Our document numbered 1030-PS is a memorandum, dated 8 May 1941, entitled, “General Instructions for all Reich Commissioners in the Occupied Eastern Territories.” I offer that in evidence as Exhibit USA-144.
In these instructions to his chief henchmen Rosenberg outlines the political aims and purposes of the attack. In the second and third paragraphs of the English translation, which appear on Page 2 of the German, the following remarks appear:
“The only possible political goal of war can be the aim to free the German Reich from the ‘grossrussisch’ pressure for centuries to come. This does not only correspond with German interests but also with historical justice, for Russian imperialism was in a position to accomplish its policy of conquest and oppression almost unopposed, whilst it threatened Germany again and again. Therefore, the German Reich has to beware of starting a campaign against Russia with a historical injustice, meaning the reconstruction of a great Russian empire, no matter of what kind. On the contrary, all historical struggles of the various nationalities against Moscow and Leningrad have to be scrutinized for their bearing on the situation today. This has been done on the part of the National Socialist movement to correspond to the Leader’s political testament as laid down in his book, that now the military and political threat in the East shall be eliminated forever.
“Therefore this huge area must be divided according to its historical and racial conditions into Reich commissions each of which bears within itself a different political aim. The Reich Commission Eastland”—Ostland—“including White Ruthenia, will have the task to prepare, by way of development into a Germanized protectorate, a progressively closer cohesion with Germany. The Ukraine shall become an independent state in alliance with Germany, and Caucasia with the contiguous northern territories a federal state with a German plenipotentiary. Russia proper must put her own house in order for the future. These general viewpoints are explained in the following instructions for each Reich commissioner. Beyond that there are still a few general considerations which possess validity for all Reich commissioners.”
The fifth paragraph of the English translation, Page 7 of the German, presents a fascinating rationalization of a contemplated robbery. It reads:
“The German people have achieved, in the course of centuries, tremendous accomplishments in the eastern European area. Nearly all its land and houses were confiscated without indemnification; hundreds of thousands (in the south on the Volga) starved or were deported or, as in the Baltic territories, deprived of the fruits of their cultural work during the past 700 years. The German Reich must proclaim the principle that after the occupation of the Eastern Territories the former German assets are the property of the people of Greater Germany, irrespective of the consent of the former individual proprietors, where the German Reich may reserve the right (assuming that it has not already been done during resettlement) to arrange a just settlement. The manner of compensation and restitution of this national property will be subject to different treatment by each Reich commission.”
Document Number 1029-PS in our series is an “Instruction for a Reich Commissioner Ostland.” It is typical of the type of instruction which was issued to each of the appointed commissioners (or Kommissars), and is amazingly frank in outlining intentions of the Nazi conspirators toward the country they intended to occupy in the course of their aggression. I offer this document in evidence as Exhibit USA-145. I should like to read into the record the first three paragraphs. It begins:
“All the regions between Narva and Tilsit have constantly been in close relationship with the German people. A 700-year-old history has moulded the inner sympathies of the majority of the races living there in a European direction and has in spite of all Russian threats added this region to the living space of Greater Germany.