“2. The removal of cultural property.
“A great deal of material from museums, archives, institutions, and other cultural establishments was in an orderly manner removed from Kiev in the autumn of 1943.
“These actions to safeguard the material were carried out by Einsatzstab RR, as well as by the individual directors of institutes, et cetera, at the instigation of the Reich Commissioner.”
Here, Your Honors, I would point out that Einsatzstab Rosenberg in some documents is also referred to as the “Task Staff RR.” These initials stand for Reichsleiter Rosenberg.
“At first, a great deal of the property that was to be evacuated was taken only to the areas of the rear; later on, this material was forwarded to the Reich. When the undersigned, towards the end of September, received the order from the cultural division of the Reich Commissioner to take out of Kiev the remaining cultural effects, the materials most valuable from a cultural point of view had already been removed. During October some 40 carloads of cultural effects were shipped to the Reich. In this case it was chiefly a question of valuables which belonged to the research institutions of the national research center of the Ukraine. These institutions, at present, are continuing their work in the Reich and are being directed in such a manner that at any given moment they can be brought back to the Ukraine. The cultural values which could not be promptly safeguarded incurred plunder. In this case, however, it was always a question of less valuable material, as the essential assets had been removed in an orderly manner.
“In October 1943 factories, workshops, plants, and other equipment were removed from Kiev by the order of the town commander, but where it was taken, I do not know.”
This letter ends with the following sentence:
“At the time the Soviets entered the city there was nothing valuable, in this respect, left in the city.”
May it please Your Honors, from the documents submitted by the Soviet Prosecution, the Tribunal has already learned about the criminal conspiracy between Hitler and Antonescu. As a reward for supplying Germany with cannon fodder, oil, wheat, cattle, et cetera, Antonescu’s criminal clique received from Hitler’s Government authorization to plunder the civilian population between the Bug and the Dniester. German and Romanian invaders plundered and destroyed many objects of cultural value, health resorts, and medical institutions in Odessa. The Hitlerites also plundered on their own account, as well as in co-operation with Antonescu’s clique. To prove this, I shall now read into the record a few excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union, presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-47 (Document Number USSR-47). These excerpts are taken from Page 372 of your document book. I omit one paragraph and begin to quote from the penultimate paragraph on this page of my report:
“The German Military Command plundered the museums of Odessa, carrying away hundreds of unique objects.”