“3. No further exceptions with a view to preserving one or the other industrial region or industrial enterprise must be permitted.
“4. Industry can only be preserved so far as it is located in the surplus region. This applies, apart from the above-mentioned oil field regions in the Caucasus, particularly to the heavy industries in the Donets district (Ukraine). Only the future will show to what extent it will prove possible to maintain in full these industries, and in particular the Ukrainian manufacturing industries, after the withdrawal of the food surpluses required by Germany.
“The following consequences result from this situation, which has received the approval of the highest authorities, since it is in accord with the political tendencies (preservation of the small Russians, preservation of the Caucasus, of the Baltic provinces, of White Russia, to the prejudice of the Great Russians).
“I. For the forest belt:
“a. Production in the forest belt (the food-deficit area) will become ‘naturalized,’ similar to the events during the World War and the Communistic tendencies of the war, etc., namely: agriculture in that territory will begin to become a mere ‘home production.’ The result will be that the planting of products destined for the market such as, in particular, flax and hemp, will be discontinued, and the area used therefor will be taken over for products for the producer (grain, potatoes, etc.) Moreover, discontinuance of fodder for that area will lead to the collapse of the dairy production and pig producing in that territory.
“b. Germany is not interested in the maintenance of the productive power of these territories, except for supplying the troops stationed there. The population, as in the old days, will utilize arable land for growing its own food. It is useless to expect grain or other surpluses to be produced. Only after many years can these extensive regions be intensified to an extent that they might produce genuine surpluses. The population of these areas, in particular the urban population, will have to face most serious distress from famine. It will be necessary to divert the population into the Siberian spaces. Since rail transport is out of the question, this too, will be an extremely difficult problem.
“c. In this situation, Germany will only draw substantial advantages by quick, nonrecurrent seizure, that is, it will be vitally necessary to make the entire flax harvest available for German needs, not only the fibers but also the oleaginous seeds.
“It will also be necessary to utilize for German purposes the livestock which has no fodder base of its own, that is, it will be necessary to seize livestock holdings immediately, and to make them available to the troops not only for the moment, but in the long run, and also for exportation to Germany. Since fodder supplies will be cut off, pig and cattle holdings in these areas will of necessity drastically decline in the near future. If they are not seized by the Germans at an early date, they will be slaughtered by the population for its own use, without Germany getting anything out of it.”
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“It has been demanded by the Fuehrer that the reduction in the meat ration should be made good by the fall. This can only be achieved by the most drastic seizures of Russian livestock holdings, particularly in areas which are in a favorable transport situation in relation to Germany.”