The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Shofar FTP Archive File: imt/tgmwc//tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-57.12


Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06-57.12
Last-Modified: 1997/10/30

                                                  [Page 279]

MAJOR-GENERAL ZORYA: This morning I had to stop before
reading the testimony of Phantazi, Roumania's former
Minister of War, which I intend to present to the Tribunal
as Exhibit USSR 154. Phantazi describes in detail Roumania's
preparations for war. I would ask you to accept this
testimony as evidence. You will find it on Page 71 of the
document book. I shall now read such extracts of this
document as are of interest to us:

     "Roumania's preparations for war against the Soviet
     Union began in November, 1940, when, in accordance with
     the agreement signed by Marshal Antonescu in Bucharest,
     regarding Roumania's adherence to the `Tripartite
     Pact,' there arrived in Bucharest German Military
     Missions, consisting of groups of German officer-
     instructors; those for the Army were headed by General
     Hansen, those for the Air Force by Major-General
     Speidell.
     
     With the arrival of the German Military Missions in
     Roumania, the Chief of the General Staff of the
     Roumainian Army, General Joanitiu, acting on the orders
     of Marshal Antonescu, issued an order to the Army,
     regarding the admission of German officer-instructors
     into units and groups, for the purpose of reorganizing
     and re-educating the Roumainian Forces in accordance
     with the code of regulations of the German Army.
     
     At the same time, and still acting on Marshal
     Antonescu's orders, all Reserve officers of the
     Roumainian Army were called up for a course of two
     months' retraining and underwent instruction under
     German direction.
     
                                                  [Page 280]
                                                            
     During the period of the retraining of Reserve
     officers, the General Staff of the Roumainian Army
     drafted a plan for calling up into the Army 12 age
     groups due for mobilisation in case of war, the
     training of all these groups to be carried out in
     accordance with the demands of the code of regulations
     of the German Army, to be completed by 1st July, 1941.
     The personnel of the Supreme and Senior Commands of the
     Roumanian Armies underwent similar retraining in their
     respective branches of the service.
     
     In this way, under German leadership and prior to the
     beginning of the war by Germany and Roumania against
     the Soviet Union, the whole of the Roumainian Army and
     Air Force were reorganized and retrained along German
     lines."
     
I shall omit two paragraphs which are of no importance and I
pass to the second paragraph of Page 72 in the document
book. It contains the following depositions of Phantazi.

THE PRESIDENT: General, in view of the evidence which you
have already presented to the Tribunal, the Tribunal is inclined to think
you could omit these details of the preparations made in
Roumania and go on to the place where you deal with the
number of German divisions who deployed on the Roumainian
frontier.

MAJOR-GENERAL ZORYA: But this question is of importance. The
exact passage which deals with it is on Page 74 in the
document book. This paragraph opens with the words "in this
connection..."

     "In this connection, the following units, which were
     already mobilized and ready for action against the
     Soviet Union, were, in February, 1941, on Marshal
     Antonescu's orders directed to the frontiers of North
     Bukovina and Bessarabia: The 4th Alpine Rifle Division,
     the 7th, 8th, and 21st Infantry Divisions, the Infantry
     Division of the Guards, a Cavalry Corps and another
     infantry division whose name I do not recall at
     present. In addition, 3 German divisions, selected from
     the 21 German divisions moving to Greece across
     Roumania, were sent to the U.S.S.R. frontier..."
     
I omit several paragraphs. On Page 73 of your document book
we find the following extract from Phantazi's testimony,
marked in pencil:

     "In accordance with instructions from Marshal Antonescu
     in May, 1941, the following were likewise sent to the
     frontier: the Frontier Division, the 3rd and 1st Alpine
     Rifle Divisions, the 13th Infantry Division and an
     armoured division. At the same time  the Germans
     transferred to the U.S.S.R. frontier 7 German infantry
     divisions.
     
     Thus, prior to the beginning of the Roumainian and
     German attack on the Soviet Union, there were
     concentrated on the frontier between Roumania and the
     U.S.S.R., 12 Roumainian and 10 German divisions,
     totalling up to 600,000 men."
     
So the documents which have just been submitted to the
Tribunal justify the assertion that Roumania's preparations
for aggression against the Soviet Union on the directions
received from the Staff of the Fascist conspirators had
begun long before they found expression on paper in Plan
"Barbarossa."

Having attacked the Soviet Union, Hitler's lackeys expected
gratitude from their masters for services rendered. On 27th
July, 1941, Hitler sent a letter addressed to Antonescu
expressing gratitude to him and to his army.

I submit to the Tribunal this letter from Hitler, addressed
to Antonescu as Exhibit USSR 237. Hitler writes in this
letter (Page 1 of the Russian translation of the letter,
Paragraph 3, Page 74 in the document book presented to the
Tribunal):

                                                  [Page 281]
                                                            
     "Congratulate you wholeheartedly on this great success
     -- for me personally as great a pleasure as it is a
     satisfaction.  To regain Bessarabia will be the most
     natural reward for your efforts and those of your
     gallant armies."
     
The promises of the Fascist masters were not limited to
Bessarabia alone.

I beg for permission to return to the conversation of 12th
February, 1942, between Antonescu and the defendant
Ribbentrop. This conversation is set forth in a document
which I now present as Exhibit USSR 233. I am now referring
to paragraph 3 of the Russian translation of this document
(third paragraph from the top of this page) which you will
find on Page 61 of the document book. It consists of the
following entry made by Antonescu:

     "I reminded Herr von Ribbentrop that, at the banquet
     given by him, he raised his glass to the happiness of a
     Great Roumania, to which I replied that we have entered
     into an alliance with the Axis in order to create a
     Great Roumania."

What, then, was this "Great Roumania" to represent, to which
the defendant Ribbentrop had raised his glass?

This can be seen from the document which I now submit to the
Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 242. This document is one of
Antonescu's letters (a copy of a letter) to Hitler, dated
17th August, 1941. I request you to read this document into
the record, and I consider it necessary to read Paragraphs 2
and 4 from it, which correspond to Page 2 of the Russian
translation in the document book in your possession. The
corresponding text is on Page 78. I quote Paragraph 2.
Antonescu writes:

     "In compliance with the wish of Your Excellency, I take
     upon myself the responsibility for guarding the
     territory between the Rivers Dniester and Dnieper, for
     maintaining order there, and for its security, in which
     connection it will only be necessary to delineate a
     Northern boundary to this territory."
     
Paragraph 4 of this letter:

     "In order to maintain order and to control the economic
     exploitation of the occupied territory, and foreseeing
     the continuation of the war, I consider it absolutely
     necessary that unity of command should be established.
     
     I therefore beg Your Excellency to give precise
     instructions defining my rights and responsibilities
     for the administration and economic exploitation of the
     territory between the Rivers Dniester and Bug, as well
     as for the guarding, the maintenance of order, and the
     security of the whole territory between the Rivers
     Dniester and Dnieper.
     
     I beg you, Your Excellency, to accept assurances of my
     devotion. Marshal Antonescu."
     
Two days after this letter was written Antonescu appointed a
"Governor" of the occupied regions of the Soviet Union, to
which he gave the name of the "Transdniestrian" regions.

I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 295, the testimony
of this "Governor," George Alexianu, who was taken prisoner
by the Red Army, and beg you to accept it as evidence.

Alexianu, giving details of his nomination, testifies as
follows (Page 2, Paragraph 2, of the Russian text, Page 79
in the document book which is in your possession):

     "Antonescu said that, in connection with the successful
     advance of the German Army, Hitler wrote him a personal
     letter in which he offered to annex to Roumania the
     Soviet territories extending from the Dniester to the
     
                                                  [Page 282]
                                                            
     Dnieper which had been captured by the German troops
     and to establish there their own occupation
     authorities."


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