Nazi Conspiracy & Aggression B. The Foodstuffs, Raw Materials and Equipment Delivered to
Germany were Obtained by Compelling the Nationals of the
Conquered Countries to Produce and Distribute in Accordance
with German War Requirements, by Seizure and Requisition,
and by Purchases Financed with Funds Exacted from the
Occupied Countries and Their Nationals.
[Page 1055]
(1) Much of the material and equipment removed to Germany
was obtained by seizure, requisition, and confiscation of
private property. During the first phase of the occupation,
the Nazis systematically removed to the Reich almost all
available supplies to satisfy the immediate German
requirements. This phase, according to the German Military
Commander's description of the practice in France, was one
of "stripping" occupied areas of "foodstuffs, raw materials
and machinery", leaving only enough to secure the "bare
subsistence" of the population (EC-614). In the words of the
report of the Wi-Rue Staff in France:
"In this period the legal concepts of the Hague
Regulations regarding Land Warfare are not yet strictly
observed. The main purpose is to get out of France
through seizure BeschIagnahme or purchase at
infinitesimal prices the materials of use for the
German armament." (EC-422)
By order of the German High Command, booty was defined to
include not merely public property but "beyond the Hague
Regulations on Land Warfare," also "privately owned finished
and semi-finished products if they were manufactured in
fulfillment of an order of the French armed forces" (EC-
422). At the same time, payments made by the French armed
forces on account of war material orders were likewise
treated as war booty. Even goods in transit were arbitrarily
placed in this category (EC-422). Machinery and equipment
affixed to the realty were seized and shipped to Germany in
wilful disregard of the limitations of the Hague Regulations
authorizing seizure only of chattels. (EC-84)
The "stripping phase" of Nazi spoliation was relatively
short-lived. Decision was soon reached to utilize at-least
part of the industrial capacity of the occupied areas to
relieve the burden on the armament plants in Germany (EC-
620). Throughout the period of occupation, however, the
Nazis continued the seizure and requisition of machinery and
certain raw materials in short supply in the Reich. From
December, 1942, to the end of the occupation, for example,
242 German demands for Belgian machinery were met, of which
110 were fulfilled by requisitions (ECH-10). In 79 instances
the requisitioned equipment was shipped to Germany. (ECH-10)
Support for such requisitions was found in an order of the
Military Commander of Belgium of 6 August 1942. This order
was explained as embodying the "modern" German view that, as
"total war is no longer limited in space but has become a
struggle of peoples and nations against each other,"
requisitions under Article 52 of the Hague Regulations
should no longer be
[Page 1056]
limited to the "needs of the occupying forces" but may also
be used in the "general interest of the German war effort";
and that requisitioned articles may be used not only in the
territory in which they were obtained but also "in other
territories in the sphere of the occupying power." (ECH-10)
In April 1941, Goering ordered the removal of church bells
in France "which represent the most important and last
reserve of copper and tin," stressing that "no church bells
would be removed in Germany before all bells had been
removed in France" (EC-323). In 1943, after the removal of
church bells from the other occupied countries and even from
the Reich, Hitler ordered their removal from Belgium (ECH-
11). The Belgians protested, invoking the Hague Regulations,
and refused an offer to buy; thereupon the Germans
requisitioned the bells against receipt. (ECH-11)
By circular letter, dated 23 June 1943, Speer ordered that
scientific instruments and apparatus be taken out of the
laboratories and research institutes in the occupied Western
countries, directing that applications for instruments be
made through channels and that the requisitions be made by
the Military Government. (ECH-14)
In many cases, representatives of German scientific
institutions sought to acquire scientific instruments in
order to modernize their own installations, appearing in
Army uniforms to give the impression that the requisition
was a military measure (ECH-15). The Military Government of
Belgium decided that Articles 52 and 56 of the Hague
Regulations were inapplicable because the Allies had
destroyed a number of German scientific installations in the
Reich through bombing, which therefore had to be replaced
from the occupied territories, and that "in a total war, no
consideration could be given to the cited articles of the
Hague Regulations". (ECH-16)
As part of the design to supply the armament industry in
Germany with material from the occupied Western territories,
a program for the removal of copper and lead from
transmission installations of power distribution plants in
the occupied Western countries was instituted by a decree of
Speer dated 31 May 1943 (EC-101). The plan contemplated from
the outset that the transmission of facilities would not be
restored (as required by the second paragraph of Article 53
of the Hague Regulations) but that an equivalent amount of
metal would be returned after the war. (EC-101)
(2) The Nazis purchased war materials and consumer goods
[Page 1057]
in the regular and black markets for shipment to the Reich,
all with funds exacted from the occupied countries.
Following the initial "stripping" phase of the occupation,
the Nazis promptly instituted an extensive "buying-out"
program (061-PS) with the object of procuring not merely
materials required for the German war effort, but to obtain
also consumer goods, including luxury items, for the
civilian population of Germany (EC-485).
No limitations, legal or moral, were observed in the
execution of this program. Supplies which could not be
obtained through normal channels were purchased on the black
market. The disastrous effects of competition among various
German agents led the central occupational authorities in
Belgium, France, and Holland to take over black market
operation directly (1765-PS). On 13 June 1942, by order of
Goering, Col. Veltjens was appointed to direct black market
purchases in all occupied territories and a new agency, the
so-called UEWA, was placed at his disposal. (ECH-7)
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Volume
I Chapter XIII
Germanization & Spoliation
The Occupied
Western Countries
(Part 2 of 9)