regarded as the most desirable and was adopted. This solution first provided for the assimilation of about one-half of the Czechs. This meant two things: a. Enforced Germanization for those who were deemed racially qualified and b. deportation to slave labor in Germany for others. “Increased employment of Czechs in the Reich territory” as stated in the exhibit meant, in reality, slave labor in Germany.
Solution (c) further provided for the elimination and deportation “by all sorts of methods” of the other half of the Czech population, particularly the intellectuals and those who did not meet the racial standards of the conspirators. Intellectuals everywhere were an anathema to the Nazi conspirators, and the Czech intellectuals were no exception. Indeed, the Czech intellectuals, as the conspirators well knew, had a conspicuous record of gallantry, self-sacrifice, and resistance to the Nazi ideology. They were, therefore, to be exterminated. As will be shown in other connections, that section of the top-secret report which stated “elements which counteract the planned Germanization are to be handled roughly and eliminated” meant that intellectuals and other dissident elements were either to be thrown in concentration camps or immediately exterminated.
In short, the provisions of solution (c) were simply a practical application of the conspirators’ philosophy as expressed in Himmler’s speech, part of which we have quoted in L-70, already presented in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-308. Himmler said that “either we win over any good blood that we can use for ourselves . . . or we destroy this blood.”
I now turn briefly to the conspirators’ program of spoliation and Germanization in the western occupied countries. Evidence which will be presented at a later stage of this proceeding will show how the conspirators sought to germanize the western occupied countries; how they stripped the conquered countries in the West of food and raw materials, leaving to them scarcely enough to maintain a bare existence; how they compelled local industry and agriculture to satisfy the insatiable wants of the German civilian population and the Wehrmacht; and finally how the spoliation in the western occupied countries was aided and abetted by excessive occupation charges, compulsory and fraudulent clearing arrangements, and confiscation of their gold and foreign exchange. The evidence concerning these matters which will be presented in great detail by the Prosecutor for the Republic of France is so overwhelming that the inference is inescapable that the conspirators’ acts were committed according to plan.
However, it will not be until after the Christmas recess that the evidence concerning the execution of the conspirators’ plans in the West will be presented to this Tribunal. Accordingly, by way of illustration, and for the purpose of showing in this presentation that the conspirators’ plans embraced the occupied Western countries as well as the East, we now offer in evidence a single exhibit on this aspect of the case, R-114, which is Exhibit Number USA-314. This document was obtained from the U.S. Counter-Intelligence branch. This exhibit consists of a memorandum dated 7 August 1942 and a memorandum dated 29 August 1942 from Himmler’s personal files. The former memorandum deals with a conference of SS officers and bears the title, “Directions for the Treatment of Deported Alsatians.” The latter memorandum is marked secret and is entitled, “Shifting of Alsatians into the Reich.” The memoranda comprising this exhibit show that plans were made and partially executed to remove all elements from Alsace which were hostile to the conspirators and to germanize the province. I quote from Page 1, lines 21 to 31, of the English text entitled, “Directions for the Treatment of Deported Alsatians.” These extracts contained in the German text at Page 1, the last 8 lines, and Page 2, lines 1 to 5. I now quote:
“The first expulsion action was carried out in Alsace in the period from July to December 1940; in the course of it 105,000 persons were either expelled or prevented from returning. They were in the main Jews, gypsies and other foreign racial elements, criminals, asocial and incurably insane persons, and in addition Frenchmen and Francophiles. The patois-speaking population was combed out by this series of deportations in the same way as the other Alsatians.
“Referring to the permission the Führer had given him to cleanse Alsace of all foreign, sick, or unreliable elements, Gauleiter Wagner has recently pointed out the political necessity of a new deportation”—zweite Aussiedlungsaktion—“which is to be prepared as soon as possible.”
I should like Your Honors to permit me to defer the remainder of this presentation until Monday. Mr. Justice Jackson would like to make a few remarks to the Tribunal.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: May it please the Tribunal, I wish to bring to the attention of the Tribunal and of the Defense Counsel some matters concerning the case as it will take its course next week, in the belief that it will result in expediting our procedure if, over the weekend, our program can be considered.
Captain Harris’ presentation will take a short time longer on Monday; and when it has concluded, the presentation by the United States will have reached that part of the Indictment which seeks a declaratory judgment of this Tribunal that six of the organizations named therein are criminal organizations. They effect such a finding only that they may constitute such a basis for prosecution against individual members in other courts than this, proceedings in which every defense will be open to an accused individual, except that he may not deny the findings made by this Tribunal as to the character of the organization of which he was a member.
The United States desires to offer this evidence under conditions which will save the time of the Tribunal and advance the prosecution as rapidly as possible so that United States personnel can be released.
We also desire defendants’ counsel to have before them as much as possible of our evidence against organizations before the Christmas recess so that they may use that recess time to examine it and to prepare their defenses and that we may be spared any further applications for delay for that purpose.
The substance of our proposal is that all of the ultimate questions on this branch of the case be reserved for consideration after the evidence is before the Tribunal. The real question, we submit, is not whether to admit the evidence. The real question is its value and its legal consequences under the provisions of this Charter. All of the evidence which we will tender will be tendered in the belief that it cannot be denied to have some probative value and that it is relevant to the charges made in the Indictment. And those are the grounds upon which the Charter authorizes a rejection of evidence.
At the time we seek no advantage from this suggestion except the advantage of saving time to the Tribunal and to ourselves to get as much of the case as possible in the hands of the defendants before the Christmas recess and to urge the ultimate issues only when they can be intelligibly argued and understood on the basis of a real record instead of on assumptions and hypothetical statements of fact.
In offering this evidence as to the organizations, therefore, we propose to stipulate as follows:
Every objection of any character to any item of the evidence offered by the United States, as against these organizations, may be deemed to be reserved and fully available to Defense Counsel at any time before the close of the United States case with the same effect as if the objection had been made when the evidence was offered. All evidence on this subject shall remain subject to a continuing power of the Tribunal, on motion of any counsel or on its own motion, to strike, unprejudiced by the absence of objection. Every question as to the effect of the evidence shall be considered open and unprejudiced by the fact it has been received without objection.
Now we recognize the adherent controversial character of the issues which may be raised concerning this branch of the case. What this evidence proves, what organizations it is sufficient to condemn, and how the Charter applies to it are questions capable of debate, which we are quite ready to argue when it can be done in orderly and intelligible fashion. We had expected to do it in final summation, but we will do it at any time suggested by the Tribunal, after there is a record on which to found the argument; and we are willing to do it either before or after the defendants take up the case. But we do suggest that, if it is done step by step as the evidence is produced and on questions of admissibility, it will be disorderly and time-consuming. Piecemeal argument will consume time by requiring counsel on both sides to recite evidence that is either in the case, or to speculate as to evidence that is not yet in, to resort to hypothetical cases, and to do it over and over again to each separate objection. It will also be disorderly because of our plan of presentation.
Questions which relate to these organizations go to the very basis of the proposal made by President Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference, agreement upon which was the basis for this proceeding. The United States would not have participated in this kind of determination of question of guilt but for this or some equivalent plan of reaching thousands of others, who, if less conspicuous, are just as guilty of these crimes as the men in the dock. Because of participation in the framing of the Charter and knowledge of the problem it was designed to reach, I shall expect to reach the legal issues involved in these questions.
The evidence, however, will be presented by the lawyers who have specialized in the search for the arrangement of evidence on a particular and limited charge or indictment. Piecemeal argument, therefore, would not be orderly, but would be repetitious, incomplete, poorly organized, and of little help to the Tribunal. The issues deserve careful, prepared presentation of the contentions on both sides.
We will ask, therefore, upon these conditions, which we think protect everybody’s rights and enable the Defense as well as ourselves to make a better presentation of their questions because they will have time to prepare them, to lay before the Tribunal, as rapidly as possible next week and as uninterruptedly as possible, the evidence which bears upon the accusations against the organizations.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Justice Jackson, have you yet communicated that to the defendants’ counsel in writing or not?
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I have not communicated it, unless it has been sent to the Information Center since noon.
THE PRESIDENT: I think, perhaps, it might be convenient that you should state what you have stated to us as to objections to the evidence in writing so they may thoroughly understand it.
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: I have prepared to do that and to supply sufficient copies for members of the Tribunal and for all defense counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
HERR BÖHM: I represent the members of the S.A. who have volunteered to be questioned before the Tribunal. I understood the statement of Justice Jackson only partially. As Defense Counsel I have no one who can supply me with information and I cannot, under any circumstances, agree to give my views on statements which I do not know or which are made known to me in such a way that I am not in a position to get information.
I should like to ask first that I be supplied with a German translation of the statement which the Prosecution has made on the future course of the Trial, so that I can express my views on it. I do not represent here just one person but millions of people who will, after the Trial, come forward with all sorts of accusations against me, possibly even justified accusations. My own responsibility, as well as that of my colleagues who represent the organizations, is immense. I should therefore like to request, as a matter of principle, that anything which is presented in this Trial at all be submitted to me in the German language, because I am not in a position to have whole volumes of documents translated into German from one day to the next—documents which could quite easily be given to me in the German original. This is a circumstance which makes it dreadfully hard for me, as well as for a number of my colleagues, to follow the Trial at all.
Of the incriminatory evidence against the organizations, I have previously gathered little in the proceedings up to now. Since, according to today’s statements, however, the evidence against the organizations is to be presented shortly, I should like to ask emphatically that, if we are to continue to represent the organizations, the proceedings be conducted in such a way that, in a technical respect, too, we shall be in a position to carry on the defense in a responsible manner.
THE PRESIDENT: As you know or have been told, only those parts of documents which are read before the Tribunal are treated as being in evidence and therefore you hear through your earphones everything that is in evidence read to you in German. You know also that there are two copies of the documents in your Information Center which are in German. So much for that. That has been the procedure up to now.
In order to meet the legitimate wishes of German counsel, the proposal which Mr. Justice Jackson has just made is perfectly simple, as I understand it, and it is this:
That the question of the criminality of these organizations should not be argued before the evidence is put in; that the United States counsel should put in their evidence first, and that they hope to put the majority of it in evidence before the Christmas recess, but that the German counsel (defendants’ counsel) shall be at liberty at any time, up to the time the United States case is finished, to make objection to any part of the evidence on these criminal organizations. Is that not clear?
HERR BÖHM: Yes, that is clear.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you any objection to that procedure?
HERR BÖHM: Yes. The procedure as suggested is clear, but I think it is highly inadequate. I have as yet had no opportunity to get into my hands either of the two copies, which are said to be downstairs in Room 54, maybe because two copies are not sufficient for the purposes of 25 lawyers, especially if these copies are placed in Room 54 at 10:30 in the morning, when the session starts at 10:00 o’clock. It would not even suffice if these two copies for 25 of us were placed into our room on the day before, since it is not possible for all of us to make satisfactory use of these two copies in so short a time. Arrangements should therefore be made—just how the Prosecution will make them, I cannot say—to enable us to know at the proper time—and I emphasize again, in the German language—what the Prosecution expects of us, so that our work may be of avail to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: What you have just stated is a general objection to the procedure which has been adopted up to now and has nothing to do with the procedure which has been suggested by Mr. Justice Jackson with reference to these criminal organizations. His suggestion was that argument on the law of the criminal issue or the criminal nature of these organizations should be postponed until the evidence was put in and that the right of Counsel for the Defense should be to make objection at any stage or, rather, to defer their objections until the evidence had been put in; and it was hoped that the evidence would be completed or nearly completed by the Christmas recess. What you say about the general procedure may be considered by the Tribunal.
So far as the particular question is concerned, namely, the question of the procedure suggested by Mr. Justice Jackson, have you any objection to that?
HERR BÖHM: I have objections to this procedure only—and in this respect I reserve for myself all rights, for the sake of the great number of people I represent—if it handicaps or hinders me in any way in representing the interests of my many clients.
THE PRESIDENT: We are aware of that fact, but that does not seem to be material to the question whether the legal argument should be deferred until after the evidence is presented. The fact that you have millions of people to represent has nothing to do with the question whether the legal argument shall take place before, or in the middle of, or at the end of the presentation of the evidence. What I am asking you is: Have you any objection to the legal argument taking place at the end of the presentation of the evidence?
HERR BÖHM: I have no objection to these suggestions if they do not impair my defense in any way.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will now adjourn.
[The Tribunal adjourned until 17 December 1945 at 1000 hours.]
TRANSCRIBER NOTES
Punctuation and spelling has been maintained except where obvious printer errors have occurred such as missing periods or commas for periods. English and American spellings occur throughout the document depending on the author; however, American spellings are the rule, hence, 'Defense' versus 'Defence'. Multiple occurrences of the following spellings which differ and are found throughout this volume are as follows:
| cooperation | co-operation |
| Sudeten Gau | Sudetengau |
| Sudeten-Deutsche territory | Sudeten-German territory |
| Sudeten German(s) | Sudeten-German(s) |
Although some sentences may appear to have incorrect spellings or verb tenses, the original text has been maintained as it represents what the tribunal read into the record and reflects the actual translations between the German, English, Russian and French documents presented in the trial(s).
An attempt has been made to produce this ebook in a format as close as possible to the original document's presentation and layout.
[The end of Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal: Nuremberg 14 November 1945-1 October 1946 (Vol. 3), by Anonymous.]