“1. The Führer has entrusted Gauleiter Koch with the utilization
of local resources in the parts of Reichskommissariat Ostland
occupied by troops of Army Group Center. Furthermore, the Führer
has ordered that all German and local administrative authorities
be subordinated to Gauleiter Koch. In securing economic
resources, Gauleiter Koch is to maintain contact with competent
Supreme Reich agencies.
“2. All authorities of the Armed Forces will give Gauleiter Koch
every assistance in their power in executing this order.”
Thus, Your Honors, even at the end of 1944, when under the blows of the
Red Army and its allies Hitlerite Germany was precipitated towards its
final defeat and only a few months before its final military and
political collapse, Hitler, Keitel, Koch, and many others were still
stretching out their already stiffening fingers to grab the property and
wealth of others.
This is the evidence I have to show regarding the looting and marauding
perpetrated by the Hitlerite hordes in the occupied territories of the
Soviet Union. But they plundered not only the living, they also
plundered the dead. My colleague, Colonel Smirnov, has already presented
comprehensive evidence on this question. I do not wish to quote it
again, but I refer to it only to show how closely interlocked and
all-embracing was the circle of their crimes. As Rauschning testifies in
his book, which has already been presented by the Soviet Prosecution to
the Tribunal, Hitler once said:
“I need people with strong fists whose principles will not
prevent them from taking human life if necessary; and if on
occasion they swipe a watch or a jewel, I don’t care a tinker’s
damn.”
And Hitler actually found these men in the persons of the defendants and
their numerous accomplices.
As the documents which I have just presented show, the Defendant Göring,
on account of his position in Hitler’s Government as Reich Marshal and
Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan and as head of the whole criminal
system for the plundering of the occupied territories, was guilty of
these crimes.
For this reason the stenographic record of a secret conference of German
administrative leaders (Reich Commissioners) for the occupied countries,
which took place on 6 August 1942, is of particular interest. Göring
presided over the meeting. This document, like many other original
documents which I had the honor of presenting today to the Tribunal, was
found by Soviet military authorities in September 1945 in one of the
municipal buildings of the town of Jena, in Thuringia.
This extraordinary document contains a long speech by Göring and the
replies of the Hitlerite rulers of the occupied countries. And, Your
Honors, many of the people who are sitting in the dock now took part in
this conference. The contents of this document are such that any comment
on my part is unnecessary. Therefore, if it pleases the Tribunal, I
shall proceed to read from this document.
“Stenographic notes; Thursday, 6 August 1942, 4 p. m., in the
Hermann Göring Hall in the Air Ministry.
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘The Gauleiter stated their views here
yesterday. Although they may have differed in tone and manner,
it was evident that they all feel that the German people have
too little to eat. Gentlemen, the Führer has given me general
powers exceeding any hitherto granted within the Four Year Plan.
“‘At this moment Germany commands the richest granaries that
ever existed in the European area, stretching from the Atlantic
to the Volga and the Caucasus, lands more highly developed and
fruitful than ever before, even if a few of them cannot be
described as granaries. I need only remind you of the fabulous
fertility of the Netherlands, the unique paradise that is
France. Belgium too is extraordinarily fruitful and so is the
province of Posen. Then, above all, the Government General has
to a great extent the rye and wheat granary of Europe, and along
with it the amazingly fertile districts of Lemberg (Lvov) and
Galicia, where the harvest is exceptionally good. Then there
comes Russia, the black earth of the Ukraine on both shores of
the Dnieper, the Don region, with its remarkably fertile
districts which have scarcely been destroyed. Our troops have
now occupied, or are in process of occupying, the excessively
fertile districts between the Don and the Caucasus.’”
Göring then goes on to say:
“‘God knows, you are not sent out there to work for the welfare
of the people in your charge but to squeeze the utmost out of
them, so that the German people may live. That is what I expect
of your exertions. This everlasting concern about foreign
peoples must cease now, once and for all.
“‘I have here before me reports on what you expect to be able to
deliver. It is nothing at all when I consider your territories.
It makes no difference to me if you say that your people are
starving.
“‘One thing I shall certainly do. I will make you deliver the
quantities asked of you; and if you cannot do so, I will set
forces to work that will force you to do so whether you want to
or not.
“‘The wealth of Holland lies close to the Ruhr. It could send a
much greater quantity of vegetables into this stricken area now
than it has done so far. What do I care what the Dutchmen think
of it.
“‘The only people in whom I am interested in the occupied
territories are those who work to provide armaments and food
supplies. They must receive just enough to enable them to
continue working. It is all one to me whether Dutchmen are
Germanic or not. They are only all the greater blockheads if
they are; and more important persons than they have shown in the
past how Germanic numskulls sometimes have to be treated. Even
if you receive abuses from every quarter, you will have acted
rightly, for it is the Reich alone that counts.’”
And now I come to the next excerpt:
“‘I am still discussing the western territories. Belgium has
taken care of herself extraordinarily well. That was very
sensible of Belgium. But there, too, gentlemen, rage incarnate
could seize me. If every plot of ground in Belgium is planted
with vegetables, then they must surely have had vegetable seed.
When Germany wanted to start a big campaign last year for
utilizing uncultivated land, we did not have nearly as much seed
as we needed. Neither Holland nor Belgium nor France have
delivered it, although I myself was able to count 170 sacks of
vegetable seed on a single street in Paris. It is all very well
for the French to plant vegetables for themselves. They are
accustomed to doing this. But, gentlemen, these people are all
our enemies and you will not win over any of them by humane
measures. The people are polite to us now because they have to
be polite. But let the English once force their way in and then
you will see the real face of the Frenchman. The same Frenchman
who dines with you and in turn invites you to dine with him will
at once make it plain to you that the Frenchman is a
German-hater. That is the situation, and we do not want to see
it any other way than it is.
“‘It is a matter of indifference to me how many courses are
served every day at the table of the Belgian king. The king is a
prisoner of war; and if he is not treated as such, I will see to
it that he is taken to some other place where this can be made
clear to him. I am really fed up with the business.
“‘I have forgotten one country because nothing is to be had
there except fish; that is Norway.
“‘With regard to France, I say that it is still not cultivated
to the greatest possible extent. France can be cultivated in a
very different way if the peasants there are forced to work in a
different manner. Secondly, inside France itself the population
is gorging itself to a scandalous degree. . . .
“‘Besides, Heaven help a German car parked outside a French
tavern in Paris! it is reported. But a whole row of French
gasoline-driven vehicles parked there doesn’t bother anyone.
“‘I would say nothing at all, on the contrary, I would not think
much of you if we didn’t have a marvelous restaurant in Paris
where we could get the best food obtainable. But I do not want
the French to be able to saunter into it. Maxim must have the
best food for us.’”
Mr. President, I see one of the German Defense Counsel wishes to take
the floor. I shall, therefore, give him an opportunity to do so.
DR. ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for Defendant Rosenberg): Mr. President, I
have only a short question.
The prosecutor has not told us where this document can be found, in
which document book and what number it has. He mentioned only the page
on which the Court can find that document.
MR. COUNSELLOR SHENIN: This document was presented to the Tribunal as
Document Number USSR-170. The photostatic copy was turned over to
Defense Counsel.
May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It comes from the archives of the Defendant Göring, does
it not? You have so stated.
MR. COUNSELLOR SHENIN: Yes.
“‘For German officers and men three or four first-class
restaurants—excellent, but not for the French.’”