International Military Tribunal - The Nuremberg Trials - Complete Tribunal Proceedings (V. 8)

Mere quotations from these and other decrees may create a wrong impression as to the means used by the defendants in the case of the Jewish property in Poland. But it should be pointed out that steps concerning Jewish property were only preliminaries to infinitely greater crimes in the future. At the end of this section of the report is justly stated—I quote:

“Aside from the crimes which have been proved and described here, there are thousands of others which fade into insignificance beside the numberless crimes of mass murder, mass plunder, and mass destruction.”

It is impossible to enumerate all the crimes committed in Poland under the direct leadership of the Defendant Frank, who was the head of all the administration in the so-called Government General.

Frank’s diaries which were found and became part of the evidence in this case, give a clear and concrete idea of the crimes committed by the Hitlerites in Poland under his direction. In these diaries, Your Honors, are entries which have a direct bearing on the subject of my presentation.

Therefore I should like, with your permission, to quote excerpts from this diary which have not yet been quoted.

I quote from the volume entitled “Conference of Departmental Heads for 1939-1940” (Document Number USSR-223), Pages 11 and 12. In your document book, gentlemen, this excerpt is on Page 21:

“My relationship with the Poles resembles that between an ant and a plant louse. When I treat the Poles helpfully, tickle them in a friendly manner, so to speak, I do it in the expectation that I shall profit by their labor output. This is not a political, but a purely tactical and technical problem. In cases where, in spite of all measures, the output does not increase, or where I have the slightest reason to step in, I would not hesitate to take even the most Draconian action.”

From the volume entitled “Diary 1942” I quote:

“Dr. Frank: ‘We must remember that notes issued by the Bank of Poland to the value of 540,000,000 zlotys were taken over in Occupied Eastern Territory by the Governor General without any compensation being made by the Reich. This represents a contribution of more than 500 million exacted from the Government General by Germany, in addition to other payments.’ ”

From the same volume, Page 1277—this concerns the Governor’s conference which took place on 7 December 1942, in Kraków—measures for increasing production for the years 1942-43 were discussed. A certain Dr. Fischer stated:

“If the new food scheme is carried out, it would mean that in Warsaw and its suburbs alone 500,000 people would be deprived of food.”

From the same volume on Page 1331, Frank speaks:

“I shall endeavor to squeeze out from the reserves of this province everything that it is still possible to squeeze out. . . . If you recall that I was able to send to Germany 600,000 tons of grain and that an additional 180,000 tons were reserved for local troops, as well as many thousands of tons of seed, fats, vegetables, besides the export to Germany of 300 million eggs, et cetera, you will understand how important work in this region is for Germany.”

This same Frank on Page 1332 states the following—the Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 27 of the document book:

“These consignments to the Reich had, however, one definite drawback to them, since the quantities we were responsible for delivering exceeded the actual food supplies required by the region. We now have to face the following problem. Can we, as from February, cut 2 million non-German inhabitants of the region out of the general rationing scheme?”

In the volume entitled “Workers Conferences for 1943,” we find an excerpt concerning the conference of 14 April 1943, which took place in Kraków. On Page 28 of the document book, the Tribunal will find the excerpt which I wish to read into the record.

“President Naumann is speaking, and he quotes the figures estimated for 1943-44:

“One thousand five hundred tons of sweets for the Germans, 36 million liters of skimmed fresh milk; 15,100,000 liters of full cream milk for the Germans.”

On Page 24 the same person continues—this total account is on Page 28 of the document book:

“Last year, more than 20 percent of the total amount of live stock in the Government General was requisitioned. Cattle which were really required for the production of milk and butter were slaughtered last year so that the Reich and the armed forces could be supplied and the meat ration maintained to a certain extent. If we want 120,000 tons of meat, we must sacrifice 40 percent of the remaining live stock.”

And further:

“In answer to a question by the Governor General, President Naumann replied that 383,000 tons of grain were requisitioned in 1940, 685,000 tons in 1941, and 1.2 million tons in 1942. It appears from these figures that requisitions have increased from year to year and have steadily approached the limits of possibility. Now they are preparing to increase the requisitions by another 200,000 tons which will bring them to the extreme bounds of possibility. The Polish peasant cannot be allowed to starve beyond the point where he will still be able to cultivate his fields and carry out any further tasks imposed upon him, such as carting wood for the forestry authorities.”

However, the quotation which I have read from Naumann’s reply in no way influenced the policy of the merciless plundering of the Polish people, whose fate, to use Frank’s own words, interested him from one angle only.

In the volume entitled “Diary, From 1 January to 28 February 1944” there is the following statement by Frank made at the conference of the leaders of German agriculture on 12 January 1944. The Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 30 of the document book.

“Once we have won the war, the Poles, Ukrainians, and all other people living around can be made into mincemeat, or anything else, as far as I am concerned.”

I believe, Your Honors, that after this quotation there is no need for me, as a representative of the Soviet Prosecution, to add anything more to that section of my statement which deals with the crimes committed by the Hitlerite criminals on the territory of the Polish State. Indeed, any one of the sentences quoted is more than sufficient to give us an exact picture of the regime in Poland created by Frank, and of Frank himself, who created this regime.

Turning now to the plunder and pillage of private and public property by the Hitlerites in Yugoslavia, I must, Your Honors, read the appropriate extracts of the official report of the Yugoslav Government, submitted to the International Military Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit USSR-36 (Document Number USSR-36). This report, in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter, is submitted as irrefutable evidence.

Count 6 of this report, entitled “Plunder of Public and Private Property,” reads as follows—this count is on Page 32 of the document book:

“6. Plunder of public and private property.

“Along with the exploitation of manpower the plundering of public and private property was systematically carried out in Yugoslavia. This plunder was carried out in various ways and within the scope of the different measures taken. In this way, too, Germany succeeded in completely exhausting the economic and financial forces in occupied Yugoslavia and in destroying her almost completely from the economic point of view.

“We shall cite here only a few examples of this systematic plunder:

“A. Currency and credit measures.

“Just as in other occupied countries, the Germans, immediately after their entry into Yugoslavia, carried out a series of currency measures which enabled them to take out of Yugoslavia in great quantities goods and other valuables at an insignificant price. As early as 14 April 1941”—that is to say, even before the occupation of Yugoslavia was actually completed—“the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, ‘on the basis of the authority received from the Führer and Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces,’ issued the ‘Proclamation Concerning Occupied Yugoslav Territory.’