The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06-57.14
Last-Modified: 1997/11/07

                                                  [Page 284]
                                                            
Now, I should like to touch briefly upon certain methods of
foreign policy which the Hitlerites used in dealing with
their vassals. I should like to dwell on the policy pursued
by the Hitlerite conspirators in regard to the question of
Transylvania.

Holding out the question of Transylvania as bait, the
Hitlerite conspirators forced their Hungarian and Roumanian
vassals to work out their own salvation.

I submit, as Exhibit USSR 294, the depositions of Ruskizai-
Ruediger, a former General of the Hungarian Army.

Prior to May, 1941, Ruskizai-Ruediger held important posts
in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. Subsequently, prior to
September, 1942, he commanded an Army Corps, after which he
became Deputy War Minister of Hungary.

Now, I should like to read the deposition of Ruskizai-
Ruediger concerning the Transylvanian question. The passages
which I would like to read into the record are on Page 3 and
on the top of Page 4 of the Russian text, which corresponds
to Pages 102 and 103 of the document book:

     "The second Vienna Arbitration Treaty assumed the form
     of a decision which was of little profit to Hungary.
     The district of Medvesh-Kasharmash, where natural oil
     could be obtained, was reserved for Roumania. In
     Hungarian political and military circles this was
     interpreted as Hitler's desire to secure unto himself
     an alliance with Roumania in the war against Soviet
     Russia. The fact that Hitler considered Roumania a more
     important ally than Hungary was explained on the
     grounds that, in an eventual war with the Soviet Union,
     Germany would undoubtedly need Roumania's Southern
     wing, which extends to the Black Sea.

In an official conversation which took place towards
November, 1940, the Chief of the Command Group of the
Hungarian General Staff, Colonel Laszlo, told me the
following:
     
     "The second Vienna Arbitration has aroused bitter envy
     of Roumania in Hungary, and it is up to us to obtain
     advantages from Hitler."

I would remind you that Antonescu, in his testimony
presented to the Tribunal earlier in the day, said, when
speaking of his negotiations with Hitler:

     "In November, 1941, Hitler told me that the final word
     had not been spoken in the Vienna Arbitration, thereby
     giving me to understand that Roumania could still count
     upon a revision of the decision previously adopted on
     the question of Transylvania."
     
However, soon after, while visiting Budapest, the defendant
Ribbentrop expressed an entirely opposite point of view.

I shall present to the Tribunal three documents which
illustrate the attitude of Hitler, Ribbentrop, and Goering
under these circumstances.

                                                  [Page 285]
                                                            
I submit in evidence Exhibit USSR 235, containing the
minutes of one of the subsequent conversations between
Antonescu and Hitler, which took place on 3rd April, 1942.
This document will be found on Pages 113-116 of the document
book. I shall read some excerpts from this document, on Page
3 of the Russian translation, which corresponds to Page 113
in the document book. I quote:

     "I (Antonescu) reminded him (Hitler) that the Hungarian
     statesmen did not hesitate to declare openly in
     Parliament and in the press (after Ribbentrop's visit
     to Budapest) that should they intervene (that is,
     should they send their troops) Transylvania is to
     remain Hungarian; such rumours circulate, and they
     greatly demoralize the Roumanians. Hitler gave me his
     word of honour that such promises had not been made and
     could not have been made, and that this does not
     correspond to actual facts."

In this way Hitler juggled with promises to encourage his
satellites.

                    (A recess was taken.)

MAJOR-GENERAL ZORYA: The next document, which I am
submitting to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 183, concerns the
Transylvanian question and the defendant Ribbentrop. It is
the record of a conference between Antonescu and von
Doernberg, Chief of Protocol to the German Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, which took place at the frontier on 10th
February, 1942. I am asking the Tribunal to accept this
record as evidence. This document, taken from the personal
archives of Marshal Antonescu, was captured by the advancing
Red Army. I do not consider it necessary to read the entire
document into the record, and I shall merely confine myself
to a few excerpts. Will you please open your document book
on Page 116, where there is a record of the conference
between Antonescu and von Doernberg of 10th February, 1942:

     "Von Doernberg introduced the subject of the Order of
     `Charles I' which Ribbentrop was claiming for himself
     through various German official channels in our
     country, as well as through the Roumanian officials
     accredited to the German Government."
     
I pass to the next page, Page 117 of the document book. I
quote:

     ..."I told Herr von Doernberg that I would not be able
     to grant this award until Herr von Ribbentrop, at the
     very first opportunity, made a public declaration to
     Roumania on the problem of Transylvania, a declaration
     which would bolster up the faith of the Roumanian
     people in their struggle for the cause of justice and
     for their legitimate claims in the Europe of the
     future. I would, therefore, confer him this award on
     condition that it be made public only after he had made
     this declaration.
     
     Herr von Doernberg asked for time to reflect on the
     matter.
     
     Next day, before entering the railway coach, he asked
     me to hand him the decoration, telling me that von
     Ribbentrop wanted it and requesting me not to divulge
     our conversation to Ribbentrop, since he now promised
     to make the award public only upon the fulfillment of
     my conditions. On this condition I gave him the
     decoration, without however, the appropriate
     certificate."
     
I have also at my disposal a record of a conference between
Antonescu and Goering. Will you kindly turn to Page 118 of
the document book. Unfortunately, this document, discovered
together with other documents in Antonescu's personal files
(previously mentioned by me) is undated. We submit this
document as found. I present it as Exhibit USSR 238, and I
am reading one excerpt only.

                                                  [Page 286]
                                                            
     "During the conversation at Karinhall, Marshal Goering
     was very reticent on the problem of Transylvania. On
     the way, by car, he said to the Marshal (that is to
     Antonescu):
     
     'After all, why do you quarrel with Hungary about
     Transylvania, which is actually more German than
     Roumanian or Hungarian.'"
     
We may, presumably, agree that on this occasion Goering had
expressed the viewpoint of the Fascist conspirators on the
problem of Transylvania with a sufficient degree of
truthfulness.

With a view to concluding the clarification of Germany's
mutual relations with her vassal, I should like to emphasize
the subject of crude oil.

In this field, Roumania was one of Germany's principal
suppliers.

Both before and during the war, the Hitlerites pumped oil
out of Roumania by all possible means. Antonescu, by the
way, refers to this in one of his letters which has already
been read into the record.

I shall now submit two documents which sufficiently prove
how important this question was to Germany, and how
significant it was considered by the Hitlerites themselves.


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