Sixty-Third Day:
Wednesday, 20th February, 1946
[Page 167] [Page 168]
I have here before me reports on what you expect to be
able to deliver. It is nothing at all when I consider
your territories. It makes no difference to me if you
say that your people are starving.
One thing I shall certainly do: I will make you deliver
the quantities asked of you; and if you cannot do so, I
will set forces to work that will force you to do so
whether you want to or not".
The only people in whom I am interested are those who
work to provide armaments and food supplies. They must
receive just enough to enable them to continue working.
It is all one to me whether Dutchmen are Germanic or
not. They are only all the greater blockheads if they
are, and more important persons than they have been
shown in the past how Germanic numskulls sometimes have
to be treated. Even if you get abuses from every
quarter, you will have acted rightly, for it is the
Reich alone that counts".
But gentlemen, these people are all our enemies and you
will not win over any of them by humane measures. The
people are polite to us now because they have to be
polite. But let the English once force their way in and
then you will see the real face of the Frenchman. The
same Frenchman who dines with you and in turn invites
you to dine with him will at once make it plain to you
that the Frenchman is a Germanphobe. That is the
situation and we do not want to see it any other way
than it is. It is a matter of indifference to me how
many courses are served every day at the table of the
Belgian king. The king is a prisoner of war and if he is
not treated as such, I will see to it that he is taken
to some other place where this can be made clear to him.
I am really fed up with the business.... I have
forgotten one country because nothing is to be had there
except fish; that is Norway.
With regard to France, I say that it is still not
cultivated to the greatest possible extent. France can
be cultivated in a very different way if the peasants
there are forced to work in a different manner.
Secondly, inside France itself the population is gorging
itself to a scandalous degree ..
Besides, Heaven help a German car parked outside a
French tavern in Paris; it is reported. But a whole row
of French petrol-driven vehicles parked there does not
bother anyone.
I would say nothing at all, on the contrary, I would not
think much of you if we did not have a marvellous
restaurant in Paris where we could get the best food
obtainable. But I do not want the French to be able to
saunter into it. Maxim must have the best food for us." [Page 169]
DR. THOMA (Counsel for defendant Rosenberg): I have only a
short question.
The prosecutor has not told us where this document can be
found, in which document book and what number it has. He
only mentioned the page on which the Tribunal can find that
document.
L. R. SHENIN: This document was presented to the Tribunal as
Exhibit USSR 170. The photostatic copy was turned over to
defence counsel.
May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: It comes from the archives of the defendant
Goering, does it not? You have so stated.
L. R. SHENIN: Yes.
Furthermore, you should be like bloodhounds on the track
of anything the German people can use; that stuff should
be brought out of the warehouses like lightning.
Whenever I issued a decree, I stated repeatedly that
soldiers are entitled to buy as much as they want and
whatever they want, as much as they can carry ...."
When our friends hear that a German is interested they
charge fantastic prices. They charge three times the
normal price and if they hear that the Reich Marshal is
in the market, they charge five times the normal price.
I wanted to buy a tapestry. Two million francs were
asked. The woman was told that the buyer wanted to see
the tapestry. She said she did not wish to let it out of
her sight. Well, then she would have to go with it. She
was told that she was going to see the Reich Marshal.
When she arrived the tapestry was priced at three
million francs. I reported it. Do you think anything was
done? I submitted the case to the French court and they
taught milady that it is inadvisable to profiteer when
dealing with me....
All that interests me is what we can squeeze out of the
territory now under our control with the utmost
application and by straining every nerve; and how much
of that can be diverted to Germany. I do not give a damn
about import and export statistics of former years.
Now, regarding shipments to the Reich. Last year France
shipped 550,000 tons of grain, and now I demand
1,200,000 tons. Two weeks from now a plan will be
submitted for handling it. There will be no more
discussion about it. What happens to the Frenchmen is of
no importance. One million two hundred thousand tons
will be delivered. Fodder: last year 500,000 tons; now
1,000,000. Meat: last year 135,000 tons; now 350,000.
Fats: last year 23,000, this year 60,000", and so on.
Neuhausen: I have supplied the Wehrmacht up to now. It
has received 250,000 kilograms in the past year. I also
supply Greece, and I have also to supply the German
troops in Croatia.
[Page 170]
Neuhausen: I shall manage that. As far as oil is
concerned, I again give 25,000 to 30,000 tons to the
Reich.
Goering: So much for the West. A special order will be
issued concerning purchasers who buy up all the clothes,
shoes, etc., that are to be had.
Now comes the East. I have settled this point with the
Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht waives the demands it made on
the home country. How much hay was required?
Backe: 1,500,000 tons. 1,000,000 tons of straw and
1,500,000 tons of oats. We can't manage that.
Goering: Now, gentlemen, there is only one thing more
regarding Wehrmacht supplies. I want to hear nothing
more about you until further notice. No more requests.
The country - with its sour milk, apples and white bread
- will feed us abundantly. The Don valley will take care
of the rest."
Now about Russia: There is no doubt of her fertility.
The position there is almost incredibly good".
We must send them to Venice to buy odds and ends, those
frightful alabaster things and cheap jewellery, etc. I
don't think there is any other place except Italy where
one gets quite such junk.
Now let us see what Russia can deliver. I think, Riecke,
we should be able to get two million pounds of cereals
and fodder out of the whole of Russia.
Riecke: That can be done.
Goering: That means that we must get three million,
apart from Wehrmacht supplies.
[Page 171]
Goering: Then we must have two million.
Riecke: No.
Goering: Well - a million and a half.
Riecke: Yes.
Goering: All right."
This threat came true. The matter has, in every sense of the
term, been "approached from another angle" - from the angle
of their responsibility for the crimes they have committed.
Thus the whole volume of evidence submitted establishes
beyond all doubt:-
1. That simultaneously with their well-laid plans for the
military invasion of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and
the USSR, the criminal Hitlerite Government and the High
Command of the German Armed Forces worked out a plan for the
mass plunder and spoliation of private, public and State-
owned property in the territories belonging to these
countries.
2. That having worked out this criminal plan, the
conspirators carried out all the preliminary measures
necessary for its execution by training special bodies of
officers and officials for the despoliation of the
territories they meant to seize; by preparing and issuing
special instructions, reference books and orders for this
purpose; by creating a special and very complicated
organisation of all sorts of "economic inspectorates",
"detachments", "groups", "joint-stock companies",
"plenipotentiaries", etc., and by calling in a large number
of specialists in different branches, military experts on
agriculture, agricultural leaders, economic spies, etc.
3. That in accordance with this long prepared plan, they
subsequently plundered and despoiled private, public and
State property in the occupied territories and also robbed
the peaceful population of these territories, having
recourse to atrocities, violence and arbitrary practices of
the most appalling nature.
4. That in order to make the soldiers and the officers of
the German Army "economically interested" in the work, the
conspirators not only failed to prosecute cases of marauding
and robbery committed by German soldiers and officers, but
even encouraged these crimes, and incited their men to
commit wholesale looting.
5. That by the commission of all these crimes the
conspirators caused enormous economic damage to the people
of the occupied territories, exposing them to starvation and
suffering, and that they derived from their criminal
activities personal gain and enrichment of themselves and
their adherents.
6. That having thus planned, prepared and initiated wars of
aggression against the freedom-loving nations, the
conspirators aimed at the predatory despoliation of these
nations, and thereafter achieved these criminal ends by
means of equally criminal and predatory methods.
[Page 172]
Of these criminal acts, each and all of which are covered by
Article 6 (b) of the Charter of the International Military
Tribunal, all the defendants must be found guilty; all of
them without exception must be held responsible both
individually and as members of the conspiracy.
With this statement of the charges I will conclude my
presentation.
May it please your Honours, the documents which I have
presented to the Tribunal and which I have read into the
record, bear silent witness to the crimes organised and
committed by the defendants.
But the conscience of the Judges will hear the testimony of
these silent witnesses, who relate truthfully the story of
the arbitrary practices and crimes of the Hitlerite brigands
and the boundless sufferings of their innumerable victims.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 21st February, 1946, at 1000
hours.)
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(Part 8 of 8)
[L. R. SHENIN continues] "At this moment Germany commands the richest granaries
that ever existed in the European area, stretching from
the Atlantic to the Volga and the Caucasus, lands more
highly developed and fertile than ever before, even if a
few of them cannot be described as granaries. I need
only remind you of the fabulous fertility of the
Netherlands, the unique paradise that is France. Belgium
too is extraordinarily fertile, and so is the province
of Posen. Then, above all, the Government, General is,
to a great extent, the rye and wheat granary of Europe,
and along with it are the amazingly fertile districts of
Lemberg, Galicia, etc., where the harvest is
exceptionally good. Then there comes Russia, the black
earth of the Ukraine on both shores of the Dnieper, the
Don region, with its remarkably fertile districts, which
have scarcely been touched. Our troops have now
occupied, or are in process of occupying the excessively
fertile districts between the Don and the Caucasus."
Goering then goes on to say:
"God knows, you are not sent out there to work for the
welfare of the people in your charge, but to squeeze the
utmost out of them, so that the German people may live.
That is what I expect of your exertions. This
everlasting concern about foreign peoples must cease
now, once and for all.
Third excerpt:
"The wealth of Holland lies close to the Ruhr. She could
send a much greater quantity of vegetables into this
stricken area now than she has done so far. What do I
care what the Dutchmen think of it.
And now I come to the next excerpt:-
"I am still discussing the Western territories. Belgium
has taken care of herself extraordinarily well. That was
very sensible of Belgium. But there, too, gentlemen,
rage incarnate could seize me. If every plot of ground
in Belgium is planted with vegetables, then they must
surely have had vegetable seed. When we wanted to start
a big campaign last year for utilising uncultivated
land, we did not have nearly as much seed as we needed.
Neither Holland nor Belgium nor France would deliver it,
although I myself was able to count 170 sacks of
vegetable seed on a single street in Paris. It is all
very well for the French to plant vegetables for
themselves; they are accustomed to doing this.
"For German officers and men three or four first class
restaurants - excellent, but not for the French....
Next excerpt:-
"Now you will say - Laval's foreign policy. Herr Laval
calms down Herr Abetz and as far as I am concerned, goes
to Maxims', although it is out of bounds. But the French
will soon have to learn. You have no idea of the
impudence they have.
The next excerpt from this address concerns the quotas to be
fixed for deliveries from countries such as Netherlands,
Belgium, Norway and the Government General. In reply to
Goering's question's and instructions definite figures were
quoted by those attending the meeting. I omit one page and
continue:-
Goering: How about fats?
Passing to the next quotation:-
"Berger: The Wehrmacht in France will, of course, be
supplied with food by France. That is a matter of
course, and I did not even mention it before.
The next quotation. Goering is still speaking:-
"I was glad to hear that the Reich Commissioner in the
East (Ostland) is doing just as well, and the people are
just as fat and chubby, and puff a little when they
work. Nevertheless, I shall see to it, no matter how
carefully certain groups are treated, that some
contribution is made from the inexhaustible fertility of
this area".
After this Lohse, Reichskommissar for Bielorussia, addressed
the meeting:-
"May I state my opinion in a few words? I would like to
give more, but certain conditions have to be observed.
The harvest is certainly excellent but in more than half
of the area of Bielorussia, which is well cultivated, it
is scarcely possible to get in the crops, unless we can
put a stop to the disturbances caused by guerrillas and
partisans. I have already been crying out for help for
four months".
He goes on to describe the activities of the partisans in
Bielorussia. In this connection Goering interrupts him and
says:-
"My dear Lohse, we have known each other for a long
time. I know well enough that you have a vivid
imagination."
And Lohse answered:-
"I will not stand for that; I never imagine anything."
In conclusion here are the last three quotations from
Goering's speech. He said:-
"We must have buyers from the Minister of Economics,
Funk, in the Ukraine and elsewhere.
The discussion went on in the same way. Goering's speech
ends with the following sentence:-
"Gentlemen, I would just like to say one thing more. I
have a very great deal to do and a very great deal of
responsibility. I have no time to read letters and
memoranda informing me that you cannot supply my
requirements. I have only time to ascertain from time to
time through short reports from Backe, whether the
commitments are being fulfilled. If not, the matter will
have to be approached from another angle."
As your Honours have heard, besides Goering this
conference was attended by the defendants Rosenberg,
Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Frank, Funk and others. As you
have heard, Goering finished his speech with a direct
threat against the participants in this conference, by
saying that he "would have to approach the matter from
another angle".