The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Fifty-Fourth Day: Friday, 8th February, 1946
(Part 9 of 22)


[GENERAL RUDENKO continues]

[Page 180]

On 22nd June, 1941, the Hitlerite conspirators, having perfidiously violated the pact of non-aggression between the U.S.S.R. and Germany without any declaration of war, started an attack against Soviet territory, initiating thereby an aggressive war against the U.S.S.R. without the slightest provocation on the part of the Soviet Union.

Enormous masses of German troops, secretly concentrated on the borders beforehand, were thrown against the U.S.S.R. As planned, Finnish troops took part in the attack on the U.S.S.R. in the North, and Hungarian and Roumanian troops in the South. In order to create panic and confusion, the German Air Force immediately began the bombing of peaceful towns, thereby subjecting them to destruction.

Less than a month after the perpetration of this perfidious act Hitler called a conference, which was attended by Rosenberg, Goering, Bormann, Lammers and Keitel.

At this conference Hitler instructed those present not to disclose to the outside world the true aims of the war begun by the Hitlerites. Referring to their campaign against Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium, Hitler stressed the necessity of continuing this line of action; i.e., to conceal by all possible means the real intentions of the conspirators.

"Therefore," said Hitler, "we shall emphasise again that we were compelled to occupy a region to establish order and security there... our method of regulation is the natural outcome of this. Thus it must not be revealed that our campaign concerns a final solution. However, despite and notwithstanding this, we shall take all necessary measures, such as mass shootings, deportation, etc."
Any kind of violence against the peaceful population, deportation into German slavery, shooting, and looting were called "regulation" in the words of Hitler and his accomplices.

At this conference the conspirators defined the ulterior aims of the Hitlerite Government in respect of the Soviet Union as follows:

"In the main, the problem amounts to this: first, to conquer it, secondly, to rule it, and thirdly, to exploit it....

The basic idea: the creation of a military Power West of the Urals must never occur again, even if, in order to prevent it, we have to fight for a hundred years. All the adherents of the Fuehrer must know this: The Reich will be secure only if no foreign military force exists West of the Urals. The iron law must be: none but the Germans shall be permitted to bear arms ... only a German has the right to carry a weapon; no Slav, no Czech, no Cossack, no Ukrainian."

Hitler continued: "The Baltic countries must become a province of the Reich. The Crimea and the surrounding area must likewise become a province of the Reich.... These surrounding areas must be as extensive as possible.... The Volga colonies as well as the Baku

[Page 181]

region must become a province of the Reich. The latter must become a German concession (military colony). The Finns want East Karelia. However, because of its great nickel production, the Kolsky peninsula must go to Germany. The Finns claim the Leningrad region.... Level Leningrad to the ground, then give it to the Finns."
The rapacious aims of the war launched by Germany against the U.S.S.R. are frankly set forth in an article by the director of the Fascist propaganda, the notorious Goebbels, under the title "What For?"

Goebbels wrote:

"This war is not a war for a throne nor an altar; this is a war for grain and bread, a war for a well-laden dinner-table, for plentiful breakfast and suppers ... a war for raw materials, for rubber, iron and ore." (Joseph Goebbels: "Das eherne Herz," Zentralverlag der N.S.D.A.P., Muenchen, 1943, Pages 334-36.)
Goering in his turn, in an address at the Harvest Festival in the Berlin Sports Palace, 5th October, 1942, published in the "Voelkischer Beobachter" of 6th October, 1942, exclaimed greedily:
"Do not forget we have taken away from the Russians their best regions.... Eggs, butter, and flour are there in such quantities as you can hardly imagine.... We will have to see that everything is properly assimilated and properly processed on the spot...."
The Defendant Rosenberg worked feverishly at inventing new names for Soviet cities, such as "Gotenburg" for Simferopol and "Theodorichshafen" for Sevastopol. This occupation Rosenberg combined with the leadership of a special staff concerned with the "assimilation" the Caucasus.

All that shows very clearly the real predatory plans and schemes of the Hitlerite aggressors against the Soviet Union. Above all, those criminal designs aimed at plundering the Soviet Union and the enslavement and exploitation of the Soviet people.

At the same time these were all steps on the road to establishing Hitlerite domination in Europe and in the whole world. It was precisely for this reason that, in a document submitted in the case published by the High Command of the Navy, dealing with the plans for an invasion of North Africa, Gibraltar, Syria, Palestine and Egypt, the Hitlerite Government stated that the realisation of the above plan would depend entirely on the results of the war against the Soviet Union.

In its attempt to conceal its imperialistic aims the Hitlerite clique hysterically shrieked, as usual, about a danger alleged to be forthcoming from the U.S.S.R. and proclaimed that the predatory war which it started against the Soviet Union with aggressive purposes was a "preventive" war.

A pitiful effort.

What "preventive" war can we speak of, when documents prove that, long in advance, Germany worked out and prepared a plan for an attack on the U.S.S.R., formulated the predatory aims of this attack, earmarked the territories of the Soviet Union which she intended to seize, established the methods for pillaging of these territories and for the extermination of their population, mobilised her army in good time, and moved to the borders of the U.S.S.R. 170 fully equipped divisions only waiting for the signal to advance?

The fact of aggression committed by Fascist Germany against the U.S.S.R., as well as the original documents of the Hitlerite Government which now have been made public, definitely show to the whole world and to history how untrue and laughable was the assertion of the Hitlerite propaganda about the "preventive" character of the war against the U.S.S.R.

However well the Fascist wolf may disguise himself in a sheep's skin, he cannot hide his teeth!

[Page 182]

Having committed the perfidious attack on the U.S.S.R., the Hitlerite Government calculated that lengthy preparation for this attack, the concentration of all the Armed Forces of Germany for this thrust, the participation of Roumanian and Finnish armies, as well as of Italian and Hungarian units in this operation, and finally the advantage of surprise, would assure a rapid defeat of the U.S.S.R.

However, all these calculations of the aggressors were frustrated by the heroic resistance of the Red Army, which with self-denial, defended the honour and the independence of its country. The German plans of attack were broken up one after another.

I shall not describe all the phases of the Fatherland war of the Soviet People against the German Fascist invaders and the great and courageous struggle of the Red Army with German, Roumanian, Finnish and other armies that invaded the soil of the Soviet.

The whole world watched this struggle with admiration, and it will never be forgotten by history.

The Soviet people, in battles the scale and ferocity of which were unmatched in history, steadfastly defended and saved the freedom and independence of their country, and together with the Allied armies liberated the freedom-loving nations throughout the whole world from the terrible menace of Nazi enslavement.


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