HIRSCHFELD: The total sum which was paid by the end of the occupation was 8,500 million guilder.
M. DUBOST: In what form were these payments demanded?
HIRSCHFELD: These 8,500 million guilder consisted of credits which the Armed Forces demanded for the direct occupation costs in the Netherlands; furthermore, for the cost of the machinery of the Reich Commissariat; and third, payments which were imposed on the Netherlands under the expression which was used at first, “outside occupation costs,” that is, expenses which the Armed Forces incurred in Germany in the interest of the occupation forces in the Netherlands. The form in which it was paid, as far as it concerned payments in the Netherlands, was in Dutch money. Payments in Germany were made in gold, which was demanded from the Netherlands Bank, or were taken from the account which the Netherlands Bank had with the Reichsbank.
M. DUBOST: Were these payments the result of one of the conditions of capitulation?
HIRSCHFELD: I know the capitulation conditions of 14 May 1940 and they do not mention anything about occupation costs.
M. DUBOST: What is the damage sustained by Holland in other ways as a result of the looting of the means of construction, machinery, stocks, ships, and so forth?
HIRSCHFELD: It is extremely difficult to give an exact figure because it could not be determined during the occupation. But, after the German capitulation, the Netherlands Government reported the sum of about 25,000 million guilders to the Reparation Committee in Paris as damages for occupation. This would include the 8,500 million in occupational costs which I just mentioned.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Dubost, isn’t this all contained in the Dutch report?
M. DUBOST: Oh no, Mr. President, certainly not.
How did Seyss-Inquart’s attitude change during the occupation?