One Hundred and Eighty-Ninth Day:
Monday, 29th July, 1946
[Page 46] Kaltenbrunner
On 30th January, 1943, he was appointed Head of the Reich Main Security
Office and Chief of the SD.
Numerous documents, and especially directives signed by Kaltenbrunner,
for the mass deportation of people to the concentration camps, the
testimonies of his subordinates, including the depositions of Walter
Schellenberg, former Chief of Security (Amt VI), and of Otto Ohlendorf,
Chief of the Security Service of the Interior, fully convict
Kaltenbrunner of the most heinous crimes.
At the session of 12th April, 1946, in the course of Kaltenbrunner's
examination, the testimonies of Johann Kandutor, ex-prisoner of
Mauthausen, were read into the record. In his depositions, Kandutor
described as follows the manner in which Kaltenbrunner passed his time
on one of his visits to the camp:
[Page 47]
Together with other RSHA organizations, Kaltenbrunner took over from
Heidrich five "Einsatzgruppen." The citizens of the Soviet Union well
remember these criminal organizations of German Fascism, headed by
Kaltenbrunner.
"Einsatzgruppe A" reached the approaches to Leningrad. It created the
"Fort of Death No. 9" near Kaunas and the secret centre for the mass
extermination of human beings in Panarai; it carried out executions by
shooting in the woods of Salaspilsk and Bikerneksk near Riga; it erected
gallows in the parks of one of Leningrad's suburbs - the Pushkino.
"Einsatzgruppe B" settled down in the vicinity of Smolensk.
It burnt alive the peasants of Byelorussia; it shot down the victims of
the awful Pinsk "action"; it drowned thousands of Byelorussian women and
children in the Mosyr marshes; it operated with "murder vans" in Minsk;
it liquidated the ghetto in the "Verchni Sadkov" district of Smolensk.
"Einsatzgruppe C" was billeted in Kiev. This group carried out the mass
"action" in Baby-Yar near Kiev, an execution unmatched in cruelty, when
100,000 Soviet citizens perished on a single day.
"Einsatzgruppe D" operated in the southern regions of the temporarily
occupied territories of the Soviet Union. This group was the first to
experiment with the "murder vans" on Soviet citizens in the district
of Stavropol and in Krasnodar.
And when Kaltenbrunner's fate will be decided, all the victims
asphyxiated in the " murder vans " near Stavropol, buried alive in the
graves near Kiev and Riga, burnt alive in the Byelorussian villages,
must never be forgotten.
All these innocent victims are on his unclean conscience.
Successor to a hangman, and himself a hangman, Kaltenbrunner carried out
the most revolting function in the common criminal plan of the Hitlerite
clique.
Rosenberg
In spite of Rosenberg's efforts to minimize both his role and his
importance, in spite of his efforts to juggle with historical facts and
events - he cannot deny that he was the official ideologist of the Nazi
Party, that as long as a quarter of a century ago he had laid the
"theoretical" foundations of the Fascist Hitlerite State, and that
during this whole period he morally corrupted millions of Germans,
preparing them "ideologically" for the monstrous crimes committed by
the Hitlerites - crimes unprecedented in history, and which are the
subject of this trial.
When, at the trial, Rosenberg was asked: "Were you not one of Hitler's
closest collaborators? " he did not even speak - he shouted in reply:
"That is not true. I never was." But however hard Rosenberg tried to
deny his "Fuehrer," he has not succeeded in washing away the stigma of
being "one of the oldest and the most faithful of Hitler's
comrades-in-arms." For twenty-five years Rosenberg, first acting as
Hitler's collaborator and afterwards under his direction, worked out and
assisted in the realization of the fantastic plan for world supremacy,
having chosen, for the justification of this criminal plan, the man-
hating theory of racialism.
The fact that Rosenberg utilized for his purposes garbage of science and
borrowed some of his theories from Karl Luger and Paul Lagarde, Count
Gobino and
[Page 48]
The important fact is that Rosenberg, having assembled all these
scientific excreta, raised the racial theories to a degree of racial
fanaticism and educated, in this spirit, the members of the Nazi Party
and the youth of Germany. And when the representatives of the "master
race" elaborated and committed acts of aggression, when the German
oppressors enslaved and exterminated nations and peoples, when the
factories of death were created at Maidanek and Auschwitz, Rosenberg's
share in all these crimes was not insignificant.
All this was the outcome of the Fascist racial ideology, the essence of
which consists in the idea that the "Aryan," "North Germanic" race is a
"master race," and that all other races and nations belong to "lower
strata."
Rosenberg's counsel said: "The Tribunal must judge crimes and not
theories." In Rosenberg's case, such an argument is clearly
unconvincing. For Rosenberg not only confessed the Fascist racial
theory, but knowingly propagated it and instilled it into the conscience
of the German people, this very theory which became a direct menace to
the existence of the democratic European States. The person who carries
microbes must be isolated, but the person who willingly disseminates
microbes must be tried.
Rosenberg's criminal activities were not limited to the ideological
preparation for aggression and to the propagation of man-hating
theories. His activities had many facets.
The criminal activities of the foreign policy department of the NSDAP
have already been sufficiently elucidated at this trial; this
department, which for many years was subordinated to the defendant Rosenberg, was in charge of the semi-legal Nazi agencies abroad. The participation of this organization
in the measures of foreign policy undertaken by Hitlerite Germany and in
the initiation of aggressive wars is very great indeed.
One of the documents submitted by Neurath's counsel and accepted by the
Tribunal reads as follows:
I see no necessity to give an analysis of all Rosenberg's criminal
activities and I only intend to dwell, very briefly, on his activities
as "Fuehrer's Plenipotentiary" and, later, as Reich Minister for the
Occupied Eastern Territories. In these functions he exercised his
talents, as a participant in the criminal conspiracy, with much
activity.
Rosenberg declares that he was against war with the USSR and that he
learned from Hitler about the preparations for an attack against the
USSR only when all the orders to military channels had already been
issued, and that he never really had any influence on the foreign policy
of Hitlerite Germany. I affirm, your Honours, that all these
declarations of Rosenberg are false.
It is a well-known fact that the plan for a German crusade against
Soviet Russia was actually the starting-point of the National Socialist
foreign policy, as set out in the 192 1 New Year publication of the
Volkischer Beobachter, and that the author of this policy was Alfred
Rosenberg. It was Rosenberg who, inspired by Ludendorf and Rechberg,
propagated - together with Hitler - a foreign policy directed towards
the creation of an anti-Semitic, anti-Bolshevik and anti-British
continent of Europe.
Rosenberg's speeches, setting out plans for the "exchange" of the Polish
Corridor against the Ukraine, his "diplomatic" journeys into certain
countries after the seizure of power by the Fascists, his clumsy efforts
to realize the foreign policy programme of the Fascist Party - were
disclosed in detail in the Press.
[Page 49]
On 7th April, 1941, two weeks prior to his nomination, Rosenberg sent
his proposals to Hitler for the division of the Soviet Union into Reich
Commissariats and for the appointment of Fascist governors for the
occupied territories. Byelorussia and the Ukraine, Minsk and Kiev,
Rostov and Tbilisi, Leningrad and Moscow, were all enumerated in
Rosenberg's proposals. For the post of Reich Commissar of Moscow,
Rosenberg recommended the notorious Erich Koch.
We have heard about Rosenberg's meetings with Brauchitsch and Raeder and
of his conferences with Funk, General Thomas, Secretary of State Backe
and others, on the question of economic exploitation of the Eastern
territories, and about his negotiations with Ribbentrop, the SS Chief of
Staff and the Chief of the German Intelligence Service, Admiral Canaris.
Already six weeks prior to the attack on the USSR, he drafted directives
for all the Reich Commissars of the occupied Eastern territories, in
which he provided for a "Reich Commissariat `Russia'" and a "Reich
Commissariat 'Caucasus,'" whilst the Byelorussian Republic was to form a
part of the "Reich Commissariat 'Ostland.'"
Rosenberg attempted to affirm that he did not share in the aggressive
and predatory aims of the war against the USSR, and that, in his
capacity of Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, he all but
loaded with benefits the population of these territories. And this he
dares to affirm when the directive to the Reich Commissar of the Baltic
States and Byelorussia described his aims as follows:
Rosenberg described here his dissensions with Koch; he alleged that he
has followed a humanitarian policy and even imported agricultural
machinery.
Even if Rosenberg did indeed, from time to time, object to Koch's
actions, it was only because he was afraid of premature publicity,
because he was afraid that Koch's unparalleled ill-treatment of the
Ukrainian people would only strengthen the resistance movement.
Rosenberg was influenced by fear and not by any humanitarian
considerations. Rosenberg's true policy is set out in numerous documents
which have now become known to the public opinion of the world and which
are in the files of the Tribunal.
[Page 50]
On 16th October, 1941, Rosenberg wrote to Hitler as follows:
... Having the whole picture before our eyes, we can satisfy all
the just wishes and demands of the Greater German Reich. On this
basis I would also be willing personally to guarantee that all the
art treasures from the Linz and other museums which can be utilized
for your own plans were factually used for this purpose."
And after this, he dares to speak about some machines which he has
allegedly imported into the Ukraine!
And finally, I shall speak about the ridiculous theory of the so-called
Rosenberg's "noble anti-Semitism." It is absurd to argue with
Rosenberg's counsel, who affirms that such a thing as a "noble anti-
Semitism " really exists, and it is all the more absurd to argue with
Rosenberg. In my statement to the Tribunal, I threw some light on the
Fascist propaganda contained in the speeches of the defence. I would now
like to recall to the Tribunal the text of two of Rosenberg's documents
In his directive of 29th April, 1941, he wrote:
[Page 51]
In 1937, Rosenberg received the German national prize. Commenting on
this event, the Fascist Press wrote as follows:
Only future generations will be able fully to appreciate the
profound influence of this man on the philosophical foundations of
the National Socialist State."
(Part 10 of 12)
[GENERAL RUDENKO continues.] "Laughing, Kaltenbrunner entered the gas chamber; then the
prisoners were led from the barracks to execution and all three
methods of execution were demonstrated - hanging, shooting in the
nape of the neck and asphyxiation by gas."
I shall not dwell upon the numerous proofs available, since they have
been sufficiently clarified before the Tribunal. There is only one point
of the accusation against Kaltenbrunner on which I consider it necessary
to dwell.
"... there existed at one time in Berlin three sorts of ministries
for foreign affairs: Rosenberg's ministry, Ribbentrop's ministry,
and the official ministry on the Wilhelmstrasse."
And finally, Rosenberg's letter to Hitler of 6th February, 1938,
stressed his real influence on the foreign policy of Hitlerite Germany
and his "merits" in this field, When he applied for membership in the
Secret Council of the Cabinet.
" . . . the creation of a German protectorate for the purpose of
subsequent inclusion of these regions in the Greater German Reich,
by the Germanization of elements suitable from the racial point of
view, by the colonization by representatives of the German race and
by the extermination of all undesirable elements."
And the following was said in addition to recommendations made in
another of Rosenberg's directives on the subject of the civil
administration in the Eastern occupied territories:
"Our main task . is the furtherance of the interests of the Reich.
The regulations of the Hague Convention regarding land warfare are
not valid, since we can consider that the USSR has been
destroyed.... For this reason, all measures which the German
administration may consider necessary or convenient are
admissible."
Rosenberg was too hasty in his assertion that the USSR was destroyed;
lie let the cat out of the bag and gave away his secret plans. But this
document is also an irrefutable proof, invalidating all the attempts of
the defendant to cast the burden of responsibility for the monstrous
Crimes perpetrated by the German Fascist aggressors throughout the
occupied territories of the USSR from his own shoulders to those of
individual officials and policemen, of Koch and Himmler.
It was Rosenberg who permitted the repudiation of the Hague Convention
and the utilization of all measures which might seem "convenient." When
Koch for his "convenience" exterminated the population of the entire
Zuman district, he was merely acting in the spirit of this directive.
"... the utilization of minerals, the creation of a German colony
in certain regions, noartificial intellectual development of the
population, but its preservation as a source of manpower."
In his report on the reorganization of the Caucasus, Rosenberg wrote
that:
"The problem of the East consists in the transplanting of the
Baltic nations to the soil of German culture and in the preparation
for the large-scale expansion of German frontiers. The task of the
Ukraine is to secure necessar food supplies for Germany and Europe,
and raw materials for the continent. The problem of the Caucasus is
primarily a political problem and it will lead to the expansion of
continental Europe, headed by Germany, from the isthmus of the
Caucasus to the Near East."
And finally, I would like to point out that it was Rosenberg who had
made the following statement, at a conference of the German Labour
Front, on the policy adopted in the occupied USSR territories:
"It is obvious that if we are to subjugate these peoples, arbitrary
justice and tyranny will be the most suitable form of government."
The defence affirms that Rosenberg and his " Einsatzstab " were not
concerned with the plunder of cultural treasures, but with their
preservation. This statement is also entirely false. Numerous documents
read into the record at this trial have proved that as early as April,
1941, i.e., more than two months prior to the attack on the USSR,
Rosenberg was organizing special units and staffs and was elaborating
plans for the removal of the cultural treasures of the Soviet Union.
"I have now issued an order to a similar operative staff of my
organization to carry out in the Eastern occupied territories the
work already accomplished in the West.
On 17th October, 1944, Rosenberg wrote to Lammers that for the transport
of goods "listed" by his organization it was necessary to use 1,418,000
railroad cars, whilst 427,000 further tons were shipped by water. In
this same letter Rosenberg mentioned that amongst the confiscated goods
removed to Germany there were 9,000 cars with agricultural and other
machinery.
"The general solution of the Jewish problem must, at the present
moment, be carried out by methods of a temporary nature. Slave
labour for Jews, the creation of the ghetto, etc., must be the
solution of this problem."
Even more cynical and frank is the statement made by Rosenberg in
November, 1942, when he, in his capacity of Minister for the Occupied
Eastern Territories, addressed a conference of the German Labour Front:
"We must not be satisfied," said Rosenberg, "with the deportation
of Jews to another country and with the creation, here or there, of
a large Jewish
ghetto; no, our object must always remain the same. The Jewish
problem in Europe and in Germany will be solved only when there are
no more Jews left on the European continent."
And the operations "Kotbus," the extermination of Jews in the Baltic
towns, in the Ukraine and Byelorussia-all these were carried out in
conformity with Rosenberg's theories and with his agreement.
"Alfred Rosenberg has brilliantly succeeded with his books in
building up the scientific and spiritual foundations and in
consolidating and strengthening the philosophy of National
Socialism.
But the future has now become the present. And I am sure that the
Tribunal will be able duly to appreciate not only the influence
exercised by Rosenberg on the " philosophical foundations of the
National Socialist State," but also his active participation in all the
crimes against peace and humanity perpetrated by the Hitlerites.