The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

Fifty-Sixth Day: Monday,11th February, 1946
(Part 4 of 14)


[COLONEL POKROVSKY continues]

I shall read one more document into the records, 1195-PS. You will find it in your document book on Page 423.

On 9th January, 1946, four lines were read here from the second section. The time has now come to read it in full:

"Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, Operational Staff,

Section L (IV/Qu), No. 00630/41 Top Secret, Commanders only;

Fuehrer's headquarters, 12.4.1941.

Reference: OKW/L (IV/Qu), Nr. 4434/41 Top Secret, Commanders only, of 3rd April, 1941.

I. PROVISIONAL DIRECTIVES FOR THE PARTITION OF YUGOSLAVIA.

The Fuehrer has issued the following directions for the partition of Yugoslavia:

(1) Former territory of Styria and Carinthia:

The territory of the former Styria, extended to the south by a strip of about 90 kilometers in breadth and 10 to 15 kilometers in depth, will go to Gau Styria.

The northern part of Carthinia, with a borderline running South only as far as the river Sava but north of Ljubljana, according to the attached O.K.H. map, is to become part of Carinthia.

The High Command of the Army (O.K.H.) is to hand over the territory occupied by the German troops to the competent Gauleiter, sub-area by sub-area, as soon as the pacification of the country permits.

The handing over of the territory occupied by the Italians will be prepared for by a letter from the Fuehrer to the Duce and carried out under direct orders from the Foreign Office. Until that time no measures whatever

[Page 230]

are to be taken from the German side. (Teleram O.K.H.- General Headquarters Abt. Kr. Verw. A. Ob. Kdo. 2 I, No. 801/41, Top Secret, is hereby rendered ineffective.)

2) The territory beyond the river Mur (Uebermur- Gebiet):

The territory beyond the river Mur borders closely upon Hungary, conforming with the historic boundary. A later colonisation of the German population living in the North-western part of this territory has been taken into consideration. The handing over of this territory to the Hungarians will be regulated by the High Command of the Army.

(3) Banat:

The territory from the point where the river Drava cuts the Hungarian boundary to the confluence of the River Tisa with the Danube is to go to Hungary. The territory east of the Tisa will be at first under German protection, as will the territory south of the Danube and east of the general line: confluence of the river Morava and the Danube-Pozarevac-Petrovac-Boljavac- Knjazevec-Kalina. This territory includes the Bor copper mines and the adjoining coal district in the South-east. The above line is considered as the basic and provisional demarcation line. At first, German military government under the High Command of the Army is to be established, under the order jof O.K.H.

(4) Southern Serbia:

The territory inhabited by Bulgarian Macedonians goes to Bulgaria, in conformity with the ethnographical boundary. Preliminary delimitation of the frontier, from the military viewpoint, will be carried out by the High Command of the Army, which will prepare the handing over to Bulgaria.

(5) Old Serbia:

The territory of old Serbia will be placed under German military administration under the High Command of the Army.

(6) Croatia:

Croatia becomes an independent State within its ethnographical boundaries. There will be no interference on the part of Germany with its internal policy.

(7) Remaining territories including Bosnia and Montenegro:

The political organisation of these territories will be left to Italy. Here also the restoration of an independent state of Montenegro can be considered.

II. The Demarcation of Boundaries:

(1) Where the demarcation of boundaries has not been laid down in Part I, it will be carried out through the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces in agreement with the Foreign Office, the Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, and the Reich Minister of the Interior.

The Operational Staff of the Supreme Command Armed Forces (L IV Headquarters) is the executive organ for the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.

(2) The High Command of the Army will forward as soon as possible to the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces its military recommendations relative to the drawing up of boundaries outside the territory of the protectorate South of the Danube, where this has not been already laid down by the Fuehrer.

[Page 231]

(3) The War Production Board of the O.K.W. will forward as soon as possible to the Operational Staff (Section L) its recommendations regarding the boundaries of the territory of the protectorate South of the Danube (Part I, paragraph (3)).

(4) As far as the Italians are concerned, the tactical boundaries between the armies hold good in the meantime.

(Signed) Chief of the O.K.W. Keitel."
This document, signed by the defendant Keitel, utterly refutes the mendacious statement of the non-participation of the O.K.W. in the political side of the Fascist plan or conspiracy. The German generals, as a body, were not merely an obedient tool in Hitler's hands.


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