Before the directive of 18 December had been made, the Defendant Göring had informed General Thomas, chief of the Office of War Economy of the OKW, of the plan, and General Thomas made surveys of the economic possibilities of the U.S.S.R., including its raw materials, its power and transport system, and its capacity to produce arms.
In accordance with these surveys, an economic staff for the Eastern territories with many military-economic units (inspectorates, commandos, groups) was created under the supervision of the Defendant Göring. In conjunction with the military command, these units were to achieve the most complete and efficient economic exploitation of the occupied territories in the interest of Germany.
The framework of the future political and economic organization of the occupied territories was designed by the Defendant Rosenberg over a period of three months, after conferences with and assistance by the Defendants, Keitel, Jodl, Raeder, Funk, Göring, Von Ribbentrop, and Frick, or their representatives. It was made the subject of a most detailed report immediately after the invasion.
These plans outlined the destruction of the Soviet Union as an independent State, and its partition, the creation of so-called Reich Commissariats, and the conversion of Estonia, Latvia, Bielorussia, and other territories into German colonies.
At the same time Germany drew Hungary, Rumania, and Finland into the war against the U.S.S.R. In December 1940 Hungary agreed to participate on the promise of Germany that she should have certain territories at the expense of Yugoslavia.
In May 1941 a final agreement was concluded with Antonescu, the Prime Minister of Rumania, regarding the attack on the U.S.S.R., in which Germany promised to Rumania, Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the right to occupy Soviet territory up to the Dnieper.
On 22 June 1941, without any declaration of war, Germany invaded Soviet territory in accordance with the plans so long made.
The evidence which has been given before this Tribunal proves that Germany had the design carefully thought out, to crush the U.S.S.R. as a political and military power, so that Germany might expand to the east according to her own desire. In Mein Kampf, Hitler had written: “If new territory were to be acquired in Europe, it must have been mainly at Russia’s cost, and once again the new German Empire should have set out on its march along the same road as was formerly trodden by the Teutonic Knights, this time to acquire soil for the German plough by means of the German sword and thus provide the Nation with its daily bread.” But there was a more immediate purpose, and in one of the memoranda of the OKW, that immediate purpose was stated to be to feed the German Armies from Soviet territory in the third year of the war, even if “as a result many millions of people will be starved to death if we take out of the country the things necessary for us.”
The final aims of the attack on the Soviet Union were formulated at a conference with Hitler on 16 July 1941, in which the Defendants Göring, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann participated:
“There can be no talk of the creation of a military power west of the Urals, even if we should have to fight 100 years to achieve this . . . . All the Baltic regions must become part of the Reich. The Crimea and adjoining regions (north of the Crimea) must likewise be incorporated into the Reich. The region of the Volga as well as the Baku district must likewise be incorporated into the Reich. The Finns want Eastern Karelia. However, in view of the large deposits of nickel, the Kola peninsula must be ceded to Germany.”