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

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СКАЧАТЬ in the newly-occupied Eastern Territories, where these territories are not included in the administration of the territories bordering on the Reich or the Government General, is subject to the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

      “I appoint Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. He will hold office in Berlin.”

      Defendant Rosenberg’s views well fitted him for this task as one of the chief executioners of the conspirators’ plans in the Soviet Union. His views were plainly expressed in a speech delivered on 20 June 1940 and are set forth in Document Number 1058-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-147. I refer Your Honors to the first three sentences of the English text. The German text appears on Page 8, last five lines and continuing through to line 2 of Page 9. In the speech Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:

      “The job of feeding the German people stands, this year, without a doubt, at the top of the list of Germany’s claims on the East; and here the southern territories and the northern Caucasus will have to serve as a balance for the feeding of the German people. We see absolutely no reason for any obligation on our part to feed also the Russian people with the products of that surplus territory. We know that this is a harsh necessity, bare of any feelings.”

      I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-347, which is Exhibit Number USA-320. This document was likewise found among the captured files of the OKW. It contains a set of directives issued by Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

      I quote from the first two full paragraphs of Page 1 of this exhibit. The German text is at Page 39, Paragraphs 4 and 5. In these directives Defendant Rosenberg stated, and I quote:

      “The principal task of the civilian administration in the Occupied Eastern Territories is to represent the interests of the Reich. This basic principle is to be given precedence in all measures and considerations. Therefore, the occupied territories, in the future, may be permitted to have a life of their own in a form not as yet to be determined. However, they remain parts of the Greater German living space and are always to be governed according to this guiding principle.

      “The regulations of the Hague Convention on land warfare, which concern the administration of a country occupied by a foreign belligerent power, are not applicable, since the U.S.S.R. is to be considered dissolved and, therefore, the Reich has the obligation of exercising all governmental and other sovereign functions in the interests of the country’s inhabitants. Therefore, any measures are permitted which the German administration deems necessary and suitable for the execution of this comprehensive task.”

      THE PRESIDENT: Hasn’t that been read before?

      CAPT. HARRIS: Not to my knowledge, Sir.

      THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

      CAPT. HARRIS: Implicit in Defendant Rosenberg’s statement that the Hague Regulations are not applicable to the Soviet Union is the recognition by him that the conspirators’ actions in the Soviet Union flagrantly violated the Hague Regulations. The statement indicates that the conspirators were utterly contemptuous of applicable principles of international law.

      Mr. Dodd has already introduced into evidence Document 294-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-185, in connection with the slave labor presentation. This document is a top-secret memorandum, dated 25 October 1942, which was found in Defendant Rosenberg’s files. It was written by Bräutigam, who was a high official in Defendant Rosenberg’s Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. I should like to quote two additional passages from this document. I quote from the English text Page 1, the first full paragraph, line 17 to 20. The German text is at Page 1, the first full paragraph, lines 22 to 25.

      “In the East, Germany is carrying on a three-fold war: A war for the destruction of bolshevism, a war for the destruction of the Greater Russian empire, and finally a war for the acquisition of colonial territory for colonizing purposes and economic exploitation. . . .

      “With the inherent instinct of the Eastern peoples, the primitive man soon found out also that for Germany the slogan: ‘Liberation from Bolshevism’ was only a pretext to enslave the Eastern peoples according to her own methods.”

      This completes, Your Honors, the list of the exhibits with respect to the Soviet Union which we propose to introduce at this time. As I mentioned at the outset of this presentation, these exhibits do not disclose all of the conspirators’ plans with respect to the occupied countries but they do, we submit, show a constant pattern, a pattern of ruthless Germanization and destruction.

      In conclusion we desire to offer in evidence two documents which disclose that German industrialists and financiers aided and abetted Himmler in his relentless program of Germanization, exploitation, oppression, and destruction.

      I first offer in evidence Document Number EC-454, which is Exhibit Number USA-321. This document was found in the vaults of the Stein Bank in Cologne among the files of the banker Baron Kurt von Schröder, by a joint British-American team, headed by Colonel Kellam on the British side and Captain Roth on the American side. It is a carbon copy of a letter from Von Schröder to Himmler, dated 27 August 1943, and bears Von Schröder’s initials. I quote it in its entirety:

      “My very honorable Reichsführer: With great joy I learn of your appointment as Reich Minister of the Interior and take the liberty to extend my heartiest congratulations to you on assuming your new post.

      “A strong hand is now very necessary in the operation of this department; and it is universally welcomed, but especially by your friends, that it was you who were chosen for this by the Führer. Please be assured that we will always do everything in our power at all times to assist you in every possible way.

      “I am pleased to inform you at this opportunity that your circle of friends has again placed at your disposal this year a sum slightly in excess of 1 million RM for ‘your particular tasks.’ An exact list showing the names of the contributors will be sent to you shortly.

      “Again all my very best wishes—as well as those of my family. I remain yours in old loyalty and esteem. Heil Hitler! Yours truly.”

      I next offer in evidence—and this is the final exhibit, Your Honors—Document Number EC-453, which is Exhibit Number USA-322. This document was likewise found in the Stein Bank in Cologne by the above-mentioned joint British-American team. It is a carbon copy of a letter from Von Schröder to Himmler, dated 21 September 1943, bearing Von Schröder’s initials, with the enclosed list of contributors . . . .

      THE PRESIDENT: Captain Harris, on what principle do you suggest that either of these letters can possibly be evidence in this case?

      CAPT. HARRIS: Your Honors, at the time the motion to postpone the Trial as to Gustav Krupp was argued before this Tribunal, the British Chief Prosecutor specifically stated that if it should be the decision of the Tribunal that Krupp should be dismissed, the evidence as to the part which he, his firm, and other industrialists played in the preparation and conduct of the war would still be given to this Tribunal as forming part of the general conspiracy in which these defendants were involved, with divers other persons not now before the Court.

      The evidence we are now offering, Your Honors, is precisely of the type indicated by Sir Hartley Shawcross. It is evidence which goes to prove the length and breadth of the general conspiracy which is alleged in the Indictment. Evidence showing contributions to one of the leading conspirators, a conspirator who was in the forefront of the unlawful program to plunder public and private property and to germanize a large part of the world, is, it is submitted, relevant to this proceeding. May I continue?

      THE СКАЧАТЬ