Archive/File: imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-13-spoliation-01
Last-Modified: 1996/06/18

 Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Volume One, Chapter Thirteen

                                                 [Page 1023]
                        Chapter XIII
                GERMANIZATION AND SPOLIATION

The Nazi conspirators had made plans for the Germanization
and spoliation of their conquered territories. Plans to
Germanize meant plans to assimilate conquered territories
politically, culturally, socially, and economically into the
German Reich. Germanization meant the obliteration of the
former national character of the conquered territories and
the extermination of all elements which could not be
reconciled with the Nazi ideology. Plans for spoliation
meant  plans to plunder public and private property and, in
general, to exploit the people and natural resources of
occupied countries.

                          1. POLAND

Poland was, in a sense, the testing ground for the
conspirators' theories of "lebensraum." The four western
provinces of Poland were purportedly incorporated into
Germany by an order of 8 October 1939. This order, which was
signed by Hitler, Lammers, Goering, Frick, and Hess, is set
forth in 1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 2042. These
areas of Poland are frequently referred to in correspondence
between the conspirators as the "incorporated Eastern
territories". The remainder of Poland which was seized by
the Nazi invaders was established as the Government-General
of Poland by an order of Hitler, dated 12 October 1939. By
that same order, Hans Frank was named Governor-General of
the newly-created Government-General, and Seyss-Inquart was
named Deputy Governor General. This order is set forth in
1939 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 2077.

The plans with respect to Poland, which will appear
gradually from the individual documents hereafter discussed,
followed a broad pattern, as follows:

First: The conspirators specifically planned to exploit the
people and material resources of the Government-General of
Poland in order to strengthen the Nazi war machine, to
impoverish the Government-General, and to reduce it to a
vassal state. At a later stage, plans were formulated for
creating islands of German settlements in the more fertile
regions of the Government-General in order to engulf the
native Polish population and accelerate the process of
Germanization.

Second: The incorporated area of Poland, which was deemed to
be a part of the German Reich, was to be ruthlessly
Germanized.

                                                 [Page 1024]
                                                            
To that end, the conspirators planned:

(a) To permit the retention of the productive facilities in
the incorporated area, all of which were to be dedicated to
the Nazi war machine.

(b) They planned to deport to the Government-General many
hundreds of thousands of Jews, members of the Polish
intelligentsia, and other non-compliant elements. The Jews
deported to the Government-General were doomed to speedy
annihilation. Moreover, since the conspirators felt that
members of the Polish intelligentsia could not be Germanized
and might serve as a center of resistance against their "new
order", they too were to be eliminated.

(c) They planned to deport all able-bodied Polish workers to
Germany for work in the Nazi war machine. This was to serve
the two-fold purpose of helping to satisfy the labor
requirements of the Nazi war machine and preventing the
propagation of a new generation of Poles.

(d) They planned to mold all persons in the incorporated are
who were deemed to possess German blood, into German
subjects who would religiously adhere to the principles of
National Socialism. To that end, the conspirators set up an
elaborate racial register. Those who resisted or refused to
cooperate in this program were sent to concentration camps.

(e) They planned to bring thousands of German subjects into
the incorporated area for purposes of settlement.

(f) They planned to confiscate the property -- particularly
the farms -- of the Poles, the Jews, and all dissident
elements. The confiscation of the property of Jews was part
of the conspirators' larger program of extermination of the
Jews. Confiscation likewise served three additional
purposes: (1) it provided land for the new German settlers
and enabled the conspirators to reward their adherents; (2)
dispossessed Polish property owners could be shipped to
Germany for work in the production of implements of war; and
(3) the separation of Polish farmers from their wives
furthered the plan to prevent the growth of a new generation
of Poles.

These plans are developed in the specific documents which
follow.

A. The Program in the Incorporated Area.

(1) Economic Spoliation. A report of an interview with Frank
on 3 October 1939, which was included in a large report
prepared in the OKW by one Captain Varain at the direction
of General

                                                 [Page 1025]
                                                            
Thomas, then Chief of the Military Economic Staff of the
OKW, states:

     "In the first interview which the chief of the Central
     Division and the liaison officer between the Armament
     Department Upper East and the Chief Administrative
     Officer (subsequently called Governor General) had with
     Minister Frank on 3 October 1939 in Posen, Frank
     explained the directive, and the economic and political
     responsibilities which had been conferred upon him by
     the Fuehrer and according to which he intended to
     administer Poland. According to these directives,
     Poland can only be administered by utilizing the
     country through means of ruthless exploitation,
     deportation of all supplies, raw materials, machines,
     factory installations, etc., which are important for
     the German war economy, availability of all workers for
     work within Germany, reduction of the entire Polish
     economy to absolute minimum necessary for bare
     existence of the population, closing of all educational
     institutions, especially technical schools and colleges
     in order to prevent the growth of the new Polish
     intelligentsia. 'Poland shall be treated as a colony;
     the Poles shall be the slaves of the Greater German
     World Empire'.

     "By destroying Polish industry, its subsequent
     reconstruction after the war would become more
     difficult, if not impossible, so that Poland would be
     reduced to its proper position as an agrarian country
     which would have to depend upon Germany for importation
     of industrial products." (EC-344-16 & 17)

The conspirators planned a difference in treatment for the
incorporated area of Poland, and for the Government-General.
A directive issued and signed by Goering on 19 October 1939,
which was found among captured files of the OKW, stated,
inter alia:

     "In the meeting of October 13th, I have given detailed
     instructions for the economical administration of the
     occupied territories. I will repeat them here in short:
     1. The task for the economic treatment of the various
     administrative regions is different depending on
     whether a country is involved which will be
     incorporated politically into the German Reich or
     whether we deal with the Government-General, which, in
     all probability, will not be made a part of Germany.
     
     "In the first mentioned territories the reconstruction
     and expansion of the economy, the safeguarding of all
     their production facilities and supplies must be aimed
     at, as well as
     
                                                 [Page 1026]
                                                            
     a complete incorporation into the Greater German
     economic system at the earliest possible time. On the
     other hand, there must be removed from the territories
     of the Government-General all raw materials, scrap
     materials, machines etc., which are of use for the
     German war economy. Enterprises which are not
     absolutely necessary for the meager maintenance of the
     naked existence of the population must be transferred
     to Germany, unless such transfer would require an
     unreasonably long period of time and would make it more
     practical to exploit these enterprises by giving them
     German orders to be executed at their present
     location." (EC-410)

Once the Government-General had been stripped of its
industrial potential, the conspirators planned to leave the
country desolate. Not even the war damage was to be
repaired. This is the clear import of an order dated 20
November 1939, issued by Hess in his capacity as Deputy
Fuehrer, and found in captured OKW files. Hess stated:

     "I hear from Party members who came from the-Government-
     General that various agencies, as, for instance, the
     Military Economic Staff, the Reich Ministry for Labor,
     etc., intend to reconstruct certain industrial
     enterprises in Warsaw. However, in accordance with a
     decision by Minister Dr. Frank, as approved by the
     Fuehrer, Warsaw shall not be rebuilt nor is it the
     intention of the Fuehrer to rebuild or reconstruct any
     industry in the Government-General." (EC-411)
     
(2) Deportation and Resettlement. The Academy of German Law
in January 1940 prepared a secret report on plans for the
mass migration of Poles and Jews from incorporated areas of
Poland to the Government-General, and for the forcible
deportation of able-bodied Poles to Germany. (The date of
the report does not appear in the English translation, but
it is clearly set forth on the cover Pg. of the original
document, as January 1940.) It should be recalled that the
decree of 11 July 1934 (Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 605,
11 July 1934) provided that the Academy of German Law would
be a public corporation of the Reich under the supervision
of the Reich Ministers of Justice and the Interior, and that
its task would be:
     
     "To promote the reconstruction of German legal life,
     and to realize, in constant close collaboration with
     the competent legislative organizations, the National
     Socialist program in the entire sphere of the law."

                                                 [Page 1027]
                                                            
It should also be stated that Frank was the president of the
Academy of German Law during the period when this secret
report was made (2749-PS). The report stated:

     "For the carrying out of costly and long term measures
     for the increase of agricultural production, the
     Government-General can at the most absorb 1 to 1.5
     million resettlers, as it is already over-populated.
     *** By further absorption of 1.6 million resettlers,
     the 1925 Reich census figure of 133 inhabitants per
     square kilometer would be reached, which practically
     because of already existing rural over-population and
     lack of industry would result in a double over-
     population.
     
     "This figure of 1.6 million will barely suffice to
     transfer from the Reich:
     
     "The Jews from the liberated East (over 600,000), parts
     of the remaining Jews, preferably the younger age
     groups from Germany proper, Austria, Sudetengau and the
     Protectorate (altogether over 1 million). *** " (661-
     PS)

The report then goes on to say that the following groups of
people should be deported:

     "The Polish intelligentsia who have been politically
     active in the past, and potential political leaders;
     the leading economic personalities, comprising owners
     of large estates, industrialists and businessmen, etc.;
     the peasant population, so far as it has to be removed
     in order to carry out by strips of German settlements
     the encirclement of Polish territories in the
     
     "In order to relieve the living space of the Poles in
     the Government-General as well as in the liberated
     East, one should remove cheap labor temporarily by the
     hundreds of thousands, employ them for a few years in
     the old Reich, and thereby hamper their native
     biological propagation. (Their assimilation into the
     old Reich must be prevented.) ***" (661-PS)

Finally, the report stated:

     "Strictest care is to be taken that secret circulars,
     memoranda and official correspondence which contain
     instructions detrimental to the Poles are kept steadily
     under lock and key so that they will not some day fill
     the White Books printed in Paris or the USA." (661-PS)

Frank made the following entry in his diary:

     "The Reichsfuehrer SS (Himmler) wishes that all Jews be
     evacuated from the newly gained Reich territories. Up
     to
     
                                                 [Page 1028]
                                                            
     February approximately 1,000,000 people are to be
     brought in this way into the Government-General. The
     families of good racial extraction present in the
     occupied Polish territory (approximately 4,000,000
     people) should be transferred into the Reich and
     individually housed and thereby be uprooted as a
     people." (2233-G-PS)

The top secret minutes of a meeting held on 12 February 1940
on "questions concerning the East," at which Goering was
chairman and Himmler and Frank were present, stated, among
other things:

     "By way of introduction, the General Field Marshal
     (Goering) explained that the strengthening of the war
     potential of the Reich must be the chief aim of all
     measures to be taken in the East. ***"
                           *******
     "Agriculture:
     
     "The task consists of obtaining the greatest possible
     agriculture production from the new Eastern Gaus
     disregarding questions of ownership. ***"
                           *******
     "Special questions concerning the Government-General:
     
     "The Government-General will have to receive the Jews
     who are ordered to emigrate from Germany, and the New
     Eastern Gaus."
     
     "The following reported on the situation in the Eastern
     territories: "***
     
     "2. Reichsstatthalter Gauleiter Forster: The population
     of the Danzig/West Prussia Gau (newly acquired
     territories) is 1.5 million, of whom 240,00 are
     Germans, 850,000 well-established Poles and 300,000
     immigrant Poles, Jews and asocials (1,800 Jews). 87,000
     persons have been evacuated, 40,000 of these from
     Gotenhafen. From there, also the numerous shirkers, who
     are now looked after by welfare, will have to be
     deported to the Government-General. Therefore, an
     evacuation of 20,000 further persons can be counted on
     for the current year. ***" (EC-305)

Comparable reports were made by other Gauleiters at this
meeting. These figures, it may be noted, were only as of
February 1940.

These forcible deportations did not involve merely ordering
the victims to leave their homes, and to take up new
residences elsewhere. These deportations were accomplished,
according to plan,

                                                 [Page 1029]
                                                            
in a brutal and inhuman manner. This is shown in a speech
delivered by Himmler to officers of the SS on a day
commemorating the presentation of the Nazi flag. The exact
date of the speech does not appear in the document, but its
contents plainly show that it was delivered sometime after
Poland had been overrun. In this speech Himmler said:

     "Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks
     about the deportation of this people here. These
     thoughts came to me today-when watching the very
     difficult work out there performed by the Security
     Police, supported by your men, who help them a great
     deal. Exactly the same thing happened in Poland in
     weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul
     away thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands; where
     we had to have the toughness *** you should hear this
     but also forget it again -- to shoot thousands of
     leading Poles." (1918-PS)

Such Poles from the incorporated area as managed to survive
the journey to the Government-General could look forward at
best to extreme hardship, and exposure to degradation and
brutality. For the Jews who were forcibly deported to the
Government-General there was no hope. Frank, by his own
admissions, had dedicated himself to their complete
annihilation. In his diary Frank wrote:

     "We must annihilate the Jews, wherever we find them,
     and wherever it is possible." (223-D-PS)

(3) Forcible Return of Racial Germans to the Reich. The
conspirators had planned the forcible Germanization of
persons in the incorporated area who were deemed to possess
German blood. Such persons were given the choice of the
concentration camp, or submission to Germanization. Himmler
was the chief executioner of this program. In a secret
decree signed by Hitler, Goering, and Keitel, dated 7
October 1939, Himmler was entrusted with the task of
executing the conspirators' Germanization program. The
decree provided, among other things:

     "The Reichsfuehrer SS (Himmler) has the obligation in
     accordance with my directives:
     
     "1. To bring back for final return into the Reich all
     German nationals, and racial Germans in the foreign
     countries.
     
     "2. To eliminate the harmful influence of such alien
     parts of the population, which represent a danger to
     the Reich, and the German folk community.
     
     "3. The forming of new German settlements by re-
     settling,
     
                                                 [Page 1030]
                                                            
     and in particular by settling of the returning German
     citizens and racial Germans from abroad.
     
     "The Reichsfuehrer SS is authorized to take all
     necessary general and administrative measures for the
     execution of this obligation." (686-PS)

Himmler's conception of his tasks under this decree were
plainly stated in the foreword which he wrote for the
"Deutsche Arbeit" issue of June/July 1942 He wrote:
     
     "It is not our task to Germanize the East in the old
     sense, that is, to teach the people there the German
     language and German law, but to see to it that only
     people of purely German, Germanic blood live in the
     East." (2915-PS)

The 1940 Edition of "Der Menscheneinsatz," a confidential
publication issued by Himmler's Office for the Consolidation
of German Nationhood, contained the following statements:

     "The removal of foreign races from the incorporated
     Eastern Territories is one of the most essential goals
     to be accomplished in the German East. This is the
     chief national political task, which has to be executed
     in the incorporated Eastern Territories by the
     Reichsfuehrer SS, Reich Commissioner for the
     strengthening of the national character of the German
     people."
                           *******
     "*** there are the following two primary reasons, which
     make the regaining of lost German blood an urgent
     necessity.
     
     "1. Prevention of a further increase of the Polish
     intelligentsia, through families of German descent even
     if they are Polonized.
     
     ''2. Increase of the population by racial elements
     desirable for the German nation, and the acquisition of
     ethno-biologically unobjectionable forces for the
     German reconstruction of agriculture and industry."
     (2916-PS)

Further light upon the goals which the conspirators had set
for their Germanization program in conquered Eastern areas,
is contained in a speech delivered by Himmler on 14 October
1943. This speech was published by the National Socialist
Leadership staff of the OKW. The following are excerpts from
this speech:
     
     "I consider that in dealing with members of a foreign
     country, especially some Slav nationality, we must not
     start from German points of view, and we must not endow
     these people with decent German thoughts, and logical
     conclusions of which they are not capable, but we must
     take them as they really are ***."
     
                                                 [Page 1031]
                                                            
     "Obviously in such a mixture of peoples, there will
     always be some racially good types. Therefore, I think
     that it is our duty to take their children with us, to
     remove them from their environment, if necessary by
     robbing, or stealing them. Either we win over any good
     blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place
     in our people, or *** we destroy that blood."
     
     "For us the end of this war will mean an open road to
     the East, the creation of the Germanic Reich in this
     way or that *** the fetching home of 30 million human
     beings of our blood, so that still during our lifetime
     we shall be a people of 120 million Germanic souls.
     That means that we shall be the sole decisive power in
     Europe. That means that we shall then be able to tackle
     the peace, during which we shall be willing for the
     first twenty years to rebuild and spread out our
     villages and towns, and that we shall push the borders
     of our German race 500 kilometers further out to the
     East." (L-70)

(4) The Racial Register. In furtherance of these plans, the
conspirators established a Racial Register in the
incorporated area of Poland. The Racial Register was, in
effect, an elaborate classification of persons deemed to be
of German blood, and contained provisions setting forth some
of the rights, privileges, and duties of the persons in each
classification. Persons were classified into four groups:

(1) Germans who had actively promoted the Nazi cause.

(2) Germans who had been more or less passive in the Nazi
struggle, but had retained their German nationality.

(3) Persons of German extraction who, although previously
connected with the Polish nation, were willing to submit to
Germanization.

(4) Persons of German descent, who had been "politically
absorbed by the Polish nation", and who would be resistant
to Germanization.

The Racial Register was inaugurated under a decree of 12
September 1940, issued by Himmler as Reich Commissioner for
the Consolidation of German Nationhood. The following are
pertinent extracts:

     "The list of 'ethnic Germans' will be divided into four
     parts (limited to inter-office use).
     
     "1. Ethnic Germans who fought actively in the ethnic
     
                                                 [Page 1032]
                                                            
     struggle. Besides the membership of a German
     organization, every other activity in favor of the
     German against a foreign nationality will be considered
     an active manifestation.
     
     "2. Ethnic Germans, who did not actively intervene in
     favor of the German nationality, but who preserved
     their traceable German nationality.
     
     "3. Persons of German descent, who became connected
     with the Polish nation in the course of the years, but
     have on account of their attitude, the prerequisites to
     become full-fledged members of the German national
     community. To this group belong also persons of non-
     German descent who live in a people's mixed marriage
     with an ethnic German ill which the influence of the
     German spouse has prevailed. Persons of Masurian,
     Slonzak, or upper Silesian descent who are to be
     recognized as ethnic Germans, usually belong to this
     group 3.
     
     "4. Persons of German descent, politically absorbed by
     the Polish nation (renegades).
     
     "Persons not included on the list of ethnic Germans are
     Poles, or foreign nationals. Their treatment is
     regulated by BII
     
     "Members of groups 1 and 2 are ethnic Germans who will
     be used for the reconstruction in the East. The
     differentiation between the groups 1 and 2 is important
     for the National Socialist Party; primarily only
     members of group 1 should be accepted in the Party
     according to the instructions of the deputy of the
     Fuehrer.
     
     "Members of groups 3 and 4 have to be educated as full
     Germans, that is, have to be re-Germanized in the
     course of time through an intensive educational
     training in old Germany.
     
     "The establishment of members of group 4 has to be
     based on the doctrine, that German blood must not be
     utilized in the interest of a foreign nation. Against
     those who refuse re-Germanization, Security Police
     measures are to be taken." (2916-PS)

The basic idea of creating a racial register for persons of
German extraction was later incorporated into a decree of 3
March 1941, signed by Himmler, Frick, and Hess. This decree
is set forth in the 1941 Reichsgesetzblatt Part 1, Pg. 118.

The entire apparatus of the SS was thrown behind the
vigorous execution of these decrees. Proof of this fact is
contained in the

                                                 [Page 1033]
                                                            
following extracts from directives issued by Himmler as the
Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German
Nationhood:
     
     "1. Where Racial Germans have not applied for entry in
     the 'German Ethnical List,' you will instruct the
     subordinate agencies to turn over their names to the
     State Police (Superior) Office. Subsequently, you will
     report to me (Himmler) .
     
     "II. The Local State Police (Superior) Office, will
     charge the persons .whose names are turned over to them
     to prove within eight days that they have applied for
     entry in the 'German Ethnical List.'
     
     "If such proof is not submitted, the person in question
     is to be taken into protective custody for transfer
     into a concentration camp." (R-112)

The measures taken against persons in the fourth category,
"Polonized Germans," were particularly harsh. These persons
were resistant to Germanization, and ruthless measures
calculated to break their resistance were prescribed. Where
the individual's past history indicated that he could not be
effectively Germanized, he was thrown into a concentration
camp. In the words of Himmler's decree of 16 February
1942:

     "II. The Re-Germanization of the Polonized Germans
     presupposes their complete separation from Polish
     surroundings. For that reason the persons entered in
     Division 4 of the German Ethnical List are to be dealt
     with in the following manner:
     
     "A. They are to be re-settled in Old Reich territory.
     
     "1. The Superior SS and Police Leaders are charged with
     evacuating and resettling them according to
     instructions which will follow later.
     
     "2. Asocial persons and others who are of inferior
     hereditary quality will not be included in the
     resettlement. Their names will be turned over at once
     by the Higher SS and Police Fuehrer (Inspectors of
     Security Police and Security Service) to the competent
     State Police (Superior) Office. The latter will arrange
     for their transfer into a concentration camp.
     
     "3. Persons with a particularly bad political record
     will not be included in the resettlement action. Their
     names will also be given by the Higher SS and Police
     Fuehrer (Inspectors of Security Police and Security
     Service) to the competent State Police (Superior)
     Office for transfer into a concentration camp. The
     wives and children of such persons
     
                                                 [Page 1034]
                                                            
     are to be resettled in old Reich territory and to be
     included in the Germanization measures. Where the wife
     also has a particularly bad political record, and
     cannot be included in the resettlement action, her
     name, too, is to be turned over to the competent State
     Police (Superior) Office with a view to imprisoning her
     in a concentration camp. In such cases the children are
     to be separated from their parents and to be dealt with
     according to III, paragraph 2 of this decree. Persons
     are to be considered as having a particularly bad
     political record who have offended the German nation to
     a very great degree (e.g., who participated in
     persecutions of Germans, or boycotts of Germans,
     etc.)." (R-112)

 (5) Nazi Colonization. Coincident with the program of
Germanizing persons of German extraction in the incorporated
areas, the conspirators, as previously indicated, undertook
to settle large numbers of Germans of proven Nazi
convictions in that area. This aspect of their program is
clearly shown by an article by SS Obergruppenfuehrer and
General of he Police, Wilhelm Koppe, who was one of
Himmler's trusted agents. The following is an excerpt from
this article:

     "The victory of the German weapons in the East must
     therefore be followed by the victory of the German race
     over the Polish race, if the regained Eastern sphere
     according to the Fuehrer's will -- henceforth shall for
     all time remain an essential constituent part of the
     Greater German Reich. It is therefore of decisive
     importance to penetrate the regained German region with
     German farmers, laborers, civil servants, merchants,
     and artisans so that a living and deep-rooted bastion
     of German people can be formed as a protective wall
     against foreign infiltration, and possibly as a
     starting point for the racial penetration of the
     territories further East." (2915-PS)

B. The Program in the Government-General

(1) Germanization. In the Government-General there were
relatively few persons, at the outset, who qualified as
Germans by the conspirators' standards. Hence, little would
be served by the introduction of a Racial Register,
categorizing persons of German extraction on the model of
the one instituted in the incorporated area; and it is not
known that any such Racial Register was prescribed in the
Government-General. Rather, the plan seems to have been (a)
to make the Government-General a colony of Germany, which
was an objective announced by Frank (EC-344-16

                                                 [Page 1035]
                                                            
& 17), and (b) to create so-called "German island
settlements" in the productive farming areas. These island
settlements were to be created by an influx of German
persons who faithfully adhered to the principles of National
Socialism.

In this connection, secret notes bearing the date line,
"Department of the Interior, Krakow, 30 March 1942," reveal
some of Himmler's ideas on the "planned Germanization" of
the Government-General. The following extracts are
pertinent:

     "The Reichsfuehrer SS (Himmler) developed further
     trains of ideas to the effect that in the first five-
     year plan for re-settlement after the war the new
     German Eastern territories should first be filled;
     afterwards it is intended to provide at this time the
     Crimea and the Baltic countries with a German upper-
     class at least. Into the Government-General perhaps
     further German Island Settlements should be newly
     transplanted from European nations. An exact decision
     in this respect, however, has not been issued. In any
     case, it is wished that at first a heavy colonization
     along the San and the Brig be achieved so that the
     parts of Poland are encircled with alien populations.
     Hitherto, i. has been always proved that this kind of
     encirclement leads most quickly to the desired
     nationalization." (910-PS)

An entry in Frank's Diary (1941, volume II, Pg. 317) bears
on the same point:

     "Thanks to the heroic courage of our soldiers, this
     territory has become German, and the time will come
     when the valley of the Vistula, from its source to its
     mouth at the sea, will be as German as the Valley of
     the Rhine." (2233-H-PS)

(2) Confiscation of Property. The conspirators had made
plans to confiscate the property of Poles, Jews, and
dissident elements. These plans were designed to accomplish
a number of objectives. Insofar as the Jews were concerned,
they were part of the conspirators' over-all program of
extermination. Confiscation was also a means of providing
property for German settlers and of rewarding those who had
rendered faithful service to the Nazi State. This phase of
their program likewise made dispossessed Polish farmers
available for slave labor in Germany, and operated to
further the conspirators' objective of preventing the growth
of t another generation of Poles.

Proof of these matters appears in a number of reports by
Kusche, who appears to have been one of Himmler's chief
deputies in Poland. In one of these reports Kusche pointed
out that it was possible, without difficulty, to confiscate
small farms and that

                                                 [Page 1036]
                                                            
     "The former owners of Polish farms together with their
     families will be transferred to the old Reich by the
     employment agencies for employment as farm workers."
     (1352-PS)

In another secret report by Kusche dated 22 May 1940, and
entitled "Details of the Confiscation in the Bielitz
Country", the following appears:

     "Some days ago the commandant of the concentration camp
     being built at Auschwitz spoke at Staff Leader Muller's
     and requested support for the carrying out of his
     assignments. He said that it was absolutely necessary
     to confiscate the agricultural enterprises within a
     certain area around the concentration camp, since not
     only the fields but also the farm houses of these
     border directly on the concentration camp. A local
     inspection held on the 21st of this month revealed the
     following: there is no room for doubt that agricultural
     enterprises bordering on the concentration camp must be
     confiscated at once. Further than this, the camp
     commandant requests that further plots of farm land be
     placed at his disposal, so that he can keep the
     prisoners busy. This too can be done without further
     delay since enough land can be made available for the
     purpose. The owners of the plots are all Poles."
                           *******
     "I had the following discussion with the head of the
     labor office in Bielitz:
     
     "The lack of agricultural laborers still exists in the
     old Reich. The transfer of the previous owners of the
     confiscated enterprises, together with their entire
     families, to the Reich is possible without any further
     consideration. It is only necessary for the labor
     office to receive the lists of the persons in time, in
     order to enable it to take the necessary steps
     (collection of transportation, distribution over the
     various regions in need of such labor)".
                           *******
     "The confiscation of these Polish enterprises in Alzen
     will also be carried out within the next few days. The
     commandant of the concentration camp will furnish SS
     men and a truck for the execution of the action. Should
     it not yet be possible to take the Poles from Alzen to
     Auschwitz, they should be transferred to the empty
     castle at Zator. The liberated Polish property is to be
     given to the needy racial German farmers for their
     use." (1352-PS)

On 17 September 1940, Goering issued a decree which was
designed to regularize the program of confiscation
(Reichsgesetz-

                                                 [Page 1037]
                                                            
blatt, 1940, Part I, Pg. 1270). Under Section 2 of this
decree, sequestration of movable and immovable property,
stores, and other intangible property interests of Jews and
"persons who have fled or are not merely temporarily absent"
was made mandatory. In addition, sequestration was
authorized under Section 2, sub-section 2, if the property
were required "for the public welfare, particularly in the
interests of Reich defense or the strengthening of
Germanism." By section 9 of the decree, confiscation of
sequestrated property was authorized "if the public welfare,
particularly the defense of the Reich, pr the strengthening
of Germanism, so requires." However, Section 1, sub-section
2, provided that property of German nationals was not
subject to sequestration and confiscation; and section 13
provided that sequestration would be suspended if the owner
of the property asserted that he was a German. The decree,
on its face, clearly indicates a purpose to strip Poles,
Jews, and dissident elements of their property. It was,
moreover, avowedly designed to promote Germanism.

Apparently some question arose at one point as to whether
the decree required that a determination be made in each
case involving the property of a Pole that the property was
required "for the public welfare, particularly in the
interests of Reich defense or the strengthening of
Germanism." The answer supplied by the conspirators was firm
and clear: In an case in which the property of a Pole was
involved, the "strengthening of Germanism" required its
seizure. On 15 April 1941, on paper bearing the letterhead
of the Reich Leader SS, Commissioner for the Consolidation
of German Nationhood, instructions were given "for internal
use on the application of the law concerning property of the
Poles of 17 September 1940." The following is an excerpt:

     "The conditions permitting seizure according to section
     II, sub-section 2, are always present if the property
     belongs to a Pole. For the Polish real estate will be
     needed without exception for the consolidation of the
     German nationhood." (R-92)

In the Government-General, Frank promulgated a decree on 24
January 1940, authorizing sequestration "in connection with
the performance of tasks serving the public interest", and
liquidation of "anti-social or financially unremunerative
concerns." The decree is embodied in the Verordnungsblatt of
the Government-General, No. 6, 27 January 1940, Pg. 23. The
undefined criteria in this decree clearly empowered Nazi
officials in the Government-General to engage in wholesale
seizure of property.

The magnitude of the conspirators' confiscation program in

                                                 [Page 1038]
                                                            
Poland was staggering. The Nazis' own statistics show that
as of 31 May 1943, a total of 693,252 estates, comprising
6,097,525 hectares, had been seized, and 9,508 estates,
comprising 270,446 hectares had been confiscated by the
Estate Offices Danzig-West Prussia, Poznan, Zichenau, and
Silesia (R-92). This, it will be noted, represented the
seizures and confiscations which were effected by only four
offices. Figures are not available at this time for other
offices maintained by the conspirators for these purposes.

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