The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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In his preliminary speech the Chief Prosecutor of the USSR,
while speaking of Crimes Against Humanity, referred to the
"Notes" of Martin Bormann. The "Notes" of Martin Bormann
were presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 172. The
Chief Prosecutor of the USSR quoted the following lines,
which the Tribunal can find on Page 97 of the document book,
last paragraph:

  "In summing up, the Fuehrer once more stated: The last
  German worker and the last German peasant must always
  stand economically 10 per cent. higher than any Pole."

What actually happened? I would like to show that, in full
approval, the defendant Frank put these Hitler orders into
effect in Polish territory. I beg the Tribunal to accept in
evidence an original German document.

Among the other fascist institutions carrying out various
pseudo-scientific experiments, the German criminals created
a special Institute for Economic Research. This institute
issued a document entitled "What the Polish Problem means
for War Production in Upper Silesia":-

  "... The fascist 'scientific' institute decided to make
  such an investigation in order to clarify the reason why
  the output of Polish workers had become considerably
  reduced."

                                                  [Page 301]

Two short excerpts will testify better than anything else to
the aims of this investigation. The Tribunal will find the
passage I wish to quote on Page 101 of the document book. I
submit this document as Exhibit USSR 282:

  "This investigation is in no way to be construed as
  propaganda to arouse pity."

On Page 149 of the quoted document the Tribunal will find
this on Page 101, third paragraph, of the document book:

  "We raise our voices not to defend the Poles but to
  protect the war production for the Armed Forces."

Quoting these two short excerpts characterising the aims and
nature of this investigation, I further quote a few excerpts
which show the status of the Polish worker and the practical
execution by the defendant Frank of the above-mentioned
directives of Hitler. I quote from Page 38 of the original
of the document, which corresponds to Page 101, paragraph 7,
of the document book:-

  "Information concerning the situation of the Polish
  population, and considerations as to which measures would
  be the most suitable in this connection, differs on many
  points, but one point, which can be summed up here in
  four words, is recognised in all quarters: The Poles are
  starving! Already some passing observations corroborate
  these conclusions: One of our investigators visited a war
  production plant during the lunch period. The workers
  were standing or sitting apathetically, warming
  themselves in the sun, and here and there smoking. The
  investigator reports that of eighty persons, only one had
  a piece of bread for lunch. The others, although all
  working ten to twelve hours a day, had nothing."

I pass to Page 72 of the original, which corresponds to Page
102 of the document book; there is this quotation:

  "Observations made in the factories prove that the
  present rations of the Polish workers are so
  insignificant that they do not have enough food to take
  with them to work. In most cases the workers do not even
  have anything for breakfast. When they do bring
  something, it is only coffee and one or two pieces of dry
  bread, or raw potatoes; in the worst cases they did not
  even have this, but only raw turnip, which was then
  heated on a stove during work."

I continue my quotation on Page 150 of the same document:

  "In this connection it could be stated that on visiting
  the mines, it appeared that nearly 10 per cent. of the
  Polish workers sent on shifts into the mines did not have
  any food, while 50 per cent. went to work underground
  with only dry bread, or raw potatoes cut in slices, which
  they warmed afterwards on a stove."

The Institute began its "Scientific Calculations" with
comparison of the calories received by the Poles in Upper
Silesia and the calories received by the German population.

I will not quote large excerpts from the document, but will
limit myself only to short facts. I start on Page 63 of this
investigation in the document, which corresponds to Page
102, last paragraph of the document book:

  "Comparison of the number of calories received by the
  Poles in Upper Silesia with the number of calories
  allocated to the German population, indicate that the
  Poles receive 24 per cent. less than the Germans. This
  difference reaches 26 per cent. on the food ration cards
  of non-working Poles. For youths from fourteen to twenty
  the difference in rations allocated to Germans and Poles
  reached almost 33 per cent. However, it must be stressed
  that this only applies to working youths over 14.

                                                  [Page 302]
  
  The underfeeding of Polish children from ten to fourteen
  is even more striking when compared with what is received
  by German children. The difference here is not less than
  65 per cent. The appearance of these under-fed youths
  already testify to this. In a similar way Polish children
  under ten receive 6o per cent. less than German children.
  If on the other hand, the doctors state that the food
  allowances for the babies are not so unfavourable, it is
  only an apparent contradiction. As long as a mother
  nurses her child the child gets everything from her. The
  consequences of the under-feeding are felt in this period
  not by the child but by the mother whose strength and
  health are considerably impaired."

I continue on Page 178 of the original which corresponds to
Page 103, paragraph 2, in the second document book:

  "In all categories the Polish youth, in comparison with
  the German is most unfavourably treated. The difference
  in rations of Poles and Germans reaches 6o per cent. and
  more."

Extracts from the report of the German Labour Front, cited
in this investigation are also of interest. Particularly on
Page 76 are quoted excerpts from the report of the German
Labour Front, dated 10 October, 1941, after a visit to one
of the coal mines in Poland:

  "It was established that in, various villages Polish
  miners collapse from exhaustion. As the workers
  constantly complained of stomach pains, doctors were
  consulted, who answered that this was a symptom of under-
  nourishment."

I would conclude this description of the Polish workers'
physical condition given by the German criminals themselves
(and, what is more by the "learned" criminals) by a short
quotation from the same report, which the Tribunal will find
on Page 106, paragraph 6, of the document book:

  "The management of the factories constantly stresses
  that,
  
  . . . it is no longer possible, by threats of deportation
  to concentration camps, to induce to work under-fed
  people incapable of physical effort. . . . sooner or
  later there comes a day when the weakened body can no
  longer work."

There also is in this document an account of the legal
status of the Polish worker during the German occupation, an
account about which there is no ambiguity. This descriptive
sketch is all the more valuable because, as was stressed
above, the authors of the investigation report expressly
emphasised that "all humanitarian tendencies whatsoever were
lacking

I begin the quotation from the document produced, on Page
127 which corresponds to page 110, second paragraph, of the
document book.

  "The law does not recognise any legal claim of any member
  of the Polish nation in any sphere of life. Whatever is
  granted a Pole is done voluntarily by the German masters.
  
  This legal situation is perhaps most clearly mirrored in
  'the Poles lack of possession in the eyes of the law'. In
  the administration of justice, a Pole is not permitted to
  conduct his case before a court. In criminal procedure
  the viewpoint of obedience dominates. The execution of
  legal regulations is in the first place the task of the
  police, who can decide at their discretion or refer
  individual cases to the courts."

According to an order dated 26 August, 1942, Polish as well
as German workers were obliged to take out premiums against
illness, accidents and disability. These were deducted from
the wages and were larger for the Poles than those for the
Germans. While, however, the German workers profited by this
insurance, the Poles were actually deprived of its benefits.
As proof of this I shall present to the

                                                  [Page 303]

Tribunal two short extracts from the same investigation
which your Honours will find on Page 111 in the document
book, paragraph 4. It corresponds to Page 134 of the
original text of the investigation quoted above.

  "Insurance against accidents, which is incumbent on the
  trade unions, involved particularly stringent measures
  for the Poles. The recognition of disability caused by an
  accident is much more limited than in the case of
  Germans. Disability for the loss of an eye is 30 per
  cent. for a German and 25 per cent. for a Pole. The
  payment of a benefit depends on 331/3 per cent.
  disability."

I continue my quotation on Page 135 of the original
document, that is to say on Page 111 of the document book:

  "The most stringent measures are provided for the
  dependants of fatally injured persons. The maximum a
  widow can receive is half of that granted by the
  insurance - and this only in case she has to support not
  less than four children under fifteen years
  of age, or is herself an invalid.
  
  The restriction on the rights of Poles is illustrated by
  an example: A German widow with three children receives
  8o per cent. of the yearly salary of her fatally injured
  husband; from an annual income of two thousand marks she
  receives 1600 marks per year; but a Pole, in a similar
  situation, would receive nothing."

The major German fascist war criminals sent into the
temporarily occupied Eastern territories, not only soldiers
and the SS, but specially appointed "scientists" and
"consultants in economic problems", and all sorts of
"investigators". Some of them were detached from
Ribbentrop's office; others were sent by Rosenberg.

I beg the Tribunal to enter into the record as evidence one
of these documents, which I submit as Exhibit USSR 218. It
is the report of the representative attached by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs to the General Staff of the 17th Army,
Captain Pflaiderer, and addressed to his colleague von
Rantzau from the Information Service of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.

These documents were discovered by units of the Red Army on
the Dirksen estate in Upper Silesia.

From these documents it can be concluded that in 1941-42
Pflaiderer made a trip covering the following route through
the occupied territories of Yugoslavia - through the
Ukraine, - Lvov, - Tarnopol, - Proskurov, - Vinnitza, -
Uman, - Kirovograd, - Alexandria, - and Krementshug on the
Dnieper.

The purpose of this trip was to study economic and political
conditions in the occupied territories of the Ukraine. That
the author of this document was also completely lacking in
so-called humanitarian tendencies can be seen from the
following short excerpt from his report dated 28 October,
1941 - the Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 113,
second paragraph of the document book:

  "There is an acute necessity to squeeze the country dry
  to secure regular supplies for Germany."

But even with such a leaning to cruelty and rapacity,
Pflaiderer, was evidently abashed by the conduct of his
compatriots, for he deemed it necessary to bring it to the
attention of the highest authorities of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs: I quote his report, which the Tribunal will
find on Page 114 of the document book, it is entitled:-

  "Basic Rules for the Guarantee of Fresh Supply and for
  the Producing of the
  Largest Possible Food Surplus in the Ukraine. . . ."
  
  Mentality and Living Conditions of the Population by the
  End of October, 1941."

                                                  [Page 304]

  "The frame of mind of the population became generally
  more hostile a few weeks after the occupation of the
  territory by our troops. The reason for it? We display
  ... inner hostility, and even hatred toward this country,
  and toward the people, arrogance.... The third year of
  war, and the necessity of wintering in an unfriendly
  country causes many difficulties. But they must be
  surmounted with courage and self discipline. We must not
  work off our discontent on the population of this
  country.... How often it happened that, acting
  illogically and committing mistakes that we could have
  avoided, we lost all the sympathy of the population. The
  people cannot understand the fact that we shoot exhausted
  prisoners of war in villages and larger localities and
  leave their bodies lying there. As the troops are
  entrusted with a wide authority for self-provisioning,
  the kolkhozes, along the main roads and near the larger
  towns, for the most part lack pedigree cattle, seeds,
  seed potatoes (Poltava). . . .
  
  Of course the supplying of our own troops comes first;
  the method of the supplying in itself, however, is not
  immaterial; psychologically, to requisition the last hen
  is as unreasonable as it is, economically, to kill the
  last pig or the last calf."

I continue my quotation, paragraph 3, Page 115 of the
document book:-

  "The population is without leadership. It stands apart,
  and feels that we look down on it from above, that we see
  sabotage in their tempo of work, that we do not take any
  steps to find a way to an understanding."

A similar document is that submitted as Exhibit USSR 439,
which was kindly given to us by our American colleagues. It
was filed by the American prosecution as 303-PS. This
document is a political report of the German professor, Dr.
Paul B. Thompson, written on the paper of the State
University of Poznan of the Biological Paleontological
Institute, and marked by the author himself "Not for
publication". The Tribunal will find it on Page 116 of the
document book. This document also introduces us into the
field of complete lawlessness and tyrannical arbitrariness
toward the local population of the temporarily occupied
districts of the Soviet Union. These observations were made
by the professor during his trip through the temporarily
occupied territories of the Soviet Union from Minsk to the
Crimea.

I refer to two short excerpts.

The quotation which I shall read into the record will
testify to the absence of any humanitarian tendencies on the
part of the author, and if Paul Thompson brought back from
his trip only "the most depressing impression", that is only
further proof of the depths of cruelty and brutality to
which the Germans were willing to descend. The Tribunal will
find these excerpts on Page 116 of the document.

THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.

(The Tribunal adjourned until 26th February, 1946, at 10.00
hours.)

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