I would like to make a few brief remarks on the economic pillaging of
Luxembourg (Page 106).
Supplementing the presentation on Belgium it is fitting to present to
the Tribunal some details on the conduct of the Germans in Luxembourg.
The Government of the Grand Duchy has submitted a general summary of its
accusations which has been lodged with the Tribunal as Document Number
UK-77 and in which an extract covering the crimes against property, the
economic section, is in the document book under the Number RF-194.
The Germans, shortly after their entry into the Grand Duchy, proceeded
to annex it in fact. This attitude, similar enough to that adopted
towards the inhabitants of the Departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin, and
Haut-Rhin, calls for some remarks.
As was their wont, one of the first measures they put into effect was
the exchange of the Luxembourg money at the rate of 10 Luxembourg francs
to 1 mark. This was the subject of the ordinance of 26 August 1940, to
be found in the document book under Number 195 (Document Number RF-195).
This rate of exchange did not correspond to the respective purchasing
power of the two currencies. It constituted a considerable levy on the
wealth of the inhabitants and especially assured the Germans of a
complete seizure of the monies. It thus procured for them the means for
seizing a considerable part of the reserves of raw materials and
manufactured goods of the country. The purchases were paid for in
depreciated marks on the basis of controlled prices imposed by the
Germans.
Finally, by the Ordinance of 29 January 1941, the Reichsmark was
introduced as the only legal tender (ordinance submitted as Document
Number RF-196). The Luxembourg francs and the Reichskreditkasse notes
were taken out of circulation, as well as Belgian francs, up to then
considered as currency of the Franco-Luxembourg monetary union. All of
these became foreign currency, as from 5 February 1941.
I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to the fact that of
all the countries occupied by Germany, Luxembourg is, like Alsace and
Lorraine, one of the few countries which was totally deprived of its
national currency.
Moreover, to procure for the Reich the financial means necessary for the
prosecution of the war, the ordinance of 27 August 1940 (Document Number
RF-197) prescribed compulsory delivery of gold and foreign currency.
Moreover, the same ordinance stipulated that foreign shares and bonds
had to be offered for sale to the Reichsbank at rates and under
conditions fixed by the occupying power.
As has already been pointed out, the Germans seized industrial stocks.
In this respect, the report dated 21 May 1940, on the economic situation
in Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg, contains information on the stocks
found in the country:
1,600 million tons of iron ore; 125,000 tons of manganese; 10,000 tons
of crude iron; 10,000 tons of ferro-manganese; 36,000 tons of plated
products and finished products, and I could continue this enumeration.
The German seizure spread from stocks to the management of the
industrial production.
According to the memorandum presented by the Reparations Commission of
the Luxembourg Government, Document Number RF-198, the total economic
damages amount to 5,800 million Luxembourg francs at the 1933 value.
This figure can be analyzed as follows:
Industry and commerce, 1,900 million; Railroads, 200 million; Roads and
Highways, 100 million; Agriculture, 1,600 million; Damage to property in
general, 1,900 million.
From the same official source, the total loss in capital represents
about 33 percent of the national wealth of Luxembourg, before the war
estimated at approximately 5,000 million Luxembourg francs.
The effect on the financial and monetary situation of the country was a
loss exceeding 6,000 million Luxembourg francs. In these damages the
increase in circulation of money and the amount of forced investments in
Germany—more than 4,800 million Luxembourg francs—as well as an
additional charge imposed upon the taxpayers of the Grand Duchy
following the introduction of the German fiscal system figure
particularly. To these burdens must be added the skimming of profits,
fines, and the allegedly voluntary gifts of every kind imposed upon
Luxembourg.
Similar to what was done in other countries, the Ordinance of 21
February 1941 (Document Number RF-199, Exhibit Number RF-199 of the
document book concerning Luxembourg) provided that no German managers
could be appointed in large enterprises, particularly in smelting works,
who—and this is the text of the ordinance—“would not be prepared to
favor the interests of Germanism in every circumstance.”
The task of these commissioners was to insure for the Reich, within the
scope of the Four Year Plan, the direction and control of exploitation
in the exclusive interest of the German war effort. Thus, on 2 August
1940, the “Reichskommissar” for the administration of enemy property
appointed to the largest metal company in Luxembourg, the United Steel
Works of Burbach-Eich-Dudelange (Arbed), three German commissioners who
ensured the complete control of the company. Neither did other large
companies escape this domination as can be seen from the documents
submitted to the Tribunal under Number 200 (Document Number RF-200).
The spoliation of Luxembourg and foreign interests in the insurance
field, one of the most important branches of Luxembourg’s activities,
was complete. With the exception of three Swiss companies and a German
company, all transactions were prohibited to the Luxembourg companies,
whose assets were transferred to German insurance companies—in an
official way as regards the national companies, and secretly as regards
the foreign companies.
The insurance companies of Luxembourg were deprived of the premiums from
fire insurance by the introduction of compulsory fire insurance, for
which the German companies were given the monopoly.
Introducing in Luxembourg their racial policy, the National Socialists
seized and confiscated all Jewish property in the Grand Duchy to the
profit of the “Verwaltung für die Judenvermögen” (Administration of
Jewish Property).
Also in regard to the Umsiedlungspolitik (resettlement policy), 1,500
families (that is 7,000 Luxembourg persons) were deported. The Germans
took possession of their property. A German trust company, set up in the
German Office for Colonization and Germanization, was charged with the
administration of this property, and, in fact, set about to liquidate
it. Important assets were thus confiscated and transferred to the Reich.
Germans from the Tyrol were, as has already been pointed out, installed
in the buildings, and industrial, commercial, and artisan enterprises of
the deportees.
That is to say, Your Honors, that the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was the
victim of economic pillage as systematically organized as that in
Belgium.
THE PRESIDENT: M. Delpech, the Tribunal is grateful to you for the way
in which you have performed the task which they asked you to perform
last night, a task which is not altogether easy, of shortening the
address which you had intended to make. As far as they are able to
judge, no essential parts of your address have been omitted. It is of
great importance that the Trial should be conducted, as the Charter
indicates, in an expeditious way, and it was for this reason that the
Tribunal asked you, if you could, to shorten your address.