Hamann, who signed the report is listed among those attending as a Captain, was apparently the junior officer present. Presumably it fell naturally to his lot to prepare the minutes of the meeting.

The authority and mission of this organization which Thomas was organizing at the direction of Goering was clearly recognized by Keitel in his operational order of 13 March 1941 (447-PS). The order stated that the Fuehrer had entrusted the uniform direction of the administration of economy in the area of operations and political administration to the Reichsmarshal (Goering) who in turn had delegated his authority to the-Chief of the Wi Rue Amt (Thomas). (447 PS)

The organizational work called for by General Thomas at the meeting on 28 February apparently proceeded apace, and on 29 April 1941 a conference was held with various branches of the Armed Forces to explain the organizational setup of Economic Staff Oldenburg. (Oldenburg was the code name given to this economic counterpart of Barbarossa.) Section I of the report of this conference (1157-PS) deals with the general organization of Economic Staff Oldenburg as it had developed. The report begins:

[Page 812]

"Conference with the Branches of the Armed Forces at 1000 hours on 29 April 1941

I. Welcome

"Purpose of meeting: introduction to the organizational structure of the economic sector of the action.

"Barbarossa -- Oldenburg

"As already known, the Fuehrer, contrary to previous procedure, has ordered for this drive the uniform concentration in one hand of all economic operations and has entrusted the Reich Marshal with the overall direction of the economic administration in the area of operations and in the areas under political administration.

"The Reich Marshal has delegated this function to an economic general staff, working under the director of the industrial armament office (Chef Wi Rue Amt).

"Under the Reich Marshal and the economic general staff, the supreme central authority in the area of the drive itself is the Economic Staff Oldenburg for special duties under the command of Major General (Generalleutnant) Schubert.

"His subordinate authorities, geographically subdivided are:
5 economic inspectorates
23 economic commands
12 sub-offices, which are distributed among important places within the area of the economic commands.

"These offices are used in the military rear area; the idea is that in the territory of each Army Group. an economic inspectorate is to be established at the seat of the commander of the military rear area, and that this inspectorate will supervise the economic exploitation of the territory.

"A distinction must be made between the military rear area on the one hand and the battle area proper and the rear area of the army on the other hand. In the last economic matters are dealt with by the IV Econ (IV Wi) of the Army Headquarters Commands, i.e. the liaison officer of the industrial armament office within the supreme command of the armed forces at the army headquarters commands. For the battle area he has attached to him: technical battalions, reconnaisance and recovery troops for raw materials, mineral oil, agricultural machinery, in particular tractors and means of production.

"In the territory between the battle and the military rear area, the rear area of the Army, group IV Econs at the various field commands are placed at the disposal of the

[Page 813]

liaison officer of the industrial armaments office in order to support the army headquarters commands specialists responsible for supplying the- troops from the country's resources and for preparing the subsequent general economic exploitation.

"While these units move with the troops, economic inspectorates, economic commands and their sub-offices remain established in the locality.

"The new feature inherent in the organization under the command of the Economic Staff Oldenburg is that it does not only deal with military industry, but comprises the entire economic field. Consequently, all offices are no longer to be designated as offices of the military industries or armaments, but quite generally as economic inspectorates, economic commands, etc.

"This also corresponds with the internal organization of the individual offices which, from the Economic Staff Oldenburg down to the economic commands, requires a standard subdivision into three large groups, i.e.

"Group H dealing with troop requirements, armaments, industrial transport organization.

"Group L which concerns itself with all questions of feed and agriculture, and

"Group W which is in charge of the entire field of trade and industry, including raw-materials and suppliers; further questions of forestry, finance and banking, enemy property, commerce and exchange of commodities and manpower allocation.

"Secretary of State Backe is appointed Commissioner for Food and Agriculture in the General Staff; the problems falling within the field of activities of Group W are dealt with by General v. Hanneken." (1157-PS)

The remainder of the document deals with local subdivisions, personnel and staffing problems, and similar details.

These documents portray the calculated method with which the -Nazi conspirators prepared months in advance to rob and loot their intended victim. They show that the conspirators not only planned to stage an attack on a neighbor they had pledged to security, but that they also intended to strip that neighbor of its food, its factories, and all its means of livelihood. The Nazi conspirators made these plans for plunder being fully aware that to carry them out would necessarily involve ruin and starvation for millions of the inhabitants of the Soviet Union. (The story

[Page 814]

of how this plot was executed forms a part of the case to be presented by the Soviet prosecuting staff.)

The original plaintext version of this file is available via ftp.

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