Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-31.04
Last-Modified: 1999/09/25

Kruger went on to mention that there was a great deal of
unrest in the territory as a result, and Frank informed him,
that is, Kruger, that each individual case of resettlement
would be discussed in the future exactly as that of Zamosc
had been.

Although the illegality of this dispossession of Poles to
make room for Germans was evident, and although the fact
that the Poles who were not only being dispossessed but sent
off to concentration camps, became increasingly difficult to
handle, the resettlement projects continued in the
Government General.

The third item mentioned by Frank-the encroachments and
confiscations of industry and private property-was again an
early Frank policy. He explained this to his department
heads in December, 1939. The report is from his diary and is
our Document 2233-PS-K and it appears at Page 40 in the
document book. I now offer it in evidence as Exhibit USA
173. The German text appears in the Department Heads
Conference Volume for 1939-40 at the entry for 2nd December,
1939, at Pages 2 and 3. Defendant Frank states:

   "Principally it can be said regarding the administration
   of the Government General: This territory in its
   entirety is booty of the German Reich, and it thus
   cannot be permitted that this territory shall be
   exploited in its individual parts, but that the
   territory in its entirety shall be economically used and
   its entire economic worth redound to the benefit of the
   German people."

Reference is made to Exhibit USA 297, if any further support
of an early policy of ruthless exploitation is deemed
necessary by the Tribunal. In addition, the decree
permitting sequestration in the Government General,
heretofore pointed out to the Tribunal (Verordnungsblatt fur
das General-Gouvernement No. 6, 27th January, 1940, Page
23), which decree was signed by the defendant Frank,
permitted and empowered the Nazi officials to engage in
wholesale seizure of property. This was made the easier by
the undefined criteria of the decree. The looting of the
Government General under this and other decrees has already
been presented to the Tribunal on 14th December, 1945, under
the subject heading "Germanisation and Spoliation of
Occupied Territories," and the Tribunal is respectfully
referred to that portion of the record and, in particular,
to that segment dealing with the Government General.

The defendant Frank mentioned mass arrests and mass
shootings and the application of collective responsibility
as the fourth reason for the apparent deterioration of the
attitude of the entire Polish people. In this, too, he is to
blame, for it was no part of defendant Frank's policy that
reprisal should be commensurate with the gravity of the
offence. He was, on the contrary, an advocate of the most
drastic measures. At a conference of District Political
Leaders at Cracow, on 18th March, 1942, Frank stated his
policy. This extract

                                                  [Page 150]

is from his diary, and is our Document 2233-PS-R, and will
be found at Page 49 in the document book. I offer it in
evidence as Exhibit USA 608. The German text may be found in
the volume for 1942, of the diary, Part 1, Pages 195 and
196. I quote Frank's statement:

   "Incidentally, the struggle for the achievement of our
   aims will be pursued cold-bloodedly. You see how the
   State agencies work. You see that we do not hesitate at
   anything, and put dozens of people against the wall.
   This is necessary because here simple consideration says
   that it cannot be our task at this period, when the best
   German blood is being sacrificed, to show regard for the
   blood of another race. For out of that, one of the
   greatest dangers might arise. One already hears to-day
   in Germany that prisoners of war, for instance, in
   Bavaria or Thuringia, are administering large estates
   entirely independently, while all the men in a village
   fit for service are at the front. If this state of
   affairs continues, then a gradual retrogression of
   Germanism will show itself. One should not underestimate
   this danger. Therefore, everything revealing itself as a
   Polish power of leadership must be destroyed again and
   again with ruthless energy. This does not have to be
   shouted abroad; it will happen silently."

And on 15th January, 1944, defendant Frank assured the
political leaders of the N.S.D.A.P. that reprisals would be
made for German deaths. These remarks are to be found in the
"Frank Diary," in our Document 2233-PS-BB, at Page 60 in the
document book, the second quotation on that page, the
original of which I offer in evidence as Exhibit USA 295.
The German text appears in the loose-leaf volume of the
diary covering the period from 1st January, 1944, to 28th
February, 1944, and appears at Page 13. Frank says quite
simply:

   "I have not been hesitant in declaring that when a
   German is shot, up to 100 Poles shall be shot, too."

The whole tragic history of slave labour and recruitment of
workers has been placed before this Tribunal in great
detail. When the defendant Frank refers to these methods as
his fifth reason for disaffection in Poland, in his report
to Hitler, he once more cites policies which he executed.
Force, violence, and economic duress were all supported by
him as means for recruiting labourers for deportation to
slavery in Germany. This was an announced policy, and I have
already alluded to Exhibit USA 297, which contains
verification of this fact.

While, in the very beginning, recruitment of labourers in
the Government General may have been voluntary, these
methods soon proved inadequate. In the spring of 1940 the
question of utilising force came up, and the matter was
discussed at an official meeting at which the defendant
Seyss-Inquart was also present. I refer to the "Frank Diary"
and our Document 2233-PS-N, which the Tribunal will find at
Page 43 in the document book. I offer the original in
evidence as Exhibit USA 614. The German text appears in the
volume of the diary for 1940, Part 11, at Page 333. I quote
the conference report:

   "The Governor General stated that the fact that all
   means in the shape of proclamations, etc., did not bring
   success, leads to the conclusion that the Poles, out of
   malevolence and guided by the intention of harming
   Germany by not putting themselves at its disposal,
   refuse to enlist for working duty. Therefore, he asks
   Dr. Frauendorfer if there are any other measures not as
   yet employed to win the Poles on a voluntary basis.
   
   Reichshauptamtsleiter Dr. Frauendorfer answered the
   question in the negative.
   
   The Governor General emphasised the fact that he will
   now be asked to take a definite attitude towards this
   question. Therefore, the question will arise whether any
   form of coercive measures should now be employed.
   
                                                  [Page 151]
   
   The question put by the Governor General to S.S.
   Lieutenant-General Kruger: Does he see the possibilities
   of calling Polish workers by coercive means, is answered
   by Kruger in the affirmative."

In May, 1940, at an official conference - and this record is
already before the Tribunal as Exhibit USA 173 - defendant
Frank stated that compulsion in recruitment of labour could
be exercised, that Poles could be snatched from the streets,
and that the best method would be organised raids.

As in the case of persecution of the Jews, the forced labour
programme in the Government General is almost beyond belief.
I refer to the "Frank Diary" and to our Document 2233-PS-W,
which will be found at Page 53 in the document book, the
original of which I offer in evidence as Exhibit USA 607.
This excerpt is a record, if the Court please, of a
discussion between the defendant Sauckel and the defendant
Frank at Cracow on 18th August, 1942, and it appears in the
1942 volume of the diary, Part III, at Pages 918 and 920.
Frank speaks:

   "I am pleased to report to you officially, Party Comrade
   Sauckel, that we have up to now supplied 800,000 workers
   for the Reich."

He continues:

   "Recently you have requested us to supply a further
   140,000. I have pleasure in informing you officially
   that in accordance with our agreement of yesterday, 60
   per cent. of the newly requested workers will be
   supplied to the Reich by the end of October and the
   balance of 40 per cent. by the end of the year."

Frank continues:

   "Beyond the present figure of 140,000 you can, however,
   next year reckon upon a higher number of workers from
   the Government General. For we shall employ the police
   to conscript them."

How this recruitment was carried out - by wild and ruthless
manhunts - is clearly shown in Exhibit USA 178, which is in
evidence before the Tribunal. Starvation, violence and
death, which characterised the entire slave labour programme
of the conspirators, was thus faithfully reflected in the
administration of the defendant Frank.

There were, of course, other grounds for uneasiness in
Occupied Poland, which the defendant Frank did not mention
in his report to Hitler. He does not mention the
concentration camps, perhaps because, as a representative
jurist of National Socialism, the defendant Frank had
himself defended the system in Germany. As Governor General
the defendant Frank must be held responsible for all
concentration camps within the boundaries of the Government
General. These include, among others, the notorious camp at
Maidenek and the one at Lublin. As indicated previously, the
defendant Frank knew and approved that Poles were to be
taken to concentration camps in connection with resettlement
projects. He had certain jurisdiction as well in relation to
the extermination camp Auschwitz, to which Poles from the
Government General were committed by his administration. In
February, 1944, Ambassador Counsellor Dr. Schumberg
suggested a possible amnesty of Poles who had been taken to
Auschwitz for trivial offences and kept there for several
months. This, if the Court please, is reported in the "Frank
Diary" and is contained in our Document 2233-PS-BB, at Page
60 of the document book. It is the third quotation on that
page. I offer the original in evidence as Exhibit USA 295.

THE PRESIDENT: You go too fast. Did you say Page 70?

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL BALDWIN: Page 60, Sir. The German text
appears in the loose-leaf volume covering the period 1st
January, 1944, to 28th February, 1944, at the conference on
8th February, 1944, on Page 7. I quote:

   "The Governor General will take under consideration an
   amnesty, probably for 1st May of this year.
   Nevertheless, one must not lose
   
                                                  [Page 152]
   
   sight of the fact that the German leadership of the
   Government General must not now show any sign of
   weakness."

This, was, and is, the conspirator Hans Frank. The evidence
is by no means exhausted, but it is our belief that
sufficient proof has been given to this Tribunal to
establish his liability under Count I of the Indictment.

As legal adviser of Hitler and the Leadership Corps of the
N.S.D.A.P., defendant Frank promoted the conspirators' rise
to power. In his various juridical capacities, both in the
N.S.D.A.P. and in the German Government, Frank certainly
advocated and promoted the political monopoly of the
N.S.D.A.P., the racial programme of the conspirators, the
terror systems of the concentration camps, and arrests
without warrant. His role, early in the Common Plan, was to
realise "the National Socialist Programme in the realm of
law," and to give the outward form of legality to this
programme of terror, persecution and oppression which had as
its ultimate purpose mobilisation for aggressive war.

As a loyal adherent of Hitler and the N.S.D.A.P., defendant
Frank was appointed Governor General in 1939 of that area of
Poland known as the Government General. Frank had defined
justice as that which benefited the German nation. His five
years' administration of the Government General illustrates
the most extreme extension of that principle.

It has been shown that defendant Frank took the office of
Governor General under a programme that constituted in
itself a criminal plan or conspiracy, as defendant Frank
well knew and approved, to exploit the territory ruthlessly,
for the benefit of Nazi Germany, to conscript its nationals
for labour in Germany, to close its schools and colleges, to
prevent the rise of a Polish intelligentsia, and to
administer the territory as a colonial possession of the
Third Reich, in total disregard of the duties of an
occupying power towards the inhabitants of occupied
territory.

Under defendant Frank's administration, this criminal plan
was consummated, but the execution went even beyond the
plan. Food contributions to Germany increased to the point
where the bare subsistence reserved for the Government
General under the plan was reduced to a level of mass
starvation. The savage programme of exterminating Jews was
relentlessly executed. Resettlement projects were carried
out with reckless disregard of the rights of the local
population, and the terror of the concentration camp
followed in the wake of the Nazi invaders.

This statement of evidence has been compiled in large part
from statements by the defendant Frank himself, from the
admissions found in his diary, official reports, reports of
conferences with his colleagues and subordinates, and his
speeches. It is, therefore, appropriate that a passage from
his diary should be quoted in conclusion. It is our Document
2233-PS-AA. It appears at Page 59 of the document book. I
offer the original in evidence as Exhibit USA 613. The
German text appears in the 1943 volume of Labour Conference
Meetings at the 25th January, 1943, entry on Page 53. In his
address, defendant Frank, prophetically enough, told his
colleagues in the Government General that their task would
grow more difficult. Hitler, he said, could only help them
as a kind of "administrative hedge-hog." They must depend on
themselves. I quote Frank:

  "We are now duty bound to hold together. We must remember
  that we who are gathered together here figure on Mr.
  Roosevelt's list of war criminals. I have the honour of
  being Number One. We have, so to speak, become
  accomplices in the world historic sense."

This concludes the presentation on the defendant Frank.

May it please the Tribunal, Lieutenant-Colonel Griffith-
Jones of the British delegation will now deal with the
individual responsibility of the defendant Streicher.

                                                  [Page 153]

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GRIFFITH-JONES: If the Tribunal please,
it is my duty to present the case against the defendant
Julius Streicher.

Appendix A of the Indictment, that paragraph of the Appendix
relating to Streicher, sets out the positions which he held
and which I shall prove. It then goes on to allege that he
used those positions and his personal influence and his
close connection with the Fuehrer in such a manner that he
promoted the accession to power of the Nazi conspirators and
the consolidation of their control over Germany, as set
forth in Count 1 of the Indictment; that he authorised,
directed and participated in the Crimes against Humanity,
set forth in Count 4 of the Indictment, including
particularly the incitement of the persecution of the Jews,
set forth in Count 1 and Count 4 of the Indictment.

My Lord, the case against this defendant can be, perhaps,
described by the unofficial title that he assumed for
himself as "Jew-baiter Number One." It is the prosecution's
case that for the course of some twenty-five years, this man
educated the whole of the German people in hatred, and that
he incited them to the persecution and to the extermination
of the Jewish race. He was an accessory to murder, perhaps
on a scale never attained before.

With the Tribunal's permission, I propose to prove quite
shortly the position and influence that he held, and then to
refer the Tribunal to several short extracts from his
newspapers and from his speeches, and finally to outline the
part that he played in the particular persecutions against
the Jews that occurred between the years 1933 and 1945.

My Lord, perhaps, before I start on that, I might say that
the document book before the members of the Tribunal is
arranged in the order in which I intend to refer to the
documents. They are paged, and there is an index at the
beginning of the book, and if the Tribunal have got what is
called the Trial Brief, it is in effect a note of the
evidence to which I shall refer, and again in the order in
which I shall refer to it, which may be of some assistance.

My Lord, this defendant was born in 1885. He became a school
teacher in Nuremberg and formed a party of his own, which he
called the German Socialist Party. The chief policy of that
Party, again, was anti-Semitism. In 1922 he handed over his
Party to Hitler, and there is a glowing account of his
generosity which appears in Hitler's "Mein Kampf," which I
do not think it worth occupying  the time of the Tribunal in
reading. It appears as M-3, and is the first document in the
Tribunal's document book. The copy of "Mein Kampf" is
already before the Tribunal as Exhibit GB 128.

The appointments that he held in the Party and State were
few. From 1921 until 1945, he was a member of the Nazi
Party. In 1925 he was appointed Gauleiter of Franconia and
he remained as such until about February of 1940, and from
the time that the Nazi Government came into power in 1933
until 1945 he was a member of the Reichstag. In addition to
that, he held the title of Obergruppenfuehrer in the S.A.
All that information appears in Document 2975-PS, which is
already in evidence as Exhibit USA 9, and is the affidavit
that he made himself.

The propaganda that he carried out throughout those years
was chiefly done through the medium of his newspapers. He
was the editor and publisher of the journal "Der Sturmer"
from 1922 until 1933, and thereafter, the publisher and
owner of the paper.

In 1933 he also founded and thereafter, I think, published -
certainly was responsible for the daily newspaper called the
"Frankische Tageszeitung."

There were, in addition to that, and particularly later,
several others, mostly local journals, which he published
from Nuremberg.

Those are the positions that he held, and now if I may, I
shall quite briefly trace the course of his incitement and
propaganda, more or less in chronological order, by
referring the Tribunal to the short extracts. I would say
this: These extracts are really selected at random. They are
selected with a view to showing the

                                                  [Page 154]

Tribunal the various methods that he employed to incite the
people against the Jewish race, but his newspapers were
crowded with them, week after week, day after day. It is
impossible to pick up any copy without finding the same kind
of stuff in the headlines and in the articles.

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