The debit account of the Bank of Norway, following the German levies, amounted to:
1,450 million crowns at the end of 1940; 3,000 million crowns at the end of 1941; 6,300 million crowns at the end of 1942; 8,700 million crowns at the end of 1943; 11,676 million crowns at the liberation of the country.
All the Norwegian protests were in vain in the face of German extortions. The constant threat of the new issuing of notes of the Reichskreditkasse as instruments of obligatory payment beside the Norwegian currency obliged the local financial authorities to accept the system of levies on account, without actual cover, which was less dangerous than the issuing of paper money over the circulation of which the Norwegian administration had no power of control.
This may be seen in particular from a secret letter sent on 17 June 1941 by General Von Falkenhorst, Commander-in-Chief in Norway, to the Reich Commissioner, Reichsleiter Terbeven, a copy of which was found not long ago in Norway and which I submit to the Tribunal as Document Number RF-119. In this document, after having stated that one could not reduce the expenses of the Wehrmacht in Norway, Von Falkenhorst writes:
“I am, however, of the opinion that the problem cannot be solved at all in this manner. The only remedy is to abandon completely the actual monetary system by introducing Reich currency. But of course this does not come into my domain. I regret, therefore, that I am not able to propose any other remedies to you, although I am fully conscious of the seriousness of the situation in which you find yourself.”
To the indemnities for the alleged maintenance of the army of occupation must be added a sum of 3,600 million crowns paid by the Norwegian Treasury for the billeting of German troops. This information comes to us from a report from the Norwegian Government, which I submit as Document Number RF-120.
From the sum of approximately 12,000 million crowns levied for the alleged maintenance of the occupation troops, a large part was used for other purposes; for the police and propaganda, in particular, the occupation spent 900 million crowns. This comes from a second report of the Norwegian Government, which I submit as Document Number RF-121.
Secondly, clearing.
The clearing agreement of 1937 for the barter of goods between Norway and Germany remained in force during the occupation but it was the Bank of Norway which had to advance the necessary funds for the Norwegian exporters. The Germans also concluded clearing agreements in the name of Norway with other occupied countries, neutral countries, and with Italy.
At the liberation, the credit balance of Norwegian clearing amounted to 90 million crowns but this balance does not show the actual situation. In fact: