The Nuremberg Trials (Vol.4). International Military Tribunal

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СКАЧАТЬ particular quotation. Our next quotation is from the first paragraph of Page 4 of the English text. The German text is at Page 7, the last two words of line 26 down to the beginning of line 31:

      “It has been demanded by the Führer that the reduction of the meat ration should be ended by fall. This can only be achieved by the most drastic seizure of Russian livestock holdings, particularly in areas which are in a favorable transport situation in relation to Germany.”

      In the interests of expedition, Your Honors, I am omitting some sections from this last exhibit, which I had originally intended to quote.

      I skip now to line 29 of Page 4 of the English text, beginning with the underscored words “in the future,” and quote to line 48. In the German text it is at Page 8, third line from the bottom, continuing to line 17 of Page 9:

      “In the future, southern Russia must turn its face towards Europe. Its food surpluses, however, can only be paid for if it purchases its industrial consumer goods from Germany or Europe. Russian competition from the forest zone must, therefore, be abolished.

      “It follows from all that has been said that the German administration in these territories may well attempt to mitigate the consequences of the famine which undoubtedly will take place and to accelerate the return to primitive agricultural conditions. An attempt might be made to intensify cultivation in these areas by expanding the acreage under potatoes or other important food crops giving a high yield. However, these measures will not avert famine. Many tens of millions of people in this area will become redundant and will either die or have to emigrate to Siberia. Any attempt to save the population there from death by starvation, by importing surpluses from the black-soil zone, would be at the expense of supplies to Europe. It would reduce Germany’s staying power in the war and would undermine Germany’s and Europe’s power to resist the blockade. This must be clearly and absolutely understood.”

      I next quote from Page 5, lines 18 to 30 of the English text. The German text is at Page 12, lines 1 to 11.

      “I. Supplies for the Army:

      “Germany’s food situation in the third year of war demands, imperatively, that the Wehrmacht, in all its provisioning, must not live off Greater German territory or that of incorporated or friendly areas from which this territory receives imports. This minimum aim, the provisioning of the Wehrmacht from enemy territory in the third year and if necessary in later years, must be attained at any price. This means, that one-third of the Wehrmacht must be fully provisioned by French deliveries to the army of occupation. The remaining two-thirds (and even slightly more in view of the present size of the Wehrmacht) must without exception be provisioned from the Eastern areas.”

      I now quote from Page 8 of the English text, the last nine lines. The German text is at Page 18, lines 15 to 22:

      “Thus it is not important, under any circumstances, to preserve what has existed; but what matters is a deliberate turning away from the existing situation and introducing Russian food resources into the European framework. This will inevitably result in an extinction of industry as well as a large part of the people in what so far have been the food-deficit areas.”

      It is impossible to state this alternative in sufficiently hard and severe terms.

      My next quotation is from the first 10 lines of Page 9 of the English text. The German text is at Page 19, lines 11 to 20:

      “Our problem is not to replace intensive food production in Europe through the incorporation of new space in the East, but to replace imports from overseas by imports from the East. The task is two-fold:

      “1. We must use the Eastern areas for overcoming the food shortages during and after the war. This means that we must not be afraid of drawing upon the capital substance of the East. Such an intervention is much more acceptable from the European standpoint than drawing upon the capital substance of Europe’s agriculture.”

      Finally, I quote from the remainder of Page 9 to the end of the penultimate paragraph of the English text. The German text appears at lines 24 to 31 of Page 19:

      “2. For the future New Order, the food-producing areas in the East must be turned into a permanent and substantial complementary source of food for Europe, through intensified cultivation and resulting higher yields.

      “The first-named task must be accomplished at any price, even through the most ruthless cutting down of Russian domestic consumption, which will require discrimination between the consuming and producing zones.”

      It is submitted, Your Honors, that this document discloses, on its face, a studied plan to murder millions of innocent people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder of millions of innocent people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder on a scale so vast as to stagger the human imagination. Major Elwyn Jones, of the British Delegation, will subsequently show that this plan was, in effect, the logical culmination of general objectives clearly announced by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. Each defendant in the box was fully aware of these general objectives when he committed the acts with which he is charged.

      I next introduce in evidence a document no less damaging than the one I have just quoted. This document is Number L-221, which is Exhibit Number USA-317. This is a top-secret memorandum, dated 16 July 1941, of a conference at the Führer’s headquarters, concerning the war in the East. It seems to have been prepared by Defendant Bormann because his initials appear at the top of Page 1. It was captured by the United States Counter-Intelligence branch. The text of the memorandum indicates that the conference was attended by Hitler, Lammers, and Defendants Göring, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann.

      The exhibit is particularly important for the light it throws upon the conspirators’ plans to germanize conquered areas of the Soviet Union. It is important also for its disclosure of the utterly fraudulent character of the whole Nazi propaganda program. It shows how the conspirators sought to deceive the entire world; how they pretended to pursue one course of action when their aims and purposes were to follow precisely the opposite course.

      I first quote from Page 1 of the English text, beginning at line 14 of Page 1 and continuing through to line 22 of Page 2. The German text is at Page 1, beginning with the last paragraph and continuing through to line 19 of Page 3. I quote:

      “A. Now it was essential that we did not publicize our aims before the world, also there was no need for that; but the main thing was that we ourselves knew what we wanted. By no means should we render our task more difficult by making superfluous declarations. Such declarations were superfluous because we could do everything wherever we had the power, and what was beyond our power we would not be able to do anyway.

      “What we told the world about the motives for our measures ought to be conditioned, therefore, by tactical reasons. We ought to act here in exactly the same way as we did in the cases of Norway, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In these cases, too, we did not publish our aims; and it was only sensible to continue in the same way.

      “Therefore, we shall emphasize again that we were forced to occupy, administer, and secure a certain area; it was in the interest of the inhabitants that we provided order, food, traffic, and so forth, hence our measures. Nobody shall be able to recognize that it initiates a final settlement. This need not prevent our taking all necessary measures—shooting, desettling, et cetera—and we shall take them.

      “But we do not want to make any people our enemies prematurely and unnecessarily. Therefore we shall act as though we wanted to exercise a mandate only. At the same time we must know clearly that we shall never leave those countries. Our conduct therefore ought to be:

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