“‘Furthermore, you should be like bloodhounds on the track of
anything the German people can use; that stuff should be brought
here out of the warehouses like lightning. Whenever I issued a
decree, I stated repeatedly that soldiers are entitled to buy as
much as they want and whatever they want, as much as they can
carry. . . .
“‘Now you will say—Laval’s foreign policy. Herr Laval calms
down Herr Abetz and as far as I am concerned, may go to Maxim’s,
although it is out of bounds. But the French will soon have to
learn. You have no idea of the impudence they have. When our
friends hear that a German is interested they charge fantastic
prices. They charge three times the normal price and if they
hear that the Reich Marshal is in the market, they charge five
times the normal price. I wanted to buy a tapestry. Two million
francs was asked. The woman was told that the buyer wanted to
see the tapestry. She said she did not wish to let it out of her
sight. Well, then she would have to go with it. She was told
that she was going to see the Reich Marshal. When she arrived
the tapestry was priced at 3 million francs. I reported it. Do
you think anything was done? I submitted the case to the French
court and they taught milady that it is inadvisable to profiteer
when dealing with me.
“‘All that interests me is what we can squeeze out of the
territory now under our control with the utmost application and
by straining every nerve; and how much of that can be diverted
to Germany. I don’t give a damn about import and export
statistics of former years.
“‘Now, regarding shipments to the Reich. Last year France
shipped 550,000 tons of grain, and now I demand 1.2 million
tons. Two weeks from now a plan will be submitted for handling
it. There will be no more discussion about it. What happens to
the Frenchmen is of no importance. One million two hundred
thousand tons will be delivered. Fodder—last year 550,000 tons,
now 1 million; meat—last year 135,000 tons, now 350,000;
fats—last year 23,000, this year 60,000.’”
And so on.
The next excerpt from this address concerns the quotas to be fixed for
deliveries from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, and
the Government General. In reply to Göring’s questions and instructions
definite figures were quoted by those attending the meeting. I omit one
page and continue:
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘So much for the West. A special order
will be issued concerning purchasers who buy up all the clothes,
shoes, _et cetera_, that are to be had.
“‘Now comes the East. I have settled this point with the
Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht waives the demands it made on the home
country. How much hay was required?’
“Backe: ‘1.5 million tons. Over 1 million tons straw and 1½
million tons oats. We can’t manage that.(?)’
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘Now, gentlemen, there is only one thing
more regarding Wehrmacht supplies. I want to hear nothing more
about you until further notice. No more requests. The
country—with its sour cream, apples, and white bread—will feed
us abundantly. The Don valley will take care of the rest.’”
Passing to the next quotation—Göring is speaking:
“‘The Wehrmacht in France will, of course, be supplied with food
by France. That is a matter of course, and I did not even
mention it before.
“‘Now about Russia: There is no doubt of her fertility. The
position there is almost incredibly good. . . .’”
The next quotation—Göring is still speaking:
“‘I was glad to hear that the Reich Commissioner in Ostland is
doing just as well, and the people are just as fat and chubby
and puff a little when they work. Nevertheless, I shall see to
it, no matter how carefully certain groups are treated, that
some contribution is made from the inexhaustible fertility of
this area.’”
After this Lohse, Reich Commissioner for Bielorussia, addressed the
meeting:
“‘May I state my opinion in a few words? I should like to give
you more but certain conditions have to be observed. The harvest
is certainly excellent but in more than half of the area of
Bielorussia which is well cultivated, it is scarcely possible to
get in the crops, unless we can put a stop to the disturbances
caused by guerrillas and partisans. I have already been crying
out for help for 4 months.’”
Lohse goes on to describe the activities of the partisans in
Bielorussia. In this connection Göring interrupts him and says:
“‘My dear Lohse, we have known each other for a long time. I
know well enough that you are a great poet.’”
And Lohse answered:
“‘I won’t stand for that; I have never written poetry.’”
In conclusion I quote the last three quotations from Göring’s speech. He
said:
“‘We must have buyers from the Ministry of Economics, Funk, in
the Ukraine and elsewhere. We must send them to Venice to buy
odds and ends, those frightful alabaster things and cheap
jewelry, _et cetera_. I don’t think there is any other place
except Italy where one gets quite such junk.
“‘Now let us see what Russia can deliver. I think, Riecke, we
should be able to get 2 million tons of cereals and fodder out
of the whole of Russia.’
“Riecke: ‘That can be done.’
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘That means that we must get 3 million,
apart from Wehrmacht supplies.’
“Riecke: ‘No, all that is in the front areas goes for the
Wehrmacht only.’
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘Then we bring 2 million.’
“Riecke: ‘No.’
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘A million and a half then.’
“Riecke: ‘Yes.’
“Reich Marshal Göring: ‘All right.’”
The discussion went on in the same way. Göring’s speech ends with the
following sentence:
“‘Gentlemen, I would just like to say one thing more. I have a
very great deal to do and a very great deal of responsibility. I
have no time to read letters and memoranda informing me that you
cannot supply my requirements. I have only time to ascertain
from time to time through short reports from Backe whether the
commitments are being fulfilled. If not, then we shall have to
meet on a different level.’”
As Your Honors have heard, besides Göring this conference was attended
by the Defendants Rosenberg, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Frank, Funk, and
others. As you have heard, Göring finished his speech with a direct
threat against the participants in this conference, by saying that “we
shall have to meet on a different level.” This threat came true. The
matter has, in every sense of the term, been met on a different
level—from the level of the dock.
Thus the whole volume of evidence submitted establishes beyond all
doubt:
1. That simultaneously with their well-laid preparations for the
military invasion of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the
U.S.S.R., the criminal Hitlerite Government and the Supreme Command of
the German Armed Forces worked out a plan for the mass plunder and
spoliation of private, public, and state-owned property in the
territories belonging to these countries.
2. That having worked out this criminal plan, the conspirators carried
out all the preliminary measures necessary for its execution by training
special bodies of officers and officials for the despoliation of the
territories they meant to seize by preparing and issuing special
instructions, reference books, and orders for this purpose, and by
creating a special and very complicated organization of all sorts of
“economic inspectorates,” “detachments,” “groups,” “joint stock
companies,” “plenipotentiaries,” _et cetera_, and by calling in a large
number of specialists in different branches, military experts on
agriculture, agricultural leaders, economic spies, _et cetera_.
3. That in accordance with this long-prepared plan, they subsequently
plundered and despoiled private, public, and State property in the
occupied territories and also robbed the peaceful population of these
territories, having recourse to atrocities, violence, and arbitrary
practices of the most appalling nature.
4. That in order to make the soldiers and the officers of the German
Army “economically interested” in the war, the conspirators not only
failed to prosecute cases of marauding and robbery committed, by German
soldiers and officers, but even encouraged these crimes and incited
their men to commit wholesale looting.
5. That by the commission of all these crimes the conspirators caused
enormous economic damage to the people of the occupied territories,
exposing them to starvation and suffering, and that they profited by
their criminal activities for the personal gain and enrichment of
themselves and their adherents.
6. That having thus planned, prepared, and initiated wars of aggression
against the freedom-loving nations, the conspirators aimed at the
predatory despoliation of these nations and thereafter achieved these
criminal ends by means of equally criminal and predatory methods.
On the strength of the above, the defendants have consciously and
deliberately violated Article 50 of the Hague Convention of 1907, the
laws and customs of war, the general principles of criminal law accepted
by the penal codes of all civilized nations, as well as the national law
of those countries in which these crimes were committed.
For these criminal acts, Your Honors, each and all of which are covered
by Article 6(b) of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal,
all the defendants must be found guilty; all of them without exception
must be held responsible both individually and as members of the
conspiracy.
May it please Your Honors, the documents which I have presented to the
Tribunal and which I have read into the record are silent witnesses to
the crimes organized and committed by the defendants.
But the conscience of the Judges will hear the testimony of these silent
witnesses, who relate truthfully the story of the arbitrary practices
and crimes of the Hitlerite brigands and the boundless sufferings of
their innumerable victims.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn.
[_The Tribunal adjourned until 21 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]
SIXTY-FOURTH DAY
Thursday, 21 February 1946
_Morning Session_
MARSHAL: The Defendant Hess will be absent from today’s session on
account of illness.
GEN. RUDENKO: I would like to inform Your Honor that in accordance with
the plan of the Soviet Prosecution presented to the Tribunal and with
the permission of the Tribunal, we shall start presenting evidence on
that section entitled, “The Destruction and Plunder of Cultural and
Scientific Treasures, Cultural Institutions, Monasteries, Churches, and
Other Religious Institutions, as well as the Destruction of Cities and
Villages.”
The evidence on this section will be presented by State Counsellor of
Justice of the Second Class, Raginsky.
STATE COUNSELLOR OF JUSTICE OF THE SECOND CLASS M. Y. RAGINSKY
(Assistant Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R.): May it please Your Honors,
among the numerous and grievous war crimes committed by the Hitlerite
conspirators—crimes enumerated in detail in Count Three of the
Indictment—crimes against culture occupy a definite place of their own.
These crimes expressed all the abomination and vandalism of German
fascism.
The Hitlerite conspirators considered culture of the mind and of
humanity as an obstacle to the fulfillment of their monstrous designs
against mankind, and they removed this obstacle with their own typical
cruelty. In working out their insane plans for world domination, the
Hitlerite conspirators, side by side with the initiation and prosecution
of predatory wars, prepared a campaign against world culture. They
dreamed of turning Europe back to the days of her domination by the Huns
and Teutons. They tried to set mankind back.
It is unnecessary to quote the numerous pronouncements of the fascist
ringleaders on this subject. I shall permit myself merely to refer to
one pronouncement of Hitler’s quoted on Page 80 of Rauschning’s book,
and already presented to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution. “We,”
said Hitler, “are barbarians and we wish to be barbarians. It is an
honorable calling.”
On behalf of the Soviet Prosecution, I shall present to the Tribunal
evidence of how the defendants put into practice these orders of Hitler,
which found concrete expression in the wrecking of cultural
institutions, the looting and destruction of cultural treasures, and the
suffocation of the national cultural life of the peoples in the
territories temporarily occupied by the German armies, that is, the
territories of the U.S.S.R., Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
I shall present to the Tribunal evidence of the Hitlerites’ preparations
and planning for the looting of cultural treasures; how, long before the
treacherous attack on the U.S.S.R., the so-called Einsatzstab Rosenberg
prepared for pillage, how the predatory activity of the Defendant
Rosenberg was co-ordinated with Göring, Heydrich, and the Supreme
Command, and how this pillage was disguised.
It is now generally known to what monstrous lies and provocations the
Hitlerites resorted in the camouflaging of their crimes. While
annihilating millions of people in the extermination camps they had set
up, they spoke, in their orders, of “filtration” and “cleansing.” While
destroying and plundering cultural treasures, the fascist vandals sought
shelter behind the terms “collection of materials” and the “study of
problems,” and shamelessly referred to themselves as “bearers of
culture.”
The Hitlerite conspirators endeavored to change into serfs, bereft of
all their rights, the peoples of the territories seized; and, for this
purpose, they destroyed the national culture of these peoples.
The destruction of the national culture of the Slav peoples and
particularly of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Bielorussian cultures, the
destruction of national monuments, schools, literature, and the
compulsory Germanization of the population, followed the German
occupation everywhere, in obedience to the same criminal principle which
governed the ensuing pillage, rape, arson, and mass murders.
I omit, Mr. President, the end of Page 3 and Page 4 of my presentation,
and I proceed to the presentation of Section 2, Page 5.
As I have already indicated, the destruction of the national culture of
the peoples in the occupied territories was a fundamental part of the
general plan for world domination established by Hitler’s conspirators.
It is difficult to determine whether destruction or plunder was the
prevalent factor in these plans. But there is no disputing the fact that
both plunder and destruction were aimed at one goal only—extermination;
and this extermination was carried out everywhere, in all the
territories occupied by the Germans, and on an enormous scale.
Article 56 of the 1907 Hague Convention laid down, I quote:
“The property of municipalities, of Church institutions and
establishments dedicated to charity and education, arts and
sciences, even when belonging to the State, shall be considered
as private property. All premeditated seizure of, and
destruction or damage to, institutions of this character, to
historic monuments, works of art and science, is forbidden and
should be made the subject of legal proceedings.”
The Hitlerites consciously and systematically scoffed at the principles
and demands laid down in Article 56. All the conspirators are guilty of
this, and the Defendant Rosenberg in the first place.
Rosenberg had an organization with widespread ramifications for the
plunder of cultural treasures and with numerous staffs and
representatives. The Einsatzstab Rosenberg and Rosenberg’s chief of
staff, Utikal, were the central point of the network co-ordinating the
criminal activities of many predatory organizations inspired and
directed by the Hitlerite Government together with the German Supreme
Command. Rosenberg was officially placed in charge of plundering the
cultural treasures in the occupied territories by a decree of Hitler of
1 March 1942.
I have in mind Document Number 149-PS presented to the Tribunal on 18
December of last year by the United States Prosecution and accepted by
the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-369. With your permission, Mr.
President, I shall quote only two paragraphs of this document. You will
find this document on Page 3 of your document book. I quote:
“His”—Rosenberg’s—“Einsatzstab for the occupied territories
has the right to investigate libraries, archives, and every
other kind of cultural establishment for corresponding
materials, and to confiscate these materials for the realization
of the ideological aims of the National Socialist Party. . . .”