The Hitlerite conspirators endeavored to change into serfs, bereft of all their rights, the peoples of the territories seized; and, for this purpose, they destroyed the national culture of these peoples.
The destruction of the national culture of the Slav peoples and particularly of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Bielorussian cultures, the destruction of national monuments, schools, literature, and the compulsory Germanization of the population, followed the German occupation everywhere, in obedience to the same criminal principle which governed the ensuing pillage, rape, arson, and mass murders.
I omit, Mr. President, the end of Page 3 and Page 4 of my presentation, and I proceed to the presentation of Section 2, Page 5.
As I have already indicated, the destruction of the national culture of the peoples in the occupied territories was a fundamental part of the general plan for world domination established by Hitler’s conspirators. It is difficult to determine whether destruction or plunder was the prevalent factor in these plans. But there is no disputing the fact that both plunder and destruction were aimed at one goal only—extermination; and this extermination was carried out everywhere, in all the territories occupied by the Germans, and on an enormous scale.
Article 56 of the 1907 Hague Convention laid down, I quote:
“The property of municipalities, of Church institutions and establishments dedicated to charity and education, arts and sciences, even when belonging to the State, shall be considered as private property. All premeditated seizure of, and destruction or damage to, institutions of this character, to historic monuments, works of art and science, is forbidden and should be made the subject of legal proceedings.”
The Hitlerites consciously and systematically scoffed at the principles and demands laid down in Article 56. All the conspirators are guilty of this, and the Defendant Rosenberg in the first place.
Rosenberg had an organization with widespread ramifications for the plunder of cultural treasures and with numerous staffs and representatives. The Einsatzstab Rosenberg and Rosenberg’s chief of staff, Utikal, were the central point of the network co-ordinating the criminal activities of many predatory organizations inspired and directed by the Hitlerite Government together with the German Supreme Command. Rosenberg was officially placed in charge of plundering the cultural treasures in the occupied territories by a decree of Hitler of 1 March 1942.
I have in mind Document Number 149-PS presented to the Tribunal on 18 December of last year by the United States Prosecution and accepted by the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-369. With your permission, Mr. President, I shall quote only two paragraphs of this document. You will find this document on Page 3 of your document book. I quote:
“His”—Rosenberg’s—“Einsatzstab for the occupied territories has the right to investigate libraries, archives, and every other kind of cultural establishment for corresponding materials, and to confiscate these materials for the realization of the ideological aims of the National Socialist Party. . . .”