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: