Sixteenth Day:
Monday, 10th December, 1945
[Page 244]
The authority and mission of this organisation which Thomas was,
organising at the direction of Goering was clearly recognised by
Keitel in his operational order of 13th March, 1941. This order is
Number 447-PS, and I have already offered it in evidence earlier
as Exhibit USA 135. At that time I quoted the paragraph in the
order in which it was stated that the Fuehrer had entrusted the
uniform direction of the administration of economy in the areas of
operation and political administration to the Reich Marshal who,
in turn, had delegated his authority to the Chief of the Wi. Rue
Amt.
[Page 245]
1.
Purpose of meeting: Introduction to the organisational
structure of the economic section of this 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 (Chief 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" - and then a heading - "Economic Staff 'Oldenburg' for
special duties under the command of Major General Schubert.
His subordinate authorities, geographically subdivided, are:-
5 economic inspectorates
23 economic commands and
12 sub-offices, which are distributed among important places
within the area of the economic command.
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
Command, that is the liaison officer of the Industrial
Armament Office within the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces
at the Army Headquarters Command. For the battle area, he has
attached to him technical battalions, reconnaissance 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,
[Page 246]
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 organisation 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 organisation 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 L, which concerns itself with all questions of
feeding and agriculture, and
Group W, which is in charge of the entire field of trade
and industry, including raw materials and supplies;
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 von Hanneken."
These documents portray vividly the coldly calculated method with
which those Nazis prepared months in advance to rob and loot their
intended victim. They show that the conspirators not only planned
to stage a wanton attack on a neighbour they had pledged to
security, but that they also intended to strip that neighbour of
his food, his factories, and all his means of livelihood.
As I shall point out more fully later, when I discuss the question
of motive, these men made their plans for plunder while fully
aware that to carry them out would necessarily involve ruin and
starvation for millions of the inhabitants of the Soviet Union.
THE PRESIDENT: This would be a good time to adjourn.
(A recess was taken.)
MR. ALDERMAN: May the Tribunal please, I have been informed by the
interpreters that I have been speaking at a great speed this
morning, so I shall try to temper the speed.
Next, the politics of destruction, preparation for the political
phase of the aggression. As I have already indicated and as I
shall develop more fully later in this discussion, there were both
economic and political reasons
[Page 247]
For the accomplishment of this purpose, the Nazi conspirators
selected as their agent the defendant Rosenberg. As early as 2nd
April, 1941, Rosenberg, or a member of his staff, prepared a
memorandum on the U.S.S.R. This memorandum speculates on the
possibility of a disagreement with the U.S.S.R., which would
result in a quick occupation of an important part of that country.
This memorandum then considers what the political goal of such
occupation should be, and suggests ways for reaching such a goal.
The memorandum is Number 1017-PS in our series, and I offer it in
evidence now as Exhibit USA 142.
Beginning with the second paragraph, it reads, under the subject,
"The U.S.S.R.":
Is the occupation to be determined by purely military and/or
economic needs, or is the laying of political foundations for
a future organisation of the area also a factor in determining
how far the occupation shall be extended? If so, it is a
matter of urgency to fix the political goal which is to be
attained, for it will, without doubt, also have an effect on
military operations.
If the political overthrow of the Eastern Empire, in the weak
condition it would be at the time, is set as the goal of
military operations, one may conclude that:
(2) From the very beginning, the treatment of individual
sections of territory should, as regards administration, as
well as economics and ideology, be adapted to the political
ends we are striving to attain.
(3) Again, extraordinary questions concerning these vast
areas, such as, in particular, the ensuring of essential
supplies for the continuation of war against England, the
maintenance of production which this necessitates and the
great directives for the completely separate areas, should
best be dealt with all together in one place. [Page 248]
(b) White Russia, with Minsk or Smolensk as its capital.
(c) Esthonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
(d) The Ukraine, and the Crimea, with Kiev as its centre.
(e) The Don area, with Rostov as its capital.
(f) The area of the Caucasus.
(g) Russian Central Asia or Russian Turkestan."
(1) The creation of a Central Department for the Occupied
Areas of the U.S.S.R., to be confined more or less to the
war's duration.
Working in agreement with the higher and supreme Reich
authorities, it would be the task of this department :
(b) To secure for the Reich supplies essential to the war
from all the occupied areas.
(c) To make preparations for, and to supervise the carrying
out, in outline, of the primarily important questions for
all areas as, for instance, those of finance and funds,
transport, and the production of oil, coal and food.
As against this, an administrative department, regulating
matters in principle, and to be set up on a purely economic
basis, as is at present envisaged, might very soon prove to be
inadequate, and fail in its purpose. Such a central office
would be compelled to carry out a common policy for all areas,
dictated only by economic considerations, and this might
impede the carrying out of the political task and, in view of
its being run on purely bureaucratic lines, might possibly
even prevent it.
The question therefore arises, whether the opinions which have
been set forth should not, purely for reasons of expediency,
be taken into consideration from the very beginning, when
organising the administration of the territory on a basis of
war economy. In view of the vast spaces and the difficulties
of administration which arise from that alone, and also in
view of the living conditions created by Bolshevism, which are
totally different from those of Western Europe, the whole
question of the U.S.S.R. would require different treatment
from that which has been applied in the individual countries
of Western Europe." [Page 249]
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is it in the defendant Rosenberg's
handwriting?
MR. ALDERMAN: It was in the Rosenberg file.
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is there anything to indicate that he
wrote it?
MR. ALDERMAN: No. I said it was evidently prepared by Rosenberg or
under his authority. We captured the whole set of Rosenberg files,
which constitutes really a large library.
It is evident that the "presently envisaged administration
operating on a purely economic basis" to which this memorandum
objects, was the Economic Staff "Oldenburg", which I have already
described as having been set up under Goering and General Thomas.
Rosenberg's statement, if this be his statement, of the political
purpose of the invasion and his analysis of the achieving of it,
apparently did not fall on deaf ears. By a Fuehrer order, dated
20th April, 1941, Rosenberg was named Commissioner for the Central
Control of Questions connected with the East European Region. This
order is part of the correspondence file regarding Rosenberg's
appointment, which has been given the Number 865-PS in our series.
I ask that this file, all relating to the same subject, and
consisting of four letters, all of which I shall read or refer to,
be admitted in evidence as Exhibit USA 143.
The order itself reads as follows; it is the first item on the
English translation of 865-
PS:-
An office, which is to be established in accordance with his
orders, is at the disposal of Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the
carrying out of the duties thereby entrusted to him.
The necessary money for this office is to be taken out of the
Reich Chancellery Treasury in a lump sum.
Fuehrer's Headquarters, 20th April, 1941. The Fuehrer
(signed), ADOLF HITLER. [Page 250]
"Therefore, may I ask you, in accordance with the Fuehrer's
wishes, to place your co-operation at the disposal of
Reichsleiter Rosenberg in the carrying out of the task imposed
upon him.
It is recommended, in the interests of secrecy, that you name
a representative in your office with whom the office of the
Reichsleiter can communicate and who in addition to your usual
deputy should be the only one to whom you should communicate
the contents of this letter.
I should be obliged if you would acknowledge the receipt of
this letter.
Heil Hitler, [
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(Part 3 of 9)
[MR. ALDERMAN continues]
"Conference with the Branches of the Armed Forces at 10.00
hours on 29th April, 1941.
The remainder of the document deals with local subdivisions,
personnel and planning problems, and similar details, which I
think it unnecessary to put into the record.
Welcome
Group M, dealing with troop requirements, armaments,
industrial transport organisation
"A military conflict with the U.S.S.R. will result in an
extraordinarily rapid occupation of an important and large
section of their territory. It is very probable that military
action on our part will very soon be followed by the military
collapse of the Soviet Union. The occupation of these areas
would then present not so many military as administrative and
economic difficulties. Thus arises the first question:
The memorandum then proceeds to discuss each of the areas or
geographical units in some detail, and I shall not read those
pages. At the end of the paper, however, the writer sums up and
briefly outlines his plan. I should like to read that portion into
the record. It is at the bottom of Page 4 of the English
translation under the heading "Summary":-
(1) The occupation must comprise areas of vast proportions.
It should again be stressed here that, in addition, all the
arguments which follow, of course, only hold good once the
supplies from the area to be occupied, which are essential to
Greater Germany for the continuance of the war, have been
assured.
(a) Greater Russia, with Moscow as its centre.
"The following systematic constructional plan is evolved from
the points briefly outlined here:-
THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): Is that signed?
(a) To issue binding political instructions to the separate
administration areas, having in mind the situation existing
at the time and the goal which is to be achieved.
(2) The carrying out of sharply defined decentralisation in
the separate administration areas, grouped together by race or
by reason of political economy, for the performance of the
totally dissimilar tasks assigned to them.
"I name Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as my Commissioner for
the Central Control of Questions connected with the East
European Region.
This particular copy of the Fuehrer's order was enclosed in a
letter which Dr. Lammers wrote to the defendant Keitel requesting
his co-operation for Rosenberg, and asking that Keitel appoint a
deputy to work with Rosenberg. This letter reads as follows: it is
on the stationery of the Reich Minister and the Head of the Reich
Chancellery, Berlin, 21st April, 1941. I omit the salutation:
Reich Minister and Head of Reich
Chancellery (signed), DR. LAMMERS." "Herewith I am sending you a copy of the Fuehrer's Decree by
which the Fuehrer appointed Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as
his Commissioner for the Central Control connected with the
East European Region. In this capacity Reichsleiter Rosenberg
is to make the necessary preparations for the probable
emergency with all speed. The Fuehrer wishes that Rosenberg
shall be authorised for this purpose to obtain the closest co-
operation of the highest Reich authorities, receive
information from them, and summon the representatives of the
highest Reich authorities to conferences. In order to
guarantee the necessary secrecy of the commission and the
measures to be undertaken, for the time being only those of
the highest Reich authorities should be informed on whose
Yours very sincerely (signed), DR. LAMMERS."