“The Duce replied that he would agree with all the Führer’s

proposals. . . .”—and so on.

“The Reich Foreign Minister then said that the Führer had sent

him to the Duce in order to inform him about the Hess affair and

the conversations with Admiral Darlan. With regard to Hess’s

affair he remarked that the Führer and his staff had been

completely taken aback by Hess’s action and that it had been the

deed of a lunatic.

“Hess had been suffering for a long time from bilious attacks

and had fallen into the hands of magnetists and nature-cure

doctors who caused his state of health to become worse.

“All these matters were being investigated at the moment, as

well as the responsibility of the aides-de-camp who had known

about Hess’s forbidden flights. Hess had for weeks carried out

secret practice flights in an ME-110. Naturally he had acted

only from idealistic motives. Disloyalty towards the Führer was

utterly out of the question. His conduct had to be explained by

a kind of abstractness and a state of mind caused by his

illness.”

And it goes on, and the gist of it really is that Ribbentrop is

emphasizing again that it was done without the authority of Hitler or

without the knowledge of anybody else in Germany. I say he does not

carry. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: Can’t you read the beginning of the next paragraph?

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: “Being sympathetically inclined towards

England, he had conceived the crazy idea of using Great

Britain’s fascist circles to persuade the British to give in. He

had explained all this in a long and confused letter to the

Führer. When this letter reached the Führer, Hess was already in

England. It was hoped in Germany that he would perhaps meet with

an accident on the way, but he was now really in England and had

tried to contact the former Marquis of Clydesdale, the present

Duke of Hamilton. Hess quite wrongly considered him as a great

friend of Germany and had flown to the neighborhood of his

castle in Scotland.”

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

LT. COL. GRIFFITH-JONES: That is what Ribbentrop is saying to Mussolini.

Ribbentrop, we know, is a liar, and indeed what he said later on in an

interview proves it, and I would refer to Page 5—or rather to the

bottom of Page 4—if the Tribunal would bear with me while I read that,

because it would have been put in previously during this trial had this

document been known of. And as I am putting it in now, perhaps I might

be allowed to read this one paragraph which really concerns the

Defendant Ribbentrop.

“The Duce returned to his remark concerning the united front of

Europe against England and the two countries, Spain and Russia,

that were absent from it, with the remark that to him it seemed

that it would be advantageous if a policy of collaboration with

Russia could be carried out. He asked the Reich Foreign Minister

whether Germany excluded such a possibility, that is,

collaboration with Russia. The Reich Foreign Minister replied

that Germany had treaties with Russia and that the relations

between the two countries were, by the way, correct. He

personally did not believe that Stalin would undertake anything

against Germany, but should he do so, or should he follow a

policy that was intolerable to Germany, then he would be

destroyed within three months. The Duce agreed to this. The

Führer would certainly not look for any quarrel, but he had

nevertheless taken precautions”—this is again, I think,

Ribbentrop speaking—“The Führer would certainly not look for

any quarrel, but he had nevertheless taken precautions for all

eventualities. He had in no way come to any decision, but as a

result of certain occurrences and want of clearness on the

Russian side, he had become suspicious. Thus for example, the

Russians had strengthened their forces along their western

frontier, which of course, caused Germany to reinforce her

troops too, but only after the Russians started it.”

It really must have been a remarkable position in the German Government

if undoubtedly the Führer and the foreign secretary knew on the 13th of

May 1941 that Germany was going to attack Russia a month later.

My Lord, that is the evidence which I have to present to the Tribunal on

this matter. I regret that this should have taken so long. I am grateful

to Your Honors for your patience.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 8 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]

FIFTY-FOURTH DAY

Friday, 8 February 1946

_Morning Session_

[Note.—Because citations were not required by the Tribunal for

documents quoted in the opening address of the Russian

Prosecution it has been impossible to verify the wording against

the text of the original documents. In the presentation of 8

February many of the quotations from documents originally in the

German and English languages have been translated into Russian

and then translated again into English for the record of the

Trial. For this publication these retranslations have been used

in some instances.]

THE PRESIDENT: I call on General Rudenko for the Soviet Union.

GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): May it please

Your Honors, on delivering my opening statement, the last to be made at

this Trial by the chief prosecutors, I am fully conscious of the supreme

historical importance of these proceedings.

For the first time in the history of mankind is justice confronted with

crimes committed on so vast a scale, with crimes which have entailed

such grave consequences. It is for the first time that criminals who

have seized an entire state and made this state an instrument of their

monstrous crimes appear before a court of justice.

It is also for the first time that, by judging these defendants, we sit

in judgment not only on the defendants themselves, but also on the

criminal institutions and organizations which they created and on the

inhuman theories and ideas which they promulgated with a view to

committing crimes against peace and humanity, crimes which were designed

by them far in advance of their perpetration.

Nine months ago, after having tortured for a number of years of bloody

warfare the freedom-loving nations of Europe, Hitlerite Germany

collapsed under the hammer blows of the combined armed forces of the

Anglo-Soviet-American coalition. On 8 May 1945 Hitlerite Germany was

compelled to lay down her arms, having suffered a military and political

defeat hitherto unequalled in history.

Hitlerism imposed upon the world a war which caused the freedom-loving

nations innumerable privations and endless sufferings. Millions of

people fell victims of the war initiated by the Hitlerite brigands who

embarked on a dream of conquering the free peoples of the democratic

countries and of establishing the rule of Hitlerite tyranny in Europe

and in the entire world.

The day has come when the peoples of the world demand a just retribution

and a severe punishment of the Hitlerite hangmen, when they demand

severe punishment of the criminals.

All the outrages individually or jointly committed by the major

Hitlerite war criminals, all together and each one individually, will be

considered by you, Your Honors, with all the thoroughness and attention

which the law, the Charter of the International Military Tribunal,

justice, and our conscience require.

We charge the defendants with the initiation, instigation, and direct

execution, individually and through their agents, of the criminal plan

of conspiracy. To the execution of this plan was committed the entire

machinery of the Hitlerite State with all its governmental agencies and

institutions, with its army, police, the so-called public agencies, as

set out in the Indictment and particularly in Appendix B.

Before entering upon the examination of the concrete events and facts

which lie at the foundation of the charges raised against the

defendants, I think it necessary to dwell on certain general legal

questions connected with the proceedings. This is indispensable, because

the present Trial is the first one in history where justice is being

done by an agency of an international legal system—the International

Military Tribunal. This also becomes necessary, since special

consideration was given to questions of law in both the written and oral

motions made before the Tribunal.

The first and the most general legal problem which, in my opinion, has

to be considered by the Tribunal is the problem of legality. Contrary to

the system of fascist tyranny and arbitrary fascist practices, the great

democracies which have established this Tribunal, as well as all

democracies throughout the world, exist and act on a firm legal basis.

But neither the concrete law nor the concept of law can be identical in

the national and in the international meaning of these terms. _Lex_ in

its meaning in national law is an act of legislative power of a state,

clothed in a proper form. In its meaning in international law it is

different. In the international field there never existed, nor now

exist, any legislative bodies which are competent to pass laws which are

binding on individual states. The legal system of international

relations, which include those relations which are manifested in the

co-ordinated effort to combat criminality, is based on different legal

principles. In the international field the basic source of law and the

only legislative act is a treaty, an agreement between states.

Accordingly, just as duly promulgated laws passed by legislative bodies

and properly published are an absolute and sufficient legal basis for

the administration of national justice, so in the international field an

international treaty is an absolute and sufficient legal basis for the

implementation and the activity of agencies of international justice

created by the signatories.

The International Military Tribunal was established for the trial and

punishment of major war criminals on the basis of the London Agreement,

dated 8 August 1945, signed by the four countries acting in the

interests of all freedom-loving nations. Being an integral part of this

agreement, the Charter of the International Military Tribunal is to be

considered an unquestionable and sufficient legislative act, defining

and determining the basis and the procedure for the trial and punishment

of major war criminals. Provoked by fear of responsibility or, at best,

by insufficient knowledge of the organic nature of international

justice, the references to the principle _nullum crimen sine lege_, or

to the principle that “a statute cannot have retroactive power,” are not

applicable because of the following fundamental, decisive fact: The

Charter of the Tribunal is in force and in operation and all its

provisions possess absolute and binding force.

Pursuant to Article 6 of the Charter, the defendants are charged with

Crimes against Peace, crimes committed in violation of rules and customs

of war, and Crimes against Humanity. We must state with great

satisfaction that in placing on such actions the stigma of criminality

the Charter of the Tribunal has reduced to rules of law those

international principles and ideas which for many years have been set

forth in the defense of law and justice in the field of international

relations.

First of all—criminal aggression. For a number of decades nations

interested in strengthening the cause of peace have proclaimed and

advocated the idea that aggression constitutes the gravest encroachment

on the peaceful relations between nations, a most serious international

crime. These hopes and demands on the part of nations found their

expression in a series of acts and documents which officially recognized

aggression as an international crime.

On 27 August 1928 the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris:

“Persuaded”—proclaimed the agreement—“that the time has come

when a frank renunciation of war as an instrument of national

policy should be made . . . convinced that all changes in their

relations with one another should be sought only by pacific

means . . . the High Contracting Parties solemnly declare in the

names of their respective peoples that they condemn recourse to

war for the solution of international controversies, and

renounce it as an instrument of national policy in their

relations with one another.”

In 1929—a year after the signing of the Paris Pact—at the Congress of

the International Association of Criminal Law at Bucharest a resolution

was passed which squarely raised the question of criminal responsibility

for aggression. “Whereas war has been outlawed by the Paris Pact of

1928, and acknowledging the necessity of securing international order

and harmony by means of effective sanctions. . .” the Congress

considered imperative “the establishment of an international penal

judicial system” as well as of the principle of criminal responsibility

of states and single individuals for acts of aggression.

Thus long ago was proclaimed the principle of penal responsibility for

criminal aggression, the principle which found its clear legal

expression in Subparagraph (a) of Article 6 of the Charter of the

International Military Tribunal.

Consequently, the fascist aggressors, the defendants, knew that by their

predatory attacks on other countries they committed the gravest Crimes

against Peace. They knew it, and they know it now, and that is the

reason why they attempted and are now attempting to camouflage their

criminal aggression with lies about defense.

Furthermore, it has been repeatedly and authoritatively declared that

violations of laws and customs of war established by international

conventions must entail criminal responsibility.

In this connection it is necessary to note that the gravest outrages in

violation of laws and customs of war committed by the

Hitlerites—murder, violence, arson, and plunder—are considered

punishable criminal acts by all criminal codes throughout the world.

Moreover, the international conventions signed especially for the

purpose of establishing laws and rules of war stipulate criminal

responsibility for violation of these laws and rules. Thus Article 56 of

the Hague Convention in 1907 declares:

“The property of municipalities, that of institutions dedicated

to religion, charity and education, the arts, and sciences, even

when state property, shall be treated as private property. All

seizure of, destruction, or willful damage done to institutions

of this character, historic monuments, works of art and science,

is forbidden, and shall be made the subject of legal

proceedings.”

Thus, the Hague Convention not only forbids the violation of rules of

war, but also stipulates that these violations “should be made the

subject of legal proceedings”, that is, must entail criminal

responsibility.

Article 29 of the 1929 Geneva Convention states with still greater

precision that:

“The Governments of the High Contracting Parties whose penal

laws may not be adequate shall likewise take or recommend to

their legislatures the necessary measures to repress in time of

war all acts in contravention of the provisions of the present

convention.”

Finally, the principle of criminal responsibility for all acts in

violation of the laws and customs of war is expressed with the utmost

precision in Article 3 of the provisions of the Washington Conference

for the Reduction of Armaments and for the Pacific and Far Eastern

Problems, which states that:

“The Contracting Powers, wishing to ensure the execution of

promulgated laws . . . declare that any person in the service of

any power who violates one of these rules, and independently of

the fact whether he is subordinated to an official personality

or not, will be considered a transgressor of the laws of war and

will be liable to be tried by civilian or military authorities.”

Consequently, according to the directives of the Hague and Geneva

Conventions and according to the provisions of the Washington

Conference, the enforcing of criminal responsibility for the violation

of the laws and customs of war is not only possible, but is actually

compulsory.

Thus, Subparagraph (b) of Article 6 of the Charter of the International

Military Tribunal, concerning War Crimes, defined with greater precision

and generalized the principles and rules contained in the international

conventions previously signed.

The defendants knew that cynical mockery of the laws and customs of war

constituted the gravest of crimes. They knew it, but they hoped that

total war, by securing victory, would also secure their impunity. But

victory did not arrive on the heels of the crimes. Instead came the

complete and unconditional surrender of Germany, and with it came an

hour of grim reckoning for all the outrages they had committed.

I myself, speaking on behalf of the Soviet Union, and my honored

colleagues, the chief prosecutors of the United States of America,

England, and France, we all accuse the defendants of having ruled over

the entire German State and war machine through a criminal conspiracy

and of turning the machinery of the German State into a mechanism for

the preparation and prosecution of criminal aggression, into a mechanism

for the extermination of millions of innocent people.

When several criminals conspire to commit a murder, every one of them

plays a definite part. One works out the plan of murder, another waits

in the car, and the third actually fires at the victim. But whatever may

be the part played by any individual participant, they all are murderers

and any court of law in any country will reject any attempts to assert

that the first two should not be considered murderers, since they

themselves had not fired the bullet.

The more complicated and hazardous the conceived crime, the more

complicated and less tangible the links connecting the individual

participants. When a gang of bandits commits an assault, responsibility

for the raid is also shared by those members of the gang who did not

actually take part in the assault. But when the size of the gang attains

extraordinary proportions, when the gang happens to be at the helm of

the ship of state, when the gang commits numerous and very grave

international crimes, then of course, the ties and mutual relations

among the members of the gang become entangled to the utmost. A highly

ramified mechanism is here at work. It consisted of a whole system of

links and blocks, (Zellenleiter, Blockleiter, Gauleiter, Reichsleiter,

_et cetera_) extending from ministerial chairs to the hands of the

executioners.

This is a consolidated and powerful mechanism, yet it is powerless to

conceal the basic and decisive fact that at the core of the entire

system operated a gang of conspirators who were setting in motion the

whole organization which they had created.

When entire regions of flourishing countryside were turned into desert

areas, and the soil was drenched with the blood of those executed, it

was the work of their hands, of their organization, their instigation,

their leadership. And just because the masses of the German people were

made to participate in these outrages, because, prior to setting packs

of dogs and executioners on millions of innocent people, the defendants

for years had poisoned the conscience and the mind of an entire

generation of Germans by developing in them the conceit of “the chosen,”

the morals of cannibals, and the greed of burglars, can it be said on

account of these facts that the guilt of the Hitlerite conspirators is

any less great or any less grave?

Expressing the will of nations, the Charter of the International

Military Tribunal has settled this question:

“Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices participating

in the formulation or execution of a Common Plan or

Conspiracy”—against peace, against the laws and customs of

warfare, or against humanity—“to commit any of the foregoing

crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any person in

execution of such plan.” (Article 6)

For the purpose of successful execution of their criminal plans these

conspirators—Göring, Hess, Rosenberg, Fritzsche, Schirach, and the

other defendants—developed a fiendish theory of the superior or master

race. By means of this so-called theory they had in mind to justify the

claims of German fascism for the domination of other nations which were

declared by their theory to be nations of inferior race.

It followed from this theory that Germans, since they belonged to the

“master race,” have the “right” to build their own welfare on the bones

of other races and nations. This theory proclaimed that German fascist

usurpers are not bound by any laws or commonly accepted rules of human

morality. The “master race” is permitted to do anything. No matter how

revolting and shameless, cruel, and monstrous were the actions of those

individuals, they were based on the idea of the superiority of this

race.

Said Hitler:

“We want to make a selection for a class of new masters who will

be devoid of moral pity, a class which will realize that because

of its better race it has the right to dominate others, a class

that will be able to establish and maintain without hesitation

its domination over the masses.” (Otwalt, Ernst, _Deutschland

erwache!_, 1932, Page 353.)

This German fascist racial theory had at the same time to serve as a

“scientific” basis for the preparation by the Hitlerites of an attack

against democratic nations, as a justification for aggressive wars for

which the Hitlerites made feverish preparation during the whole time of

their domination of Germany. In such manner, the function of racism was

to justify the conspiracy—to fulfill the predatory aims of the German

imperialistic clique.

By order of the German fascist authorities, the racial doctrine was

introduced into the educational plans as a most important and obligatory

subject. In the hands of German fascism, the schools and universities

became dangerous centers for the intellectual and moral mutilation of

the people and, as such, the greatest menace to civilization. All

branches of science were militarized. All aspects of art were subjected

to the aims of aggression.

“We approach science unbiased by knowledge and scholarly

education.”—declared the fascist review _Politische

Wissenschaft_, Number 3 for 1934—“The student must come to

college with the demand that science be as soldierly as his own

bearing and that the professor possess the qualities of a leader

and the bearing of a soldier.”

“We want arms again!”—said Hitler—“Then indeed from the

child’s primer to the last newspaper, every theater and every

movie house, every advertising pillar and every billboard—all

must be pressed into the service of this one great

mission. . . .” (Hitler, Adolf, _Mein Kampf_, Munich, 1933, Page

715.)

Geography became the instrument for propagating the “preeminent

importance of the Germans in the world,” of their “right to dominate”

other peoples. A feeling of racial superiority, arrogance, hatred,

contempt, and cruelty toward other peoples was cultivated in the young.

These are the words of a German fascist song:

“If all the world lies in ruins,

What the devil do we care?

We still will go marching on

For today Germany belongs to us

And tomorrow the whole world.”

The German fascist ideology set loose the wildest and lowest instincts.

The fascists made a principle of arbitrary actions, violence, and

debasement of the people. They declared as dangerous for the “master

races” the ideas of freedom, the ideas of enlightenment, and the demands

of humanity. Said Hitler:

“I am freeing men from the wearisome restrictions of the mind,

from the dirty and degrading self-mortifications of a chimera

called conscience and morality, and from the demands of a

freedom and personal independence which a very few enjoy.”

(Rauschning, Hermann, _The Voice of Destruction_, New York,

1940, Page 225.)

In the spirit of such principles the entire German fascist system of

education was built up with a view to adapting and preparing them to a

blind obedience in the execution of all predatory plans and aims put

before Germany by the Hitlerite rulers. As a result of fascist

propaganda and the whole system of measures cultivated by the German

State, the German mind was systematically poisoned by the fumes of

chauvinism and hatred of mankind. The aggressive plans of German fascism

ripened more and more with every year since the Hitlerites’ seizure of

power until at last they led to war. This war was planned, worked out

and started by the Hitlerites’ Germany as Blitzkrieg and should,

according to the schemes of the conspirators, have resulted in a rapid

and easy victory for the gang of Hitlerite cut-throats and in their

domination over all the countries in Europe.

The criminal conspiracy aimed at the establishment of a predatory New

Order in Europe. This New Order was a regime of terror by which, in the

countries seized by the Hitlerites, all democratic institutions were

abolished and all civil rights of the population were abrogated, while

the countries themselves were plundered and rapaciously exploited. The

population of these countries, and of the Slav countries above all

others—especially Russians, Ukrainians, Bielorussians, Poles, Czechs,

Serbians, Slovenes, Jews—were subjected to merciless persecution and

mass extermination.

The conspirators failed to achieve their objective. The valiant struggle

of the peoples of the democratic countries, led by a coalition of the

three great powers—the Soviet Union, the United States of America, and

Great Britain—resulted in the liberation of the European countries from

the Hitlerite yoke. The victory of the Soviet and Allied armies wrecked

the criminal plans of the fascist conspirators and liberated the peoples

of Europe from the terrible threat of Hitlerite domination.

We, the Prosecutors, are obliged by law and duty before the peoples of

the democratic countries and all mankind to formulate and present to the

International Military Tribunal evidence proving the guilt of the

defendants in committing the most grievous crimes.

Permit me to perform my duty, jointly with my colleagues, by presenting

to the International Military Tribunal the evidence which, together with

the materials already presented by the Prosecution on behalf of the

United States of America, Great Britain, and France, will give a

complete and exhaustive body of proof in this case.

The Defendants Göring, Hess, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Raeder, Rosenberg,

Kaltenbrunner, Frank, Frick, Dönitz, Fritzsche, and others are charged

with the organization of a conspiracy to establish by force the

domination of German imperialism and the setting up of the fascist

regime in all European countries and, later, throughout the world.

The core of this plan was the organization of aggressive wars and the

rearrangement of the map of the whole world by use of force. In

execution of this plan for aggression the criminal Hitlerite Government

and the German General Staff prepared and executed the seizure of

Austria, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Belgium, Holland, France, Poland,

Greece, and Yugoslavia. They also prepared and undertook a predatory

military campaign against the Soviet Union.

My colleagues of the American, British, and French Prosecution have

already submitted to the Tribunal weighty and irrefutable evidence which

establishes the fact of German aggression against their own countries,

as well as against Belgium, Holland, Greece, and a number of the other

states which had become victims of the predatory Hitlerite imperialism.

May it please Your Honors, I will now produce proofs of the monstrous

crimes of the defendants in the preparation and initiation of aggressive

wars against freedom loving peoples.

The document submitted in this case and known as “Fall Grün” contains a

plan for an attack on the Czechoslovakian Republic. This directive,

signed by Hitler, was distributed together with a covering note bearing

the signatures of Keitel. The directive begins with “Political

Prerequisites,” which read precisely as follows:

“My unalterable decision is that Czechoslovakia should be

smashed in the immediate future by means of a single military

operation. To abide the time and to create a suitable political

and military situation—this is the task of political

leadership. The inevitable development of conditions within

Czechoslovakia or other political events in Europe, which might

never again bring about such an unexpectedly favorable

situation, may force me to action even before the designated

date. The proper choice and the resolute exploitation of the

opportune moment are the surest guaranties of success.

Accordingly, all preparations should be made immediately.”

Turning to the exposition of the political possibilities and

prerequisites regarding the initiation of the attack, Hitler cynically

disclosed these prerequisites: a) A suitable military pretext and in

this connection; b) a satisfactory political justification; c) a

surprise action which should take the enemy, as far as possible,

unawares.

It was Hitler’s idea that the most propitious moment, both from the

military and political point of view, would be a lightning, secretly

prepared, German attack under the pretext of some incident which could

morally justify the use of military force, at least in the eyes of a

certain portion of the public opinion of the world.

The directive envisaged the actual preparation for an attack on

Czechoslovakia to be executed by certain branches of the Armed Forces.

Thus the Directive Grün, which bears as early a date as May 1938,

clearly and definitely testifies to the fact of a carefully planned

preparation for the seizure of Czechoslovakia. The Soviet Prosecution

will submit documents taken from the files of the German Ministry of

Foreign Affairs which reveal the criminal methods used by the Hitlerites

in preparing for the seizure of Czechoslovakia.

You, Your Honors, as well as the entire world, well know how

methodically and ruthlessly this criminal scheme was executed by the

predatory imperialism of the Hitlerites.

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:

“The important fact in the conflict with Poland, which will

begin with an attack on Poland, is that it can be successful for

us only if the West does not participate. If this should be

impossible, it would be better to attack the Western Powers and

at the same time destroy Poland.”

The second part of Hitler’s statement was specially devoted to a number

of questions of military strategy connected with his decision to attack

Poland. This is how the gangster assault of Hitler’s Germany on Poland

was prepared in advance. It was put into execution in September 1939. We

shall present documentary evidence of the monstrous crimes committed by

the Hitlerites in Poland.

Yugoslavia was another Slav state which was the subject of a sudden

attack on the part of Hitlerite Germany. It is well known that on

numerous occasions Hitler’s Government had given false assurance to the

effect that Germany had no aggressive intentions towards Yugoslavia.

Thus, on 28 April 1939 Hitler, in his speech to the Reichstag, stated

that Germany was ready to give assurances to a number of states, and in

particular to Yugoslavia, that Germany wished to maintain with them

relations of mutual understanding, as she was bound to them by alliances

and by “close ties of friendship.”

Even prior to this, on 28 April 1938, the Berlin News Agency (DNB) had

announced:

“Confidential representatives have informed the Yugoslav

Government on Germany’s behalf that Germany’s intentions do not

extend beyond Austria and that the Yugoslav frontier will remain

inviolate.”

In spite of these repeated and categorical declarations, Hitler’s armies

invaded Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and occupied this country. This

attack was unexpected only by the victims, for the Nazi clique had

carefully planned this assault in advance as it had done in the

above-mentioned cases.

A top-secret directive issued from the Führer’s headquarters on 27 March

1941 and intended only for higher commanding officers of the German Army

said:

“My intention is to invade Yugoslavia by powerful thrusts from

the area of Fiume-Graz and from Sofia in the general direction

of Belgrade and further to the south, with the objective of

inflicting on the Yugoslav army a decisive defeat as well as to

cut off the southern part of Yugoslavia from the rest of the

country and to turn it into a base for further operations of the

German-Italian forces against Greece. By proposing the return of

Macedonia and Banat, attempts will be made to bring about the

participation of Bulgaria and Hungary in the operations.

“The internal political crisis in Yugoslavia will be aggravated

by political guarantees promised to the Croats.”

Further on, the directive lays down a detailed strategic plan for the

invasion of Yugoslavia and provides for actual participation in this

aggression of the German Armed Forces, including the 10th Air Corps,

which had to be transferred from Italy in order to take part in these

operations.

Consequently, on the basis of the evidence supplied by original

documents of the Hitlerite Government and High Command of the German

Armed Forces, we can establish that all attacks by Hitlerite Germany on

Slav states were based on a plan prepared in advance, a plan which was

only a part of a common criminal conspiracy of the predatory German

imperialism against freedom-loving nations.

Yugoslavia as well as Poland became a victim of the German fascist

aggressors who covered this flourishing state with ruins, and its

fields, gardens, and ploughed land with corpses of many thousands of

Yugoslav patriots who fell in the heroic struggle against the foreign

invaders and enslavers, in the struggle for the freedom and independence

of their native land.

THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a convenient time to break off for 10

minutes?

[_A recess was taken._]

GEN. RUDENKO: May it please the Tribunal, I will now describe the crimes

committed by the Hitlerite aggressors against my own country, against

the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On 22 June 1941 the U.S.S.R.

was perfidiously attacked by Hitlerite Germany. However, it is not this

date that should be considered as the actual beginning of the execution

of Hitlerite Germany’s plan of aggression against the Soviet Union. What

took place on 22 June 1941 was conceived, prepared, and planned long

before that.

The Hitlerite conspirators pursued these preparations continuously. All

Germany’s aggressive actions against a number of European states, during

the period between 1938 and 1941, were actually only preliminary

measures for the main blow in the East. For fascist Germany had

conceived the criminal design of seizing the territory of the Soviet

Union in order to plunder and to exploit the peoples of the U.S.S.R.

We need not seek confirmation thereof in Hitler’s _Mein Kampf_ or in the

writings of the Hitlerite ringleaders, which, as is known, contained,

together with a direct menace to the U.S.S.R., indications that the

aggression of German imperialism must be directed toward the East in

order to conquer the so-called “living space.” This tendency of

predatory German imperialism is expressed in the well-known formula

“Drang nach Osten.”

I revert for evidence to the official documents of the Hitlerite

Government, which fully disclose the defendants’ guilt in committing the

criminal actions with which they are charged under the present

Indictment.

I beg to be allowed to refer, in the first case, to the document

entitled, “Report Concerning the Conference of 23 May 1939.” As can be

seen from this document, this conference took place in Hitler’s study at

the new Reich Chancellery, and the minutes were taken down by Lieutenant

Colonel Schmundt of the German General Staff. There were present at this

conference: Hitler, Göring, Raeder, Brauchitsch, Keitel, General Milch,

General of the Artillery Halder, and other representatives of the German

High Command. The report states that the subject of the conference was,

“Instructions concerning the present situation and the objects of our

policy.” Speaking at this conference, Hitler frequently broached the

subject of the seizure of territory in the East. He declared:

“If fate forces us into a conflict with the West, it would be

desirable that we possess more extensive space in the East.”

And further:

“Our problem is to extend our living space in the East, secure

our food supplies, and solve the problems of the Baltic Sea and

States. As regards food supplies, we can only rely upon the

thinly populated areas. The thoroughness of German agriculture,

together with the fertility of the soil, will show itself

favorably in the manifold increase of food production.”

In another document known as the “Minutes of the Führer’s Conference

with the Commander-in-Chief on 23 November 1939,” Hitler stressed the

necessity of solving the problem of the struggle for oil, rubber, and

useful minerals; and at that conference, Hitler formulated the main

tasks as follows:

“. . . adapt the living space to the density of the

population. . . .

“This is an eternal problem: to establish the necessary balance

between the number of Germans and their territory, and to secure

the necessary living space. Sharp ingenuity can be of no avail

here. The problem can be solved only by the sword.”

At this conference Hitler with complete frankness disclosed his plans

concerning the drive to the East. Boasting of his successful seizures of

Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland he no longer kept secret his intentions of

pursuing his aggression eastwards.

“I did not resurrect the armed forces”—said Hitler—“for the

purpose of keeping them inactive. The determination to act has

always been alive in me. I always meant to solve this

problem—sooner or later.”

In that the Nazi Government felt itself in no way restrained by the

existence of a non-aggression pact signed between Germany and U.S.S.R.

on 23 August 1939. However, Hitler’s cynical declaration that treaties

need only be respected as long as they serve a purpose is now

universally known.

My American colleague has already quoted in his address the speech made

by the Defendant Jodl at the conference held by the Reich Gauleiter in

Munich in January 1943. In his speech the Defendant Jodl said, “Hitler

informed me, while we were still fighting in the West, of his plans to

fight the U.S.S.R.” In his turn, the Defendant Raeder at his preliminary

examination testified that the idea of a military campaign against the

U.S.S.R. had been born in Hitler’s mind long ago, and it grew ever

stronger with the decrease of the probability of an invasion of England

in June 1940.

According to the Defendant Keitel’s statement, Hitler had decided to

attack the U.S.S.R. at the end of 1940. Already in the spring of 1940 a

plan of assault had been worked out. Conferences on this subject had

been held during the summer. In July 1940 at a military conference in

Reichenhall, the plan of attack on the U.S.S.R. was examined.

This is also confirmed by the statement of the Defendant Jodl, who at

his preliminary examination testified that the plans of attack on the

U.S.S.R. were actually worked out in the months of November-December

1940 and that during that period the first directives were given to the

Army, to the Navy, and to the Air Force. Speaking of these directives,

Jodl refers to a document known as the Case Barbarossa. This document is

signed by Hitler, Jodl, and Keitel. This directive, intended only for

the High Command of the German Army, contains an elaborate and detailed

plan for a sudden attack on the U.S.S.R. I quote:

“The German Armed Forces must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia

in a quick campaign even before the end of the war against

England.

“For this purpose the Army will have to employ all available

units with the reservation that the occupied territories will

have to be safeguarded against any surprises.”

The directive, Case Barbarossa, emphasizes that “great importance

attaches to the fact that the intention of an attack will not be

recognized.”

The directive further states that in case of emergency the order for

attack against Soviet Russia will be given 8 weeks in advance of the

intended beginning of operations, and that “preparations requiring more

time to start are, if this has not already been done, to begin presently

and are to be completed by 15 May 1941.”

And, finally, the same directive contains a detailed strategic plan of

an attack on the U.S.S.R., which plan already contemplated the actual

form of participation on the part of Romania and Finland in this

aggression. In particular, the directive says bluntly:

“Probable Allies and their tasks.

“1. At the flanks of our operations the active participation, in

the war against Soviet Russia, of Romania and Finland may be

counted upon.”

The directive also states that:

“we may count on the possibility that Swedish railroads and

highways may become available for the deployment of the German

Group North not later than the beginning of actual operations.”

Thus, it is incontestable that the Hitlerite Government at this time had

already secured the assent of the Romanian and Finnish Governments for

the participation of these countries, together with Germany, in the

aggression against the U.S.S.R.

This situation is apparent not only from the text of the directive, Case

Barbarossa, but also from the other facts at our disposal. For example,

in a statement by the German General of the Infantry Buschenhagen which

we shall present to the Tribunal, the following appears:

“At the end of December 1940 (approximately on the 20th), I, as

the Chief of Staff of the German Forces in Norway, with the rank

of colonel, was invited to take part in a conference of the

chiefs of staff of the Armies at the OKH (High Command of the

Army) at Zossen (near Berlin), which lasted several days. At

this meeting the Chief of the General Staff, General Halder,

expounded the Barbarossa plan of attack on the Soviet Union.

Present at Zossen at the time of the meeting was the Chief of

the General Staff of the Finnish Army, General Heinrichs, who

was conferring with General Halder. . . .”

Buschenhagen further tells us how in February 1941 he left for Helsinki,

where, together with a representative of the Finnish Army, he worked out

a definite plan for the attack on the U.S.S.R. On 2 or 3 March 1941,

upon his return to Oslo, he compiled and submitted to the OKW a report

on his mission.

“On the basis of these documents”—states Buschenhagen—“the

operational plan ‘Blue Fox’ was drawn up, envisaging an attack

on the Murmansk railroad from the area of Kuusamo, Rovaniemi,

and Petsamo. The plan of operations in the area of

Kirkenes-Petsamo was called ‘Reindeer’; that in the area of

Rovaniemi, ‘Silver Fox.’”

Further, as narrated by Buschenhagen, towards the end of April or the

beginning of May 1941 he flew again to Helsinki where:

“. . . at the Finnish General Staff negotiations took place with

Generals Heinrichs and Airo and Colonel Tapola, in the course of

which we ascertained that the Finnish General Staff was fully

prepared to participate in the coming war against the Soviet

Union.”

In his personal written testimony given to the investigating authorities

of the Soviet Union, which will be presented to the Tribunal, Marshal

Ion Antonescu gives an account of his meetings with Hitler in November

1940, January 1941, and May 1941, at which were discussed the questions

with regard to the preparation of war against the Soviet Union.

During the first conference between Antonescu and Hitler, in which

Ribbentrop and Hitler’s personal interpreter, Schmidt, took part,

problems directly concerning the preparation of the German aggression

against the U.S.S.R. and the Romanian participation therein were

discussed.

In reply to the question put by the Soviet investigating authorities to

Antonescu, whether his first conference with Hitler should be considered

as his initial step towards an understanding with the Germans for the

preparation of aggressive war against the Soviet Union, he stated, “I

reply in the affirmative. Hitler undoubtedly had this in mind when

working out the plans for attacking the Soviet Union.”

At the second meeting between Antonescu and Hitler, which took place in

January 1941, the Defendants Ribbentrop, Keitel, and Jodl were present.

Hitler requested Antonescu to permit the German armies concentrated on

Hungarian territory to pass through Romania in order to enable them to

assist the Italians in the war against Greece.

Antonescu testifies:

“I expressed my apprehension that the movement of German troops

through Romania might serve as a pretext for military action by

the Soviet Union against Romania, thus placing Romania in a very

difficult position, as the Romanian army was not mobilized. To

this Hitler replied that he will give an order for part of the

German troops intended for operations against Greece to remain

in Romania.

“Hitler also emphasized that, according to the information at

his disposal, the Soviet Union had no intention to fight either

against Germany or Romania.

“Satisfied with this statement of Hitler’s, I have agreed to

allow the German troops to pass through Romanian territory.

“General Jodl, who was present at this conference, described to

me the strategic situation of the German Army, emphasizing the

necessity of an attack on Greece through Bulgaria.”

Speaking of the third meeting with Hitler in May 1941, in the city of

Munich, at which the Defendant Ribbentrop was present, Antonescu

declared:

“At this meeting . . . we had definitely agreed upon our joint

assault on the Soviet Union.

“Hitler stated that he had decided to attack the Soviet Union.

‘Having prepared this attack,’ said Hitler, ‘we must launch it

unexpectedly along the entire frontier of the Soviet Union from

the Black Sea to the Baltic. The suddenness of this military

attack,’ continued Hitler, ‘will enable Germany and Romania to

overcome in a very short time one of our most dangerous

opponents.’

“In connection with his war plans, Hitler asked me to place at

his disposal Romanian territory for the concentration of German

troops, and in conjunction with this to take a direct part in

carrying out the attack on the Soviet Union.”

By entering the conspiracy on the side of Germany and preparing to

attack the Soviet Union, Romania in her turn pursued aggressive aims.

Antonescu in the same statements spoke of Hitler’s promises as follows:

“Hitler emphasized that Romania should not remain out of this

war, as in order to get back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina

she had no other way but to fight on the side of Germany. He

added to this that in return for our help in the war Romania

could occupy and administer other Soviet territories up to the

Dnieper.”

Antonescu further testified:

“As Hitler’s proposal to start jointly the war against U.S.S.R.

was in line with my aggressive intentions, I declared my

readiness to participate in the assault on the Soviet Union and

undertook to prepare the required number of Romanian troops and

at the time to increase the deliveries of oil and farm produce

for the needs of Germany.

“After my return to Bucharest from Munich I began energetic

preparations for the coming war.”

These facts are likewise confirmed by the documents from the archives of

Antonescu, which will also be submitted to the Tribunal.

I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the records of a conversation

which took place between Antonescu and Dörnberg, head of the protocol

department of the German Foreign Office, on the 10th of February 1942, a

conversation after meeting at the frontier:

“. . . I declared”—remarks Antonescu—“that Romania entered

into an alliance with the Axis not for the purpose of altering

the treaty of Versailles but in order to fight the Slavs. . . .”

It will be seen from this record that hatred towards the Slav peoples

united Hitler and Antonescu in their preparation and realization of a

war of aggression.

Documents which are to be presented to the Tribunal will show quite

clearly the complicity of Hungary in the conspiracy to violate peace and

in the preparation of an aggressive war against the Soviet Union.

Hungary was assigned the definite role of attacking the rear of the Red

Army through the Carpathian Mountains at the very moment when the German

and the Romanian Armies were to open military operations against the

Soviet Union. Thus the criminal block of aggressors against the

peace-loving nations was set up with fascist Germany in the van.

Reverting to the so-called Case Barbarossa, I wish to dwell on the more

important points of this document. Case Barbarossa consists of three

parts. The first sets forth its general aims; the second indicates

allies of Germany in the war against the Soviet Union. The third part is

devoted to the execution of military operations on land, in the air, and

on sea. This document has the highly pertinent feature of having been

issued, in view of its top-secret contents, in nine copies only, to

comply fully with the demand for absolute secrecy on Germany’s

preparations for the attack on the Soviet Union.

The first part of the plan reads as follows:

“Troops of the Russian Army massed in the western part of Russia

must be destroyed, and the retreat into the vast expanses of

Russian territory of combat units must be prevented. Then, by

rapid pursuit, a line must be reached from which the Russian air

force will not be able to carry out attacks against German

territory.”

The document further states that the ultimate objective of this plan was

to consolidate the line Archangel-Volga, paralyze the last remaining

industrial area in the Urals by air operations, put the Baltic fleet out

of commission, and prevent the possibility of active interference on the

part of the Russian air force. In the third part of the document we find

the directive to seize Leningrad and Kronstadt and to continue offensive

operations with the objective of taking the most important center of

communications and war-production, Moscow. “The seizure of this

city”—according to the plan—“will mean a decisive success both

politically and economically.”

Such was the plan to invade the U.S.S.R.—conceived, worked out, and

prepared long in advance by Hitlerite Germany.

While undertaking strategic and diplomatic measures to prepare for its

treacherous attack against the U.S.S.R., the Hitlerite Government

conceived and planned beforehand to commit war crimes on the territory

of the U.S.S.R. The so-called Case Barbarossa was a strategic plan. But

this plan was supplemented by a number of instructions and orders

designed to embrace all the measures relative to the problems connected

with the invasion of the Soviet Union. Among these measures we must

mention in the very first place the directive issued on 13 March 1941 by

the headquarters of the German High Command.

This directive deals with a series of organizational problems of a

civilian nature and in particular with the problems relative to the

organization of administrative authorities. It is of importance to note

that this instruction placed German troops stationed in East Prussia and

the so-called Government General (that is to say, Poland) under the laws

and regulations destined for the zone of operations at least 4 weeks

prior to the opening of the campaign. By this directive the High Command

of the German Armed Forces was authorized to assume executive power and

to delegate it to the commanding generals of the army groups and armies.

One also cannot overlook in this directive Subparagraph B, which

characterizes the tasks and objectives pursued by the conspirators. In

this subparagraph it states:

“In the theater of army operations, the Reichsführer SS, by

order of the Führer, is given some special tasks for the

preparation of political administration, arising from the

decisive struggle between two opposing political systems. Within

the limits of these tasks the Reichsführer of the SS acts

independently, upon his own responsibility.”

Mankind is now well aware of the meaning of these “special tasks,” the

execution of which was exclusively entrusted to the SS generals and

officers, who made full use of this right to act “independently” and

“upon their own responsibility.” It meant unheard of terror, plundering,

violence, and killing of prisoners of war and peaceful citizens.

Further, this directive, in a very specific way, gave the High Command

also such tasks as the plundering and predatory exploitation of the

areas occupied by the German troops. The directive is signed by the

Defendant Keitel.

In another instruction, issued in June 1941 as a supplement to the Plan

Barbarossa, orders are issued which, in the guise of propaganda

directives, prescribe the ruthless treatment of all those who oppose the

German aggressors. As to actual propaganda, the directives frankly

mention the usual Hitlerite methods of dirty calumny, lies, and

provocation, which were to be used by the so-called “propaganda

companies.”

Finally one cannot overlook another instruction, known under the name of

“Orders Concerning Military Jurisdiction in the Barbarossa Area and

Special Measures To Be Taken by the Troops.” These orders, while

sanctioning arbitrary action on the part of the German authorities and

troops in regard to the civilian population in the territories seized by

the German armed forces, begin with an invitation addressed to the

German troops to “protect” themselves ruthlessly against hostile actions

of the civilian population. In the order prescribing the adoption of

Draconian measures against peaceful populations and partisans, we find

indications as to the brutal punishment to be imposed upon persons

defined in those orders as “suspected elements.”

With the permission of the Tribunal, I will read only two subparagraphs

of these orders—Subparagraphs 4 and 5:

“4. In those places where it is too late to adopt these measures

or where it had not been possible to do so immediately,

suspected elements must be handed over to an officer without

delay; he will decide whether or not they should be shot.

“5. It is absolutely prohibited to hold these suspects for trial

by courts which at a later date will be instituted for the local

population.”

Thus, according to these so-called orders, the fate and life of every

apprehended person depended exclusively on an officer, and it was

prohibited, as the order cynically stressed, “to hold the suspects for

trial.” In other words, it was a definite order to exterminate the

“suspects.” Moreover, in the case of attacks against the German Armed

Forces, the order prescribed “mass measures of repression,” that is to

say, the wholesale extermination of absolutely innocent people.

What heights of cynicism were reached by the German High Command in the

application of sanguinary terror can be seen from the fact that this

order freed the German soldiers, officers, and officials of any

responsibility for the commission of crimes against the peaceful Soviet

population. According to these orders, the German troop commanders were

entitled to confirm only those sentences which, as the said document

states, were in accordance with the “political objectives of the

leaders.” Consequently, long before 22 June 1941 the Hitlerite

Government and the German High Command, whose representatives are now in

the dock, planned and prepared in detail those war crimes which were

subsequently committed in the territory of the U.S.S.R. These plans

inexorably disclose that the defendants premeditated the monstrous

crimes which were organized by them.

On 22 June 1941 the Hitlerite conspirators, having perfidiously violated

the pact of non-aggression between the U.S.S.R. and Germany without any

declaration of war, started an attack against Soviet territory,

initiating thereby an aggressive war against the U.S.S.R. without the

slightest provocation on the part of the Soviet Union. Enormous masses

of German troops, secretly concentrated on the borders beforehand, were

thrown against the U.S.S.R. As planned, Finnish troops took part in the

attack on the U.S.S.R. in the north, and Hungarian and Romanian troops

in the south. In order to create panic and confusion, the German Air

Force immediately began the bombing of peaceful towns, thereby

subjecting them to destruction.

Less than a month after the perpetration of this perfidious act Hitler

called a conference, which was attended by Rosenberg, Göring, Bormann,

Lammers, and Keitel. At this conference Hitler instructed those present

not to disclose to the outside world the true aims of the war begun by

the Hitlerites. Referring to their activities in regard to Norway,

Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, Hitler stressed the necessity of

continuing this line of action, that is, to conceal by all possible

means the real intentions of the conspirators:

“Therefore”—said Hitler—“we shall emphasize again that we were

compelled to occupy a region to establish order and security

there . . . our method of regulation is the natural outcome of

this. Thus it must not be revealed that this may bring about a

final solution. However, despite and notwithstanding this, we

shall take all necessary measures such as mass shootings,

deportation, _et cetera_.”

Any kind of violence against the peaceful population, deportation into

German slavery, shooting, and looting were called “regulation” in the

words of Hitler and his accomplices.

At this conference the conspirators defined the ulterior aims of the

Hitlerite Government in respect of the Soviet Union as follows:

“In the main, the problem amounts to this . . . first, to

conquer it, secondly, to rule it and thirdly, to exploit

it. . . .

“The basic idea: The creation of a military power west of the

Urals must never occur again, even if, in order to prevent it,

we have to fight for a hundred years. All the adherents of the

Führer must know this. The Reich will only be secure if no

foreign military force exists west of the Urals.

“The iron law must be: None but the Germans shall be permitted

to bear arms . . . only a German has the right to carry a

weapon; no Slav, no Czech, no Cossack, no Ukrainian.

“Hitler continued: The Baltic countries must become a province

of the Reich. The Crimea and a considerable area to the north

must likewise become a province of the Reich. These areas must

be as extensive as possible. . . The Volga colony must become a

territory of the Reich, the Baku region a German concession

(military colony).

“The Finns want East Karelia. However, because of its great

nickel production, the Kola peninsula must go to Germany. . . .

“The Finns claim the Leningrad region. Level Leningrad to the

ground, then give it to the Finns.”

The rapacious aims of the war launched by Germany against the U.S.S.R.

are frankly set forth in an article by the director of the fascist

propaganda, the notorious Goebbels, under the title “What For?” Goebbels

wrote:

“This war is not a war for a throne nor an altar; this is a war

for grain and bread, a war for a well-laden breakfast, dinner,

and supper table . . . a war for raw materials, for rubber,

iron, and ore.” (Goebbels, Joseph, _Das eherne Herz_,

Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Munich, 1943, Pages 334-336.)

Göring in his turn in an address at the Harvest Festival in the Berlin

Sports Palace, 5 October 1942, published in the _Völkischer Beobachter_

of 6 October 1942, exclaimed greedily:

“Don’t forget we have taken away from the Russians their best

regions. . . . Eggs, butter, and flour are there in such

quantities as you can hardly imagine. . . . We will have to see

that everything is properly collected and properly processed on

the spot. . . .”

The Defendant Rosenberg worked feverishly at inventing new names for

Soviet cities, such as “Gotenburg” for Simferopol and “Theodorichshafen”

for Sevastopol. This occupation Rosenberg combined with the leadership

of a special staff concerned with the collection from the Caucasus. All

that shows very clearly the real predatory plans and schemes of the

Hitlerite aggressors against the Soviet Union. Above all, those criminal

designs aimed at plundering the Soviet Union and the enslavement and

exploitation of the Soviet people.

At the same time these were all steps on the road to establishing

Hitlerite domination in Europe and in the whole world. It was precisely

for this reason that, in a document submitted in the case, published by

the High Command of the Navy, dealing with the plans for an invasion of

North Africa, Gibraltar, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, the Hitlerite

Government stated that the realization of the above plan would depend

entirely on the results of the war against the Soviet Union.

In its attempt to conceal its imperialistic aims the Hitlerite clique

hysterically shrieked, as usual, about a danger alleged to be

forthcoming from the U.S.S.R. and proclaimed that the predatory war

which it started against the Soviet Union with aggressive purposes was a

“preventive” war.

A pitiful effort!

What “preventive” war can we speak of, when documents prove that long in

advance Germany worked out and prepared a plan for an attack on the

U.S.S.R., formulated the predatory aims of this attack, earmarked the

territories of the Soviet Union which she intended to seize, established

the methods for pillaging of these territories and for the extermination

of their population, mobilized her army in good time, and moved to the

borders of the U.S.S.R. 170 fully equipped divisions only waiting for

the signal to advance?

The fact of aggression committed by fascist Germany against the

U.S.S.R., as well as the original documents of the Hitlerite Government

which now have been made public, definitely show to the whole world and

to history how untrue and laughable was the assertion of the Hitlerite

propaganda about the “preventive” character of the war against the

U.S.S.R.

Much as the fascist wolf might disguise himself in a sheep’s skin, he

cannot hide his teeth!

Having committed the perfidious attack on the U.S.S.R., the Hitlerite

Government calculated that lengthy preparation for this attack, the

concentration of all the armed forces of Germany for this thrust, the

participation of Romanian and Finnish armies, as well as of Italian and

Hungarian units in this operation, and, finally, the advantage of

surprise would assure a rapid defeat of the U.S.S.R.

However, all these calculations of the aggressors were frustrated by the

heroic resistance of the Red Army, which with self-denial defended the

honor and the independence of its country. The German plans of attack

were broken up one after another. I shall not describe all the phases of

the patriotic war of the Soviet People against the German fascist

invaders and the great and courageous struggle of the Red Army with

German, Romanian, Finnish, and other armies that invaded the soil of the

Soviet. The whole world watched this struggle with admiration, and it

will never be forgotten by history.

The Soviet people, in battles the scale and ferocity of which were

unmatched in history, steadfastly defended and saved the freedom and

independence of their country and, together with the Allied armies,

liberated the freedom-loving nations throughout the whole world from the

terrible menace of Nazi enslavement.

Having prepared and carried out the perfidious assault against the

freedom-loving nations, fascist Germany turned the war into a system of

militarized banditry. The murder of war prisoners, extermination of

civilian populations, plunder of occupied territories, and other war

crimes were committed as part of a totalitarian lightning war program

projected by the fascists. In particular the terrorism practiced by the

fascists on the temporarily occupied Soviet territories reached fabulous

proportions and was carried out with an outspoken cruelty.

“We shall”—said Hitler to Rauschning—“have to develop a

technique of systematic depopulation. If you ask me what I mean

by ‘depopulation,’ I mean removal of entire racial units. And

that is what I intend to carry out—that, roughly, is my task.

Nature is cruel; therefore we, too, may be cruel. If I can send

the flower of the German nation into the hell of war without the

smallest pity for the spilling of precious German blood, then

surely I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race

that breeds like vermin!” (Rauschning, Hermann, _The Voice of

Destruction_, New York, 1940, Pages 137, 138.)

The Soviet Prosecution has at its disposal numerous documents, collected

by the Extraordinary State Commission for the Soviet Union for the

prosecution and investigation of crimes committed by the German fascist

aggressors and their accomplices, which constitute irrefutable evidence

of countless crimes perpetrated by German authorities.

We have at our disposal a document, known as the “Appendix Number 2 to

the Operational Order Number 8 of the Chief of the Sipo and SD,” dated

Berlin, 17 June 1941, and signed by Heydrich, who at that time held the

office of Himmler’s deputy. This document was worked out in

collaboration with the High Command of the German Armed Forces. The

appendices to Order Number 8, as well as Orders Number 9 and 14 and the

appendices thereto, make it evident that the systematic extermination of

Soviet people in fascist concentration camps in the territories of

U.S.S.R. and other countries occupied by the fascist aggressors was

carried out under the form of “filtration,” “cleansing measures,”

“purges,” “extraordinary measures,” “special treatment,” “liquidation,”

“execution,” and so on.

The perpetration of these crimes was entrusted to the Sonderkommandos

especially formed for this purpose by agreement between the Chief of

Police and the SD and the High Command of the German Armed Forces. The

Appendix Number 1 to Order Number 14 shows that these Sonderkommandos

acted independently “on the basis of their special powers and in

accordance with general directives given to them within the scope of

camp regulations,” maintaining close contact with the camp commanders

and counterintelligence officers.

It is to be noted that during the German offensive aimed at Moscow the

fascists created a special Sonderkommando Moscow, which was supposed to

carry out the mass killings of the inhabitants of Moscow.

Hitler’s Government and the German Military Command were afraid that

these monstrous Orders Number 8 and Number 14 might fall into the hands

of the Red Army and the Soviet Government, and they took all possible

measures to keep these orders completely secret. In Order Number 14,

Heydrich declared:

“I especially emphasize that Operational Orders Number 8 and

Number 14, as well as the regulations pertaining thereto, must

be immediately destroyed in case of imminent danger. Their

destruction is to be reported to me.”

Besides the above-mentioned orders containing the program and plan for

the fascist annihilation of the Soviet population, numerous orders and

regulations were issued to the civil administration, as well as to the

German military authorities, prescribing mass extermination and

far-reaching application of the death penalty against the Soviet people.

Keitel’s order of 12 December 1941 reads as follows:

“In the Führer’s opinion the punishment by imprisonment or even

by hard labor for life would be considered a sign of weakness.

Effective and lasting determent can be realized only by capital

punishment or measures which would leave the population in

complete ignorance of the criminal’s fate. This latter aim is

reached through the deportation of criminals into Germany. The

attached instructions for the prosecution of criminals are in

accordance with this opinion of the Führer’s. It is approved by

him.”—Signed—“Keitel.”

Among the means employed by the Hitlerites for the extermination of

Soviet citizens were also intentional infection with spotted typhus and

murdering by poison gas in gas vans which were called the “murderess” in

Russian, _et alia_.

Upon investigations by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet

Union, it was found that at the front, behind their main line of

defense, the Hitlerites had systematically constructed special

concentration camps where they kept tens of thousands of children, women

who were unfit for work, and old men. The approaches to these camps were

mined. No buildings or shelters of any kind existed within the areas of

the camps, not even any barracks, and the internees had to camp on the

bare ground. The internees were punished with death for the slightest

attempt to infringe upon the established ruthless camp regulations. Many

thousands of typhus patients were found in these camps. The population

forcibly brought there from the surrounding villages was systematically

infected there with this disease. The document which will be presented

by the Soviet Prosecution describes in detail these heinous crimes

perpetrated by the Germano-fascist occupants.

The Prosecution possesses a document signed by Untersturmführer Becker,

dated 16 May 1942. This document is a report to his superiors concerning

the use of gas vans. This is what one reads in this monstrous document:

“The place of execution is located at about 10 to 15 kilometers

off a thoroughfare and is difficult to reach because of its

location. In wet or damp weather it is entirely inaccessible.

Whether the people to be executed are led or brought in vehicles

to this spot, they immediately realize what awaits them and

become restless; this should be avoided by loading them into

trucks at an assembly point, and driving them to the place of

execution.

“I gave orders for the trucks of group D to be camouflaged as

trailers and that a window be inserted on each side of the

smaller vehicles, and in the larger trucks, two windows, all of

the country peasant cottage type. However, these machines became

so well known that not only the officials but even the

population called them the “death vans” as soon as they saw

them. In my opinion it is impossible to camouflage and keep them

secret for any length of time. I also gave orders that during

asphyxiation by gas the operating personnel should keep away

from the machine so that their health would not be impaired by

escaping gas. In this connection I would like to call attention

to the following: In certain units men are ordered to unload the

machines after gassing. I have drawn the attention of the

commanders of the corresponding Sonderkommandos to the immense

physical and moral injury this kind of work could cause the men,

if not immediately, then later. The men complained of headaches

after every unloading. Nevertheless they do not want to change

the procedure, for they are afraid that prisoners entrusted with

the work may use this favorable moment to escape. To protect the

men from this injury, I would ask that appropriate orders be

issued.

“The procedure of poisoning by gas is not always carried out in

a correct manner. So as to end the business as quickly as

possible, the drivers always open the throttle wide. As a

consequence of this measure the condemned die of asphyxiation

rather than falling asleep as had been originally intended. As a

result of my orders death follows more rapidly, if the lever is

set correctly, and in addition, the condemned people drop off

peacefully to sleep. Distorted faces and defecations, two

symptoms which formerly had been noticed, were no longer

observed.

“Today I will proceed to Group B, whence I shall send a further

report.

“Dr. Becker, Untersturmführer.”

The names have already been mentioned here of the camps of Maidanek and

Auschwitz with their gas chambers, in which over 5,500,000 completely

innocent people, citizens of Poland, Czechoslovakia, U.S.S.R., U.S.A.,

Great Britain, France, and other democratic countries were killed. I

must name the concentration camps of Smolensk, Stavropol, Kharkov, Kiev,

Lvov, Poltava, Novgorod, Orel, Rovno, Dniepropetrovsk, Odessa,

Kamenetz-Podolsk, Gomel, Kerch, of the Stalingrad region, of Kaunas,

Riga, Mariampol (Lithuanian) of Kloga (Estonian) and many others, in

which hundreds of thousands of Soviet nationals belonging to the

civilian population, as well as soldiers and officers of the Red Army,

were tortured to death by the Hitlerites.

The Germans also carried out mass shootings of Soviet citizens in the

Lisenitz forest, which is on the outskirts of Lvov in the direction of

Tarnopol. It was to this forest that the Germans daily drove, or brought

in motor vehicles, large parties of Soviet prisoners of war from the

Citadel camp, internees from the Yanov camp and from the Lvov prison, as

well as peaceful Soviet citizens who had been seized on the squares and

streets of Lvov in the course of numerous roundups. Investigations made

by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union established

the fact that the Germans shot over 200,000 people in the Lisenitz

forest.

These mass murders, this regime of tyranny and terror, were fully

approved by the Defendant Rosenberg who declared in his speech at the

meeting of the German Labor Front in November 1942:

“Apparently, if we are to subjugate all these peoples”—that is,

peoples inhabiting the territory of the U.S.S.R.—“then

arbitrary rule and tyranny will be an extremely suitable form of

government.”

Later, when the Red Army began to clear out the Germano-fascist hordes

from the Soviet Union territory they had temporarily occupied and when

the Soviet authorities began to discover the abominable crimes

perpetrated by the fascist monsters and to find numerous graves of

Soviet citizens, soldiers, and officers tortured to death by the

fascists, the German Command took urgent measures to conceal and destroy

all traces of their crimes. For this purpose, the German Command

organized everywhere exhumations of corpses from their graves and their

cremation. A special order of an Obersturmführer, dated “Rovno, 3 August

1943-IUAI No. 35/43c,” addressed to the Regional Commander of

Gendarmerie in Kamen-Kashirsk, ordered him immediately to supply

information concerning location and number of common graves of persons

to whom special repressive measures had been applied in the district.

Among the documents discovered in the Gestapo building of the Rovno

district has been found a report concerning the execution of the

above-mentioned order, with the enumeration of about 200 localities,

where such graves were registered. One can see from this list that the

Germano-fascist henchmen primarily chose inaccessible and isolated spots

for the interment of their victims. At the end of the list we read, “The

list includes all the graves, including those of the commandos who

worked here previously.”

I will now quote an extract of the appeal to the public opinion of the

world from the representatives of several thousand former internees at

Auschwitz:

“The gassing of unbelievable numbers of people took place upon

the arrival of transports from various countries: France,

Belgium, Holland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,

Germany, Poland, the U.S.S.R., Norway, and others. The new

arrivals had to pass before an SS doctor or else before the SS

commandant of the camp. The latter pointed his finger to the

right or left. The left meant death by gas. Out of a transport

of 1,500, an average of 1,200 to 1,300 were immediately to be

gassed. Rarely the quota of people sent into the camp was a

little higher. It often occurred that the SS doctors Mengele and

Thilo performed this selection while whistling a lively tune.

The people destined to be gassed were obliged to strip in front

of the gas chambers, after which they were driven with whips

into the gas chambers. Then the door of the underground

gas-chamber was closed, and the people were gassed. Death

occurred approximately 4 minutes later. After 8 minutes the gas

chamber was opened, and workmen belonging to a special commando,

the so-called Sonderkommando, transported the bodies to the

cremation ovens which burned day and night.

“There was a shortage of ovens at the time of the arrival of

transports from Hungary; consequently enormous ditches were dug

for the purpose of cremating the bodies. Fires made of wood

soaked in gasoline were laid in these ditches and the bodies

were thrown into them. However, the SS men frequently hurled

live children and adults into those ditches, where these unhappy

victims died a terrible death. To save gasoline, the fats and

oils necessary for cremations were partly derived from the

bodies of gassed people. Fats and oils for technical purposes

and for the manufacture of soap were also obtained from the

corpses.”

The appeal ends with the following words:

“Together with 10,000 rescued inmates of all nationalities, we

demand that the crimes and the inconceivable atrocities of the

Hitlerites should not remain unpunished.”

This just demand is supported by the entire civilized world and by all

freedom-loving people. The organized mass annihilation of prisoners of

war constitutes one of the vilest crimes of the Hitlerite conspirators.

Numerous facts of murders, tortures, and maltreatment to which prisoners

of war were subjected have been definitely established. They were

tortured with red-hot irons, their eyes were gouged out, their

extremities severed, _et cetera_. The systematic atrocities and

short-shrift justice against captured officers and men of the Red Army

were not chance episodes or the results of criminal activities of

individual officers of the German Army and of German officials. The

Hitlerite Government and the High Command of the German Army ruthlessly

exterminated prisoners of war. Numerous documents, orders, and decrees

of the fascist Government and orders of the German Supreme Command

testify to this fact.

As early as March 1941—as the German Lieutenant General Österreich

testified during his interrogation—a secret conference took place at

the headquarters of the High Command in Berlin, where measures were

planned for the organization of camps for Russian prisoners of war and

rules laid down for their treatment. According to Österreich’s evidence

these rules and measures for Soviet prisoners of war were essentially a

plan for their extermination.

Many Soviet prisoners of war were shot or hanged while others perished

from hunger and infectious diseases, from cold, and from torture

systematically employed by the Germans according to a plan which was

developed beforehand and had as its object the mass extermination of

Soviet persons.

In Appendix 3 to Order Number 8 for the Chief of the Security Police and

SD, dated 17 July 1941, a list is given of prisoner-of-war camps set up

in the area of the 1st Military District and of the so-called Government

General. In the 1st Military District camps were set up in particular in

Prokuls, Heidekrug, Schierwind, Schützenrode (Ebenrode) in Prostken,

Suwalki, Fischbor-Gersen and Ostrolenko. In the so-called Government

General, camps were set up at Ostrov-Mesovetsky, Sedlce, Byelopedlasko,

Kholm, Jaroslav, _et cetera_. In the appendix to Operational Order

Number 9, issued in development of Order Number 8 of 17 July 1942, lists

are given of the camps for Soviet prisoners of war situated in the

territory of military districts II, IV, VI, VIII, X, XI, and XIII, at

Hammerstein, Schneidemühl, and many other places.

THE PRESIDENT: Would this be a convenient time to break off?

[_The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MARSHAL (Colonel Charles W. Mays): May it please the Court, I desire to

announce that the Defendants Kaltenbrunner and Hess will be absent until

further notice on account of illness.

THE PRESIDENT: Would it be convenient to you and the Soviet Delegation

if the Tribunal sat in open session until half past 11 tomorrow morning,

and then after that we would adjourn for a closed session for

administrative business? Would that be convenient to the Soviet

Delegation?

GEN. RUDENKO: We, that is the Soviet Delegation, have no objection.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well, then, that is what we will do. The Tribunal

will sit tomorrow from 10 until half past 11 in open session and will

then adjourn.

GEN. RUDENKO: In these prisoner-of-war camps, as well as in camps for

the civilian population, extermination and torture were practiced,

referred to by the Germans as “filtering,” “execution,” and “special

treatment.” The “Grosslazarett” set up by the Germans in the town of

Slavuta has left grim memories. The whole world is familiar with the

atrocities perpetrated by the Germans against Soviet prisoners of war

and those of other democratic states at Auschwitz, Maidanek, and many

other camps.

The directives of the German Security Police and of the SD—worked out

in collaboration with the Staff of the Supreme Command of the Armed

Forces, whose chief was the Defendant Keitel—were applied here.

Operational Order Number 8 stated:

“Executions must not take place in the camp or in the immediate

vicinity of the camp. If the camps in the Government General are

situated in the immediate vicinity of the frontier, the

prisoners intended for special treatment should, if possible, be

transported to former Soviet districts. Should executions be

necessary owing to violations of camp discipline, the chief of

the operational unit should in this case approach the camp

commander.

“The activities of the special task forces sanctioned by the

army commanders of the rear areas (district commandants dealing

with affairs connected with prisoners of war) must be conducted

in such a way as to carry out filtering with as little notice as

possible, while the liquidation must be carried out without

delay and at such a distance from the transit camps themselves,

and from populated places, as to remain unknown to the rest of

the prisoners of war and to the population.”

The following “form” for the carrying out of executions is recommended

in Appendix 1 to Operational Order Number 14 of the Chief of the

Security Police and SD, dated “Berlin, the 29th of October, 1941, No. 21

B/41 GRS-IV A.I.Z.”:

“Chiefs of operational groups decide questions about execution

on their own responsibility and give appropriate instructions to

the special task forces. In order to carry out the measures laid

down in the directives issued, the Kommandos are to demand from

the commandants of the camp the handing over to them of the

prisoners. The High Command of the Army has issued instructions

to the commandants for meeting such demands.

“Executions must take place unnoticed, in convenient places,

and, in any event, not in the camp itself nor in its immediate

vicinity. It is necessary to take care that the bodies are

buried immediately and properly.”

The report of the operational Kommando (Obersturmbannführer Lipper to

Brigadeführer, Dr. Thomas) in Vinnitza, dated December 1941, speaks of

the way in which all the above-mentioned instructions were carried out.

It is pointed out in this report that, after the so-called “filtering”

of the camp, only 25 persons who could be classed as “suspects” remained

in the camp at Vinnitza.

“This limited number”—the report states—“is explained by the

fact that the local organizations, in conjunction with the

commandants or with the appropriate counterintelligence

officers, daily undertook the necessary measures, in accordance

with the rules of the Security Police, against the undesirable

elements in the permanent prisoner-of-war camps.”

Thus, apart from the mass executions conducted by Sonderkommandos

specially created for this purpose, the systematic extermination of

Soviet persons was widely practiced by commandants and their

subordinates in camps for Soviet prisoners of war.

Among the documents of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet

Union for the investigation of crimes committed by Germans in the

temporarily seized territories of the U.S.S.R. there are several notes

of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. M. Molotov, on the

subject of the extermination of prisoners of war and of their cruel

treatment, and in these notes numerous instances are given of these

monstrous crimes of the Hitlerite Government and of the German Supreme

Command.

The note of V. M. Molotov, the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs,

dated 25 November 1941, on the subject of the revolting bestialities of

the German authorities against Soviet prisoners of war, addressed to all

ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary of the countries with which

the U.S.S.R. has diplomatic relations, points out that the German High

Command and German military units subjected the Red Army soldiers to

brutal tortures and killings.

The wild fascist fanatics stabbed and shot on the spot defenseless,

sick, and wounded Red Army soldiers who were in the camps; they raped

hospital nurses and medical aid women, and brutally murdered members of

the medical personnel. A special count of the victims of these

executions was conducted on instructions of the German Government and

the Supreme Command.

Thus, the directive given in Appendix 2 to Heydrich’s Order Number 8,

points out the necessity for keeping an account of the executions

performed, that is, of the extermination of prisoners of war, in the

following form: 1) serial number, 2) surname and first name, 3) date and

place of birth, 4) profession, 5) last place of domicile, 6) grounds for

execution, 7) date and place of execution.

A further specification of the tasks to be carried out by the special

task forces for the extermination of Soviet prisoners of war was given

in Operational Order Number 14, of the Chief of the Security Police and

SD, dated 29 October 1941.

Among brutalities against Soviet prisoners of war must be included

branding with special identification marks, which was laid down by a

special order of the German Supreme Command, dated 20 July 1942. This

order provides for the following methods of branding: “The tightly drawn

skin is to be cut superficially with a heated lancet dipped in india

ink.”

The Hague Convention of 1907, regarding prisoners of war, prescribed not

only humane treatment for prisoners of war, but also respect for their

patriotic feelings and forbids their being used to fight against their

own fatherland.

Article 3 of the Convention, which refers to the laws and customs of

war, forbids the combatants to force enemy subjects to participate in

military operations directed against their own country, even in cases

where these subjects had been in their service before the outbreak of

war. The Hitlerites trod underfoot even this elementary principle of

international law. By beatings and threats of shooting they forced

prisoners to work as drivers of carts, motor vehicles, and transports

carrying ammunition and other equipment to the front, as supply bearers

to the firing line, as auxiliaries in anti-aircraft artillery, _et

cetera_.

In the Leningrad district, in the Yelny region of the Smolensk district,

in the Gomel district of Bielorussia, in the Poltava district, and in

other places, cases were recorded where the German command, under threat

of shooting, drove captured Red Army soldiers forward in front of their

advancing columns during attacks.

The mass extermination of Soviet prisoners of war, established by

special investigations of the Extraordinary State Commission of the

Soviet Union, is also confirmed by the documents of the German police

and of the Supreme Command captured by the Soviet and Allied armies on

German territory. In these documents it is stated that many Soviet

prisoners of war died of hunger, typhus, and other diseases. The camp

commandants forbade the civil population to give food to the prisoners

and doomed them to death by starvation.

In many cases prisoners of war who were unable to keep in line on the

march because of starvation and exhaustion were shot in full view of the

civil population and their bodies left unburied. In many camps no

arrangements of any sort were made for living quarters for the prisoners

of war. They lay in the open in rain and snow. They were not even given

tools to dig themselves pits or burrows in the ground. One could hear

the arguments of the Hitlerites: “The more prisoners who die, the better

for us.”

On the basis of the above exposition, I declare, on behalf of the Soviet

Government and People, that the responsibility for the bloody butchery

perpetrated on Soviet prisoners of war in violation of all the

universally accepted rules and customs of war, rests with the criminal

Hitlerite Government and German Supreme Command, the representatives of

which are now sitting on the defendants’ benches.

Outstanding in the long chain of vile crimes committed by the German

fascist invaders is the forced deportation to Germany of peaceful

citizens, men, women, and children, for slave and forced labor.

Documentary evidence proves the fact the Hitlerite Government and the

German Supreme Command carried out the deportation of Soviet citizens

into German slavery by deceit, threats, and force. Soviet citizens were

sold into slavery by the fascist invaders to concerns and private

individuals in Germany. These slaves were doomed to hunger, brutal

treatment, and, in the end, to an agonizing death.

I shall dwell later on the inhuman and barbarous directives, edicts, and

orders of the Hitlerite Government and the Supreme Command, which were

issued for the purpose of effecting the deportation of Soviet persons to

German slavery and for which the defendants now being prosecuted are

responsible, particularly Göring, Keitel, Rosenberg, Sauckel, and

others. Documents at the disposal of the Soviet Prosecution, captured by

the Red Army from the staffs of the smashed Germano-fascist armies,

demonstrate the defendants to have perpetrated these crimes.

In a report read at a meeting of the German Labor Front in November

1942, Rosenberg presented facts and figures confirming the vast scale of

the deportation of Soviet citizens to slave and serf labor in Germany

which were organized by Sauckel.

On 7 November 1941 a secret conference took place in Berlin, at which

Göring gave directives to his officials concerning the utilization of

Soviet citizens for forced labor. These directives came to our knowledge

from a document which is Secret Circular Number 42006/41 of the Economic

Staff of the German Command in the East, dated 4 December 1941. This is

how these directives run:

“1. Russians must be used chiefly for road and railway

construction, cleaning-up operations, demining and airfield

construction. German construction battalions must be disbanded

(for instance those of the air force). Skilled German workers

must work in war production; they must not dig and break

stones—the Russian is there for that purpose.

“2. It is essential to utilize the Russian primarily for the

following types of work: Mining, road construction, war

production (tanks, guns, aircraft equipment), agriculture,

building, in large workshops (shoemaking) and in special

detachments for urgent unforeseen jobs.

“3. In taking measures to keep order, the decisive

considerations are speed and severity. Only the following types

of punishment, without any intermediate punitive sanctions, will

be imposed: deprivation of food or death by sentence of

court-martial.”

The Defendant Fritz Sauckel was appointed Plenipotentiary General for

the Allocation of Labor by Hitler’s order of 21 March 1942. On 20 April

1942 Sauckel sent to several government and military organs his

top-secret “Program of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of

Labor,” which is no less foul than the circular referred to above. This

is what is said in the “Program”:

“It is extremely necessary fully to utilize the human reserves

available in occupied Soviet territories. If attempts to attract

the necessary labor voluntarily do not succeed, it will be

necessary to resort immediately to recruitment or to the

compulsory signing of individual contracts.

“Besides the prisoners of war we already have, and who are still

located in the occupied territories, there is need mainly for

the recruitment of skilled male and female civilian workers over

15 years of age from the Soviet provinces for utilization in

Germany.

“In order that the burden on the overworked German peasant woman

should be noticeably lightened, the Führer has ordered me to

bring 400,000 to 500,000 selected, healthy, and strong girls to

Germany from the Eastern territories.”

Yet another secret document concerning the utilization of women workers

from the Eastern territories, for domestic labor in Germany, has been

presented to the Tribunal by the Prosecution. This document is composed

of excerpts from the report on a meeting held by Sauckel on 3 September

1942. I quote some of these excerpts:

“1. The Führer has ordered that between 400,000 and 500,000

Ukrainian women aged between 15 and 35 be brought immediately

for domestic labor.

“2. The Führer has expressed categorically his desire that a

large number of these girls . . . be Germanized.

“3. It is the Führer’s will that, in 100 years’ time, 250

million German-speaking people should live in Europe.

“4. . . . to consider these women workers from the Ukraine as

workers from the East, and to put the sign ‘Ost’ “—East—” on

them.

“5. Gauleiter Sauckel added that apart from the introduction of

women workers for domestic labor it was intended to utilize an

additional million workers from the East.

“6. References to the difficulty of bringing stocks of grain to

Germany from other countries did not worry him (Sauckel) at all.

He would find ways and means to utilize Ukrainian grain and

cattle, even if he would have to mobilize all the Jews in Europe

and make of them a living chain of conveyors to get all the

necessary boxes to the Ukraine.”

Foreseeing the inevitability of the failure of existing measures to

recruit Soviet citizens by force for labor in Germany, Sauckel ordered,

in a secret directive of 31 March 1942, Number FA 578028/729:

“The recruitments for which you are responsible must be enforced

by all available means, including the severe application of the

principle of compulsory labor.”

Sauckel and his agents used all possible methods of pressure and terror

to carry out the plans of recruitment. They starved the Soviet citizens

condemned to this recruitment, lured them to the stations under pretense

of distribution of bread, surrounded them with soldiers, loaded them

into trains under the threat of shooting them, and took them to Germany.

But even these coercive methods did not help. The recruitment was not

successful. Then Sauckel and his agents had recourse to a quota system.

This is testified to by an order of a German commandant, captured by the

Red Army forces when the occupied part of the Province of Leningrad was

liberated. It runs as follows:

“To the mayors of village communities. . . . Since a very small

number of people have so far presented themselves for labor in

Germany, every mayor of a village community must, in accord with

the elders of the villages, provide 15 or more persons from each

village community for labor in Germany. Healthy people aged

between 15 and 50 must be provided.”

The chief of the political police and of the Security Service in Kharkov

stated in his report on the situation in the town of Kharkov, covering

the period from 24 July to 9 September 1942:

“The recruitment of labor is worrying the competent agencies,

since an extremely antagonistic attitude to transportation for

work in Germany is observed among the population. At present the

situation is such that everyone tries by every available means

to escape recruitment (malingering, escape into the forests,

bribery of officials, _et cetera_). As for working in Germany

voluntarily, this has been out of the question for a long time

past.”

That citizens deported to German slavery were subjected to the most

brutal treatment is shown by a vast quantity of complaints and

statements collected by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet

Union for ascertaining and investigating the crimes of the

Germano-fascist invaders.

Polish, Czechoslovak, and Yugoslav citizens deported to German slavery

suffered the same fate.

In carrying out their plans of conquest and plunder, the Hitlerites

systematically destroyed towns and villages, destroyed the treasures

created by labors of many generations and plundered the peaceful

population. Together with their accomplices—the criminal Governments of

Finland and Romania—the Hitlerites developed their plans for the

destruction of the largest cities of the Soviet Union. A document,

emanating from the naval war staff, dated 29 September 1941 and entitled

“The Future of the City of Leningrad,” contains the following statement:

“The Führer has decided to wipe the city of Leningrad from the

face of the earth. Finland has also declared clearly that she is

not interested in the further existence of the city in the

immediate vicinity of her new boundary.”

On 5 October 1941 Hitler addressed a letter to Antonescu, the special

object of which was to co-ordinate their plans for seizing and

destroying the city of Odessa.

An order of the German Commander-in-Chief, dated 7 October 1941 and

signed by the Defendant Jodl, prescribed that Leningrad and Moscow

should be wiped from the face of the earth.

“In the case of all other towns, too”—states the order—“the

rule should hold that, prior to their occupation, they should be

reduced to ruins by artillery fire and by air raids. It is

inadmissible that a German soldier’s life should be risked in

order that Russian towns be saved from fire.”

These directives of central German authorities were widely applied by

military commanders of all ranks. Thus an order to the 512th German

Infantry Regiment, signed by Colonel Schittnig, prescribes that the

regions and districts conquered by the Hitlerites be turned into a

desert area. In order that this crime should lead to the most

destructive results, the order gives a detailed plan for the

annihilation of inhabited localities.

“Preparations for the destruction of inhabited localities”—the

order states—“should be made in such a manner that: (a) No

suspicion be aroused among the civilian population, prior to

announcement; (b) it should be possible to start the

destructions at once, by one blow, at an appointed time. . . .

On the day designated, particularly strict watch should be kept

on inhabited localities so as not to allow any civilians to

leave them, especially from the moment the announcement

regarding the destruction is made.”

An order by the commander of the 98th German Infantry Division, dated 24

December 1941, is even entitled, “Program of Destruction.” This order

gives concrete directions regarding the destruction of a number of

inhabited localities and suggests that:

“Available stocks of hay, straw, food supplies, _et cetera_, are

to be burnt. All stoves in homes should be put out of action by

hand grenades so that their further use be made impossible. On

no account is this order to fall into the hands of the enemy.”

Special squads of fire raisers (torch bearers) were formed, which set

fire to the treasures created by the labor of generations.

Your Honors, I wish to draw your attention to the document known as

“Directives for the Control of Economy in the Newly Occupied Eastern

Territories”—the “Green File.” Göring is the author of these

directives. This secret document is dated “Berlin, June 1941.” I will

quote only a few excerpts from it. The first quotation is:

“Pursuant to the Führer’s”—Hitler’s—“orders, it is necessary

to take all measures for the immediate and full exploitation of

the occupied territories for Germany’s benefit. To obtain for

Germany the largest possible amount of food supplies and crude

oil—such is the main economic objective of the campaign. At the

same time German industry must also be supplied with other kinds

of raw materials from the occupied territories. The first task

is to supply the German armies with the utmost speed entirely

from the resources of the occupied territories.”

Second quotation:

“The opinion that the occupied territories should be restored to

order as soon as possible, and their economy re-established, is

quite out of place. . . . The . . . restoration of order must

take place only in those areas from which we can obtain

considerable supplies of agricultural products and crude oil; in

others . . . economic activity must be limited to the

exploitation of such stocks as are discovered.”

Third quotation:

“All raw materials, semi-manufactured, and finished goods must

be withdrawn from the markets by means of orders, requisitions,

and confiscations. Platinum, magnesium, and rubber should be

collected immediately and removed to Germany. Foodstuffs, as

well as articles of domestic and personal use, and clothing

discovered in the combat zone and in the rear areas, are to be

placed, in the first instance, at the disposal of the economic

detachments to satisfy the needs of the armies. . . . What is

rejected by them will be passed on to the next highest war

economy agency.”

As I have already said at the beginning, the main objective of the

German aggression against the Soviet Union was to plunder the Soviet

country and to obtain the economic resources necessary for Hitlerite

Germany, without which she could not carry out her imperialistic plans

of aggression.

Göring’s Green File represented the extensive program, developed

beforehand by the fascist conspirators, for the organized plunder of the

Soviet Union.

This program laid down in advance concrete plans for plunder: The

forcible confiscation of valuables, the organization of slave labor in

our cities and villages, the abolition of wages in industrial

establishments, the uncontrolled issue of completely insecure currency,

_et cetera_. To materialize this program of plunder, the creation of

special machinery was provided with its own economic command, economic

staffs, its own intelligence, inspectorate, army units, detachments for

collecting means of production, detachments for collecting raw

materials, military agronomists, agricultural officers, _et cetera_.

Together with the advancing German armies, there also moved detachments

of the economic departments of the Army, whose task was to determine the

available supplies of grain, cattle, fuel, and other property. These

detachments were subordinated to a special economic inspectorate which

had its seat in the rear areas.

Soon after the attack on the U.S.S.R. Hitler’s decree of 29 June 1941

placed the entire control of the loot of occupied territories in the

hands of the Defendant Göring. By this decree Göring was given the right

to take “all measures necessary for the maximum utilization of all

stocks discovered and of the country’s economic capacity in the

interests of German war economy.” The Defendant Göring directed the

predatory activities of the German military and economic detachments

with the greatest zeal.

At a conference held on 6 August 1942 with the Reich commissioners and

representatives of the military command, Göring demanded that the

plunder of occupied territories be intensified:

“You are sent there”—Göring pointed out—“not to work for the

benefit of the peoples entrusted to you, but in order to pump

out of them all that is possible.”—And further on—“I intend to

plunder and to plunder effectively.”

As established by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet

Union, these directives of Göring were carried out by the Reich

ministers and representatives of German firms, under whose control were

various kinds of economic groups, technical battalions, economic staffs,

and economic inspectorates. Particularly active in the plunder of

property of the Soviet Union were the German firms Friedrich Krupp A.G.;

Hermann Göring; Siemens-Schuckert; the Mining and Metallurgical Company

“Ost”; the Corporation “Nord”; Heinrich Lanz; Landmaschinenbauindustrie;

I. G. Farbenindustrie, and many others.

While they plundered and pillaged state and private property, the

Hitlerite invaders doomed to starvation and death the population of the

districts thus plundered. Field Marshal Reichenau’s order of 10 October

1941, which was distributed as a model among all German units together

with a note saying that Hitler considered it an excellent order,

contained the following incitement to plunder and exterminate the

population, “To supply local inhabitants and prisoners of war with food

is an act of unnecessary humanity.”

The notes on the conference held in Rovno, from 26 to 28 August 1942,

which were discovered in Defendant Rosenberg’s files, state:

“The object of our work is to make the Ukrainians work for

Germany; we are not here to make these people happy. The Ukraine

can give us what is lacking in Germany. This object must be

achieved irrespective of losses.”

Following the directives of the Defendant Göring, the local authorities

mercilessly and completely plundered the population of the occupied

territories. An order discovered at a number of places in the Kursk and

Orel districts by units of the Red Army contains a list of property to

be handed over to the military authorities. Things like scales, sacks,

salt, lamps, saucepans, oilcloth, blinds, and gramophones with records

are mentioned in the order. “All this property,” the order states, “must

be delivered to the commander. Those guilty of infringing this order

will be shot.”

In their fierce hatred of the Soviet people and their culture, the

German invaders destroyed scientific and artistic institutions,

historical and cultural monuments, schools and hospitals, clubs and

theaters.

“No historic or artistic treasures in the East”, Field Marshal Reichenau

decreed in his order, “are of importance.”

The destruction of historical and cultural treasures carried out by the

Hitlerites assumed vast proportions. Thus, in a letter of 29 September

1941 from the Plenipotentiary General for Bielorussia to Rosenberg, it

is stated:

“According to the report of the major of the 707th Division, who

today handed over to me the remaining treasures, the SS men left

the rest of the pictures and works of art to be plundered by the

armed forces; these included extremely valuable pictures and

furniture dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, vases, marble

sculptures, _et cetera_. . . .

“. . . the museum of history was also completely destroyed. From

the geographical section, valuable precious and semi-precious

stones were looted. In the university, scientific instruments to

a total value of hundreds of thousands of marks were senselessly

smashed or stolen.”

In the territory of those districts of the Moscow province which were

temporarily occupied by the fascists, the occupants destroyed and looted

112 libraries, 4 museums, and 54 theaters and cinemas. The Hitlerites

looted and burnt the famous museum at Borodino, whose historical relics

pertaining to the patriotic war of 1812 are particularly dear to the

Russian people. In the small village of Polotnyanny Zavod the occupants

looted and burnt Pushkin’s house, which had been turned into a museum.

The Germans destroyed manuscripts, books and pictures which had belonged

to Leo Tolstoy at Yasnaya Polyana. The German barbarians desecrated the

grave of the great author.

The occupants looted the Bielorussian Academy of Science housing

extremely rare collections of historic documents and books, and

destroyed hundreds of schools, clubs, and theaters in Bielorussia (White

Russia).

From the Pevlovsk Palace in the town of Slutzk the extremely valuable

palace furniture, made by outstanding craftsmen of the 18th century, was

removed to Germany. From the Peterhof palaces the Germans removed all

the remaining sculptured and carved ornaments, carpets, pictures, and

statues. The Great Palace of Peterhof, constructed in the reign of Peter

I, was barbarously burnt after it had been looted. The German vandals

destroyed the State Public Library at Odessa, containing over 2 million

volumes.

At Tchernigov a famous collection of Ukrainian antiquities was looted.

At the Kievo-Petchersk Monastery the Germans seized documents from the

archives of the metropolitans of Kiev and books from the private library

of Peter Mogila, who had collected extremely valuable works on world

literature. They looted the precious collections of the Lvov and Odessa

museums and removed to Germany or partially destroyed the treasures of

the libraries of Vinnitza and Poltava, where extremely rare copies of

medieval literary manuscripts, the first printed editions of the 16th

and the 17th centuries, and ancient missals were kept.