France and Holland

Substantially the same system was put into effect in France and Holland. German Goods Offices were established in Occupied France at the same time as in Belgium (3604-PS). These were subsequently abolished in November, 1940, however, when the Vichy Government, at the “suggestion” of the Nazis, created raw material rationing boards, on which delegates of the German Military Administration served as technical advisers (EC-613; EC-616). In the Netherlands, controls were exercised by the local German Armament Inspectorate (EC-471; EC-472-A), who, it is believed, made use of the rationing boards set up in Holland before the outbreak of war.

C. The Nazi Conspirators Acquired Ownership of Belgian, Dutch, and French Participations in European Industries by Means of Governmental Pressure and Through the Use of Funds Unlawfully Exacted from the Occupied Countries and Their Nationals.

The Nazi conspirators were not content with securing for Germany the supplies necessary for the period of the war. They aimed at obtaining permanent ownership and domination of European industry to the fullest extent possible, and embarked on a program to that end even during the progress of the war.

(1) The Nazi conspirators established a program to acquire for German interests ownership of Belgian, Dutch, and French participations during the war. On 23 May 1940, recommendation was made that it would be opportune to secure all Dutch and Belgian stocks “in order, especially in the case of holding companies, to win influence * * * over the controlled companies” (EC-41). The memorandum recommended the taking possession of stocks of the dominated companies located in foreign countries and influencing the decisions of members of holding companies located in Holland and Belgium or of other owners of such stock. Because of the provisions of Article 46 of the Hague Regulations prohibiting confiscation of private property, it was deemed more advisable to influence members of holding companies through careful guiding than through plain force. (EC-41)

At a meeting held in the Reich Ministry of Economics on 3 June 1940 on the subject of “Belgian and Dutch capital shares in southeastern European countries,” it was decided that regulations should be issued immediately by the Military Commander for Belgium prohibiting the destruction, transfer, or disposition of any bonds or stocks of these countries, and that registration should be required of owners and trustees. (1445-PS)

In a memorandum of 2 August 1940 Goering declared that the goal of the Germans’ economic policy was the “increase of German influence with foreign enterprises,” that it was “necessary already now that any opportunity is used to make it possible for the German economy to start the penetration even during the war of the interesting objects of the economy of the occupied countries,” and directed that the transfer of capital from Germany to the occupied countries be facilitated to make possible the immediate purchase of enterprises in the occupied countries. (EC-137)

At a meeting at the Reich Ministry of Economics on 8 August 1940 on the subject of “Acquisition of shares of important foreign enterprises in southeastern Europe,” Dr. Schlotterer of the Reich Ministry of Economics commented that “private economical penetration of the Southeast area by German influence is desirable, likewise the supplanting of British and French interests in that territory” (EC-43). The group present, including representatives of the Reich Ministry of Economics and the Reichsbank, agreed that “attempts should be made immediately to acquire shares” and that “in doing so the tendency should be preserved to present a bill for the shares at the peace conference.” It was further agreed that “it should be attempted if possible to transfer the shares into private hands” but that “in order to make the right selection it appears necessary to introduce an intermediary stage” in which “first of all, enterprises should be taken over through banks, thereupon the plants should be managed as a matter of trusteeship for the Reich with the aim that the Reich (Reich Marshal Goering)” undertake handing them over to private industry. (EC-43)

(2) The Nazi conspirators carried out this program by compulsory sale where necessary and by purchases financed out of occupation charges and under clearing agreements with the occupied countries.

Belgium