Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06-57.18
Last-Modified: 1997/11/08

                                                            [Page 295]
                                                                      

In concluding the presentation of documents concerning the setting up
of an aggressive bloc against the Soviet Union by the Fascist war
criminals, I consider it necessary to make a few comments of a general
nature as derived from these documents.


The Fascist conspirators began to adopt immediate measures for
securing the participation of Roumania, Finland, and Hungary in the
preparation for the predatory attack on the Soviet Union at least as
early as September, 1940, when a military mission was sent to
Roumania.

The negotiations concerning the military preparations for aggression
against the Soviet Union, in each of these countries, were mainly
concluded during the period September-December, 1940. The negotiations
were conducted by the General Staffs of the German and the satellite
armies. The subject of the negotiations in each case was of a purely
military character, such as the retraining of the troops, the
transportation of military units, the co-ordination of strategic
plans, the deciding on the number of divisions needed to attack the
Soviet Union, etc.

The character of these negotiations testifies to the fact that there
existed between the Fascist Government of Germany and the Governments
of Roumania, Finland, and Hungary, a preliminary agreement with regard
to aggression against the Soviet Union even before the negotiations
began.

And, finally, the documents submitted reveal that to each of these
countries, one way or the other, the Fascist conspirators had promised
some territory belonging to the Soviet Union.

I should like to point out one more fact.

In order to realize fully the consequences of the predatory Fascist
attack on the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, it is not
enough to confine ourselves to Plan "Barbarossa". This is a strategic
plan, a plan for military attack, a plan for initiating aggression.

But close on the heels of the attack followed the so-called
"assimilation" and "organisation" of the occupied territories. The
plans for the "assimilation" and "organisation," which were plans for
the extermination of the civilian population and the plundering of the
occupied territories of the Soviet Union, were also prepared in
advance, in the same way as Case "Barbarossa".

The Soviet prosecution declares that the documents at the disposal of
the Tribunal, and especially such documents as the directive of 13th
March, 1941 (Document 447-PS), signed by the defendant Keitel; the
order for the application of martial law, dated 15th May, 1941
(Document 50-C), also signed by Keitel; the propaganda directive for
Case "Barbarossa" (Document 26-C); and others, testify to the
destruction not only of legal but of all moral standards of behavior
by the hordes of the Fascist usurper in the temporarily occupied
Soviet territories, this destruction having been premeditated and
planned long before the attack on the Soviet Union.

Even before the attack on the Soviet Union, the Hitlerites had decided
upon, and outlined in appropriate paragraphs of these instructions,
directives, and orders, the methods for dealing with the civilian
population, and the measures and means for plundering the land of the
Soviet Union and reducing it to a colon of the Third Reich. And when
war did break out and the whole secret was laid bare, the Fascists did
not hesitate to publish all these plans in their press.

I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 59 an article, published on
20th August, 1942, in "Das Schwarze Korps," )an S.S. paper and organ
of the

                                                            [Page 296]
                                                                      
Reichsfuehrer S.S.) This article, entitled, "Should We Germanize?"
(Page 180 of the document book) states openly:

     "The Reichsfuehrer of the S.S. chose the following theme for one
     of the editions of the newspaper "Deutsche Arbeit," devoted to
     the problems of resettlement in the East:
     
     Our duty in the East is not Germanisation in the former sense of
     the term -- that is, imposing the German language and the German
     laws upon the population -- but to ensure that only people of
     pure German blood should inhabit the East."
     
This negation of Germanisation is not new. However, falling from the
lips of the Reichsfuehrer of the S.S., acting as Minister of State for
the strengthening of the German nation, it becomes an order. Such is
the exact meaning of these words.

The rejection of the idea of Germanising the population of the
occupied territories, and the assertion that "the East should be
inhabited only by people of pure German blood," meant, in practice,
the mass extermination of Soviet citizens, their spoliation and their
deportation to slave labour, the annihilation of centuries Russian
culture, and the destruction of our cities and villages. I shall
confine myself to what I have just said, as the same theme, or rather
themes, have already been elaborated and will b presented to the
Tribunal by my colleagues.

On 22nd June, 1941, after prolonged preparations, the German Fascist
hordes hurled themselves on the Soviet Union. One hundred and seventy
divisions, concentrated on the borders of the Soviet Union from the
Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, started the invasion.

The military problems connected with the attack were formulated in
Case "Barbarossa."

     "The German Armed Forces should be ready, even prior to the end
     of the war with England, to defeat Soviet Russia by operating
     with lightning speed.
     
     To this end the Army will have to utilise all units at its
     disposal, with the sole reservation that the territories occupied
     must be adequately protected against all unexpected
     eventualities."
     
Case "Barbarossa" foresaw the necessity of annihilating the Red Army,
of cutting off the possible retreat towards the interior of all Red
Army units still fit for battle and of permitting the German Fascist
invaders to reach speedily a line of combat which would place the land
of Germany beyond the range of the Soviet Air Force.

As an ultimate aim, Case "Barbarossa" provided for the strengthening
of the Astrakhan-Archangelsk line; the destruction by bombardment of
the Ural industries, the seizure of Leningrad and Kronstadt, and
finally, the capture of Moscow.

THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a good time to break off?

  (The Tribunal adjourned until 13th February, 1946, at 1000 hours.).

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor