Having set up in occupied Czechoslovakia an insufferable regime of terrorism, the Hitlerites drove into German slavery many thousands of Czechoslovak citizens, showing no mercy even to children, who were sent to industrial plants, farms, and mines. The youth of Czechoslovakia was deprived of all opportunities for education. When, in 1942, a Czech delegation appealed to Frank for permission to reopen the higher Czechoslovak educational institutions, he cynically replied, “Should the war be won by England, you will reopen your schools yourselves; should Germany win, then five-grade elementary schools will be enough for you.”
Everyone remembers the sanguinary reprisals of the Hitlerite hangmen committed against the Czechoslovak population. One of the numerous cases of such monstrous reprisals against the peaceful population was made public in the German newspaper Der Neue Tag of 11 June 1942.
“During the search for the murderer of SS Obergruppenführer Heydrich, it was incontestably proved that the inhabitants of the village of Lidice, near Kladno, were aiding and abetting the perpetrators of the crime. This has been proven in spite of the fact that the population denies any such assistance. The attitude of the population in regard to such crimes is also evidenced by other hostile acts against the Reich. There were discovered, for instance, subversive literature, stores of arms and ammunition, as well as the existence of a radio transmitter and a large quantity of rationed goods held in unlawful possession. The entire adult male population was executed by firing squads. Women were deported to concentration camps, and children were sent to proper places for their further upbringing. All buildings in this village were levelled to the ground and the name of the village was done away with.”
The Prosecution has at its disposal official data collected by the Czechoslovakian Government on the shocking crimes which were perpetrated by the Hitlerite invaders on the territory of Czechoslovakia. In the report of the Czechoslovakian Government, which to a large extent is devoted to the description of the regime established by the Hitlerites in Czechoslovakia during the occupation, are cited numerous cases of terrorism: shooting of hostages, mass deportations to concentration camps, murder of women and children.
That is how Fall Grün worked.
On 1 September 1939 the fascist aggressors invaded Polish territory in treacherous violation of existing treaties. The Polish people were subjected to mass extermination, and their cities and villages were mercilessly destroyed. Official documents exposing this aggression have already been presented to the Tribunal by my colleagues. Among such documents we must mention in the first place a top-secret report on a conference, presided over by Hitler, which took place on 23 May 1939, and at which, besides Hitler and other persons, the Defendants Göring, Raeder, and Keitel were present.
At this conference Hitler made a lengthy statement concerning “the present situation and the political aims.” Hitler said:
“The Pole is in no way an additional enemy. Poland will always be on the side of our opponents. It is not a question of Danzig only; it is the question of Lebensraum in the East, the safeguarding of our food supplies, and the solution of the Baltic problem.
“Thus”—said Hitler—“sparing Poland is out of the question, and the decision remains to invade her at the first opportunity. We cannot expect the repetition of what we achieved in the case of Czechoslovakia. This time it means war.”
Hitler then said: