Most of the Norwegian merchant fleet escaped from the Germans; nevertheless, they requisitioned all the ships they could, especially most of the fishing boats.
Even if the occupier could not seize all railway rolling stock, trams, as well as about 30,000 motor vehicles, were transported to Germany.
If we refer to the report of 10 October 1944 of the German Economic Service, which I submitted under Exhibit RF-116 (Document Number EC-86), we will see that the writer of the report himself estimates that the effort demanded from Norway was beyond her possibilities; and he writes:
“. . . Norwegian economy is especially heavily burdened by the demands of the occupation Forces. For this reason the cost of occupation had to be limited to cover only a part of the expenses of the Wehrmacht. . . .”
After having mentioned that the cost of occupation which had been collected up to January 1943 amounted to 7,535 million crowns, which corroborates the data given by the Norwegian Government, the writer of the German report says:
“This sum of more than 5,000 million Reichsmark is, indeed, very high for Norway. Much richer countries, as for example, Belgium, pay hardly more, and Denmark does not even supply half of this sum. These large payments can only be made possible by German additions. It is, therefore, not surprising that the German-Norwegian trade is in Germany’s favor—that is, it is subsidized. Norway, owing to her very small population, can hardly put labor at the disposal of the German war economy. She is, therefore, one of the few countries which owe us certain amounts in clearing.”
Further on, the writer adds:
“. . . If we deduct approximately 140 million Reichsmark from the expenses of the occupation and the various credits calculated above, we have Norwegian payments to the still considerable amount of approximately 4,900 million Reichsmark.”
THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps that would be a good time to break off.