Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-07/tgmwc-07-63.06
Last-Modified: 1999/11/15

I read into the record other excerpts from the same document:

   "...The 'Kreislandwirt' reported to me that the dairy
   farm was plundered by retreating units; the soldiers
   carried away with them butter, cheese, etc."

The second excerpt:

   "The co-operative store was plundered before the eyes of
   the Ukrainians. Among other things the soldiers took
   with them all the cash in the store."

Then the third excerpt:

   " ...On the 9th and 10th of this month the guards of the
   field-gendarmerie were posted at the co-operative store.
   These guards could not prevent the soldiers breaking
   in".

                                                  [Page 159]

The last excerpt

   " ... Pigs and fowls were slaughtered in unreasonable
   numbers and taken away by the soldiers.... The
   appearance of the troops themselves can only be
   described as appalling."

In these terms, your Honours, is the conduct of the German
soldiers described by a German Commissar in his official
report.

There is no doubt that this description is an objective one,
especially since it is supplemented by an official report of
the German "Ukrainian Company for Supplying Agriculture in
the Commissariat General", addressed to the Commissar-
General of Zhitomir. This is how the report describes the
results of a raid by German soldiers on the company's
premises:

   " ... The office was in a horrible and incredible
   condition".

Second excerpt:

   " ... A 20-roomed private house at Hauptstrasse, No. 57,
   had an appalling appearance. Carpets and stair-carpets
   were missing, as were all the upholstered armchairs,
   couches, beds with spring or other mattresses, chairs
   and wooden benches".

I omit a few lines:

   "The condition of the living-rooms generally is almost
   indescribable".

I omit two more excerpts from the document.

Such, your Honours, is the heart-cry of the German brigands
of this " Ukrainian Company", who themselves complain of the
brigands in the German Army.

In order to show that it was not only in Zhitomir and
Korostyshev that such things took place, I shall quote yet
another report, this time by the Commissar of the Kazatinsky
district, which contains the following statement:

   "... The German soldiers stole food, cattle, and
   vehicles".

This laconic but significant introduction is followed by no
less significant details:

   "Threatening him with a pistol, the corporal demanded
   the keys of the barn from the District Commissar ...
   When I said that the key was in my pocket, he yelled
   'Give me the key'. With these words he pulled out his
   pistol, shoved it against my chest, and shouted: 'I'm
   going to shoot you - you are a shirker'. He followed up
   this remark with a few more samples of invective, thrust
   his hand into my pocket and grabbed the key, saying,
   'I'm the only person who gives orders here'. This
   occurred in the presence of numerous Germans and
   Ukrainians".

The Chief of the Main Department, Dr. Moisich, relates the
same story in a report to the Commissar General of Zhitomir,
dated 4th December, 1943. All these documents are being
presented in their original form to the Tribunal.

I will now, your Honours, proceed to read excerpts from the
official reports and communiques of the Extraordinary State
Commission for the Investigation and Establishment of Crimes
Committed by the German Intruders and Their Accomplices.

In order to save time, I ask the Tribunal to permit me to
read only a few excerpts from these documents, and to give
you the contents of the rest in my own words.

The Report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the
looting and crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerites in the city
and district of Rovno has already been submitted to the
Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 45. The corresponding section of
this report reads as follows:

   "During their stay in Rovno and its district, Hitlerite
   officers and soldiers unrestrainedly plundered the
   peaceful Soviet citizens and thoroughly looted the
   property of cultural and educational institutions."

                                                  [Page 160]

I shall not quote all the data mentioned in this report of
the Extraordinary State Commission. The report made by that
Commission on the atrocities committed by the Hitlerites in
Kiev and submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 9,
emphasises the fact that the Hitlerites plundered the
peaceful population of that city. I quote a brief extract:-

   "The German occupation forces in the city of Kiev looted
   factory equipment and carried it off to Germany."

Following the directives of the criminal German Government
and the Supreme Command of the German Armed Forces, the
satellite States also joined in plundering and other crimes.

Roumanian troops who temporarily occupied Odessa along with
the German armed forces plundered this flourishing city in
accordance with instructions from their German masters. The
report of the Extraordinary State Commission concerning "the
crimes committed by German and Roumanian aggressors in
Odessa" reads in part as follows:-

   "The Roumanians damaged Odessa considerably from the
   economic and industrial point of view during the
   occupation ...
   
   ... German-Roumanian aggressors have confiscated and
   removed to Roumania 1,042,013 centners of grain, 45,227
   horses, 87,646 head of cattle, 31,821 pigs, etc.,
   belonging to co-operative farms and co-operative
   farmers."

The Report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the
"damages inflicted by the German fascist aggressors on
industry, economy, and cultural and educational institutions
in the Stalino Province", already presented to the Tribunal
as Exhibit USSR 2 also gives many data on the looting and
removal to Germany of the factory equipment of this
important industrial region.

I have quoted only a few of the reports compiled by the
Extraordinary State Commission on certain districts of the
Ukraine. This flourishing Soviet republic was subjected to
unrestrained looting by the Hitlerites. The Hitlerite
conspirators considered the Ukraine a "tit-bit" and
plundered that republic with exceptional voracity.

I would like to read several documents in proof of the
above:

First, Rosenberg's letter to Reichsleiter Bormann, dated 17
October, 1944. This document, which has already been
submitted On 17 December by the United States Prosecution as
Exhibit USA 338, states that the "Eastern Central Trading
Company for the Marketing of Agricultural Produce" sent the
following goods to Germany in the period between 1943 and
31st March, 1944, only:-

   "Cereals . . . . . . . .9,200,000 tons
   Meat and meat products . 622,000 tons
   Oil seed . . . . . . . . 950,000 tons
   Butter . . . . . . . . . 208,000 tons
   Sugar . . . . . . . . . .400,000 tons
   Fodder . . . . . . . . 2,500,000 tons
   Potatoes . . . . . . . 3,200,000 tons, and so forth."

The defendant Rosenberg reported his "Agricultural
Achievements" to Hitler's closest assistant in these terms.

It should be noted that during the first year of the war the
voracity shown by the Hitlerites in plundering the Ukraine
was so great that it awakened certain misgivings even
amongst themselves.

I will read an excerpt from a letter addressed by the
Inspector of Armaments in the Ukraine to the Infantry
General Thomas, Chief of the Armament Section O.K.H. The
letter is dated 2nd December, 1941. This document was
submitted

                                                  [Page 161]

to the Tribunal by the United States Prosecution on 14
December as Exhibit USA 290. I read a short excerpt:-

   "The export of agricultural surpluses from the Ukraine
   for the purpose of feeding the Reich is only possible if
   the internal trade in the Ukraine is reduced to a
   minimum. This can be attained by the following measures:-
   
   1. Elimination of unwanted consumers (Jews) and the
   populations of the large Ukrainian towns, which, like
   Kiev, receive no food allocation whatsoever.
   
   2. Reduction as far as possible of food rations
   allocated to the Ukrainians in other towns.
   
   3. Reduction of food consumption by the peasant
   population."

Having outlined this programme, the author explains further:

   "If the Ukrainian is to be made to work, we must look
   after his physical existence, not from sentimental
   motives, but for purely business reasons".

I omit the next paragraph of this quotation.

However, the Reichskommissar for the Ukraine, Koch, went
steadily on with his policy of ruthlessly plundering the
Ukraine. In due course I will submit to you numerous further
documents, also in the original, in confirmation of the
above. Koch's policy met with the approbation of the
Hitlerite Government.

It is worthy of note, that at the beginning of the war the
plundering of the occupied territories of the USSR was
organised in accordance with the directives contained in the
"Green File", already mentioned.

I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 13 a letter from
Goering dated 6th September, 1941, on the subject of an
inspector for the seizure and utilisation of raw materials,
in which, among other things, the following passage occurs
(the Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 131 of the
document book):

   "The war situation demands that the supplies of raw
   materials found in the recently captured Eastern
   territories be put at the disposal of the German war
   economy as quickly as possible. The 'Directives for the
   economic management of the Eastern occupied territories'
   (Green File) are to be taken as guidance".

I omit the last part of the quotation.

Later however when the Germans set up their so-called Civil
Administration, and organised a number of special economic
bodies in various occupied territories, including the
Ukraine in particular, disputes arose among the numerous
German military and civil bodies and organisations, all of
which were engaged in plundering the occupied territories.

Rosenberg, as Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied
Territories, began to insist that all military and economic
organisations in the Ukraine were to be liquidated and their
functions transferred to German Civil Administrations.

I submit to the Tribunal a draft report for State Secretary
Korner on this subject, dated 3rd December, 1943, as Exhibit
USSR 180.

I read from it:-

   "1. Economic administration in the Eastern occupied
   territories.
   
   2. General economic staff for the occupied territories.
   
   In a letter to the Reich Marshal, dated 20th November,
   1943, copies of which were sent to the Chief of Staff of
   the O.K.W., and the Chief of Party Chancellery, Minister
   Rosenberg made the following demands:
   
   (a) For the Ukraine: Military economic establishment
   still in existence to be dissolved.
   
   (b) The office of chief of the Army Group Economic
   Departments to be abolished and the military functions
   of the latter to be taken over again by the
   Quartermaster General.
   
                                                  [Page 162]
   
   (c) In case of the retention of the office of the chief
   of the Army Group Economic Departments, the practice of
   the same specialists working both in the Reich
   Commissariat and under the Chiefs of the Army Group
   Economic Departments to be discontinued."

I omit the rest. In the same draft are detailed objections
made by General Stapf and submitted by him to Keitel. He
criticises Rosenberg's suggestion and advises the retention
of the Economic Staff "East".

And now, with the permission of the Tribunal, I present as
Exhibit USSR 174, another original document, which is a
covering letter from the Permanent Deputy of the Reich
Minister for the Eastern occupied territories to State
Secretary Korner on the same subject.

Written suggestions by Rosenberg were appended to this
letter, in which Rosenberg once more insists that the entire
economic activities be placed under the control of his
Ministry. As this is a rather long document, and I am
presenting it in the original, I ask your permission not to
read it, since it is mainly concerned with Rosenberg's
proposal, which I have already described to the Tribunal.
(For the information of the interpreters: I omit two pages
of my presentation and pass to Page 62.)

Evidently Rosenberg did not receive the answer he wanted, so
on 24 January he again wrote to Goering on the same subject.
I submit this letter as Exhibit USSR 179. In this letter
Rosenberg suggests (I shall read into the record a short
quotation, which the Tribunal will find on Page 151 of the
document book):

   " ... in the interest of smooth working and economy of
   personnel, I would request that the Economic Staff
   "East" and its subordinate agencies be abolished, and
   that the economic administration in the Eastern occupied
   territories and even in those districts where fighting
   is still going on, be transferred to my sphere of
   authority".

Goering replied to this in a letter dated 14 February, which
I offer in evidence as part of the same Exhibit USSR 179. I
quote:-

   "Dear Party Member Rosenberg:
   
   I received your letter of 24 February, 1944, regarding
   economic administration in the Eastern occupied
   territories. Since the Reich Commissariat Ukraine is now
   almost entirely under army administration" - this is a
   reference to the Red Army offensive - "I consider it
   advisable to postpone our conference on the future
   organisation of the economic administration until the
   military situation is completely clarified".

Thus, your Honours, Rosenberg's claims met with resistance
on the part of other German authorities who stubbornly
refused to give up such a choice "economic activity".

Rosenberg, in his turn, refused to yield and continued to
press his demands. I now offer in evidence the following
document, Exhibit USSR 173. This is a letter from Rosenberg
to Goering dated 6 March, 1944. In this letter, Rosenberg
refers to his experience in Bielorussia and again urges his
proposals. It is a long document and I shall not read it, as
it is presented to the Tribunal in toto. But Goering still
had his doubts and decided against Rosenberg.

On 6 April, 1944, a month after the above-mentioned letter
was sent off, Rosenberg again wrote to Goering. This
document I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 176.

I omit reading it into the record, since in substance it is
like the last, and the arguments advanced in it are not such
as to interest us greatly now. I omit Page 65 and pass on to
Page 66.

Thus, your Honours, even when the Red Army was delivering
its last crippling blows at the German fascist hordes, the
Hitlerite brigands went on quarrelling about the spoils.

                                                  [Page 163]

I think there is no need to prove that while this haggling
continued, the occupied territories were looted in feverish
haste by the German authorities, both military and civil.

Now, your Honours, I will read some brief excerpts from the
report made by the Extraordinary State Commission on the
crimes committed by the Hitlerite invaders in the
Lithuanian, Latvian and Esthonian Soviet Socialist
Republics, which were also mercilessly plundered by the
German fascist aggressors.

All these reports have been already presented to the
Tribunal by the Soviet prosecution. The report of the
Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes of the
Hitlerites in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
contains the following statement:-

   "As the result of the way in which the Hitlerite
   invaders managed affairs, even according to incomplete
   data, the number of livestock and poultry in all the
   four districts of the Lithuanian S.S.R. decreased by
   136,140 horses, 565,995 cattle, 463,340 pigs ..."

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