dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.SR.): On 1 September 1939 the fascist aggressors invaded Polish territory in treacherous violation of existing treaties. The Polish people were subjected to mass extermination, and their cities and villages were mercilessly destroyed. Official documents exposing this aggression have already been presented to the Tribunal by my colleagues. Among such documents we must mention in the first place a top-secret report on a conference, presided over by Hitler, which took place on 23 May 1939, and at which, besides Hitler and other persons, the Defendants Goering, Raeder, and Keitel were present. At this conference Hitler made a lengthy statement concerning "the present situation and the political aims." Hitler said: "The Pole is in no way an additional enemy. Poland will always be on the side of our opponents. It is not a question of Danzig only; it is the question of Lebensraum in the East, the safeguarding of our food supplies, and the solution of the Baltic problem. "Thus"-said Hitler-"sparing Poland is out of the question, and the decision remains to invade her at the first opportunity. We cannot expect the repetition of what we achieved in the case of Czechoslovakia. This time it means war." Hitler then said: "The important fact in the conflict with Poland, which will begin cavity an attack on Poland, is that it can be successful for us only if the West does not participate. If this should be impossible, it would be better to attack the Western Powers and at the same time destroy Poland." The second part of Hitler's statement was specially devoted to a number of questions of military strategy connected with his decision to attack Poland. This is how the gangster assault of HiMer's Germany on Poland was prepared in advance. It was put into execution in September 1939. We shall present documentary evidence of the monstrous crimes committed by the Hitlerites in Poland. Yugoslavia was another Slav state which was the subject of a sudden attack on the part of Hitlerite Germany.
GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.SR.): It is well known that on numerous occasions Hitler's Government had given false assurance to the effect that Germany had no aggressive intentions towards Yugoslavia. Thus, on 28 April 1939 Hitler, in his speech to the Reichstag, stated that Germany was ready to give assurances to a number of states, and in particular to Yugoslavia, that Germany wished to maintain with them relations of mutual understanding, as she was bound to them by alliances and by "close ties of friendship." Even prior to this, on 28 April 1938, the Berlin News Agency (DNB) had announced: "Confidential representatives have informed the Yugoslav Government on Germany's behalf that Germany's intentions do not extend beyond Austria and that the Yugoslav frontier will remain inviolate." In spite of these repeated and categorical declarations, Hitler's armies invaded Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 and occupied this country. This attack was unexpected only by the victims, for the Nazi clique had carefully planned this assault in advance as it had done in the above-mentioned cases. A top-secret directive issued from the Fuehrer's headquarters on 27 March 1941 and intended only for higher commanding officers of the German Army said: "My intention is to invade Yugoslavia by powerful thrusts from the area of Fiume-Graz and from Sofia in the general direction of Belgrade and further to the south, with the objective of inflicting on the Yugoslav army a decisive defeat as well as to cut off the southern part of Yugoslavia from the rest of the country and to turn it into a base for further operations of the German-Italian forces against Greece. By proposing the return of Macedonia and Banat, attempts will be made to bring about the participation of Bulgaria and Hungary in the operations.
GENERAL R. A. RUDENKO (Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.SR.): "The internal political crisis in Yugoslavia will be aggravated by political guarantees promised to the Croats." Further on, the directive lays down a detailed strategic plan for the invasion of Yugoslavia and provides for actual participation in this aggression of the German Armed Forces, including the 10th Air Corps, which had to be transferred from Italy in order to take part in these operations. Consequently, on the basis of the evidence supplied by original documents of the Hitlerite Government and High Command of the German Armed Forces, we can establish that all attacks by Hitlerite Germany on Slav states were based on a plan prepared in advance, a plan which was only a part of a common criminal conspiracy of the predatory German imperialism against freedom-loving nations. Yugoslavia as well as Poland became a victim of the German fascist aggressors who covered this flourishing state with ruins, and its fields, gardens, and ploughed land with corpses of many thousands of Yugoslav patriots who fell in the heroic struggle against the foreign invaders and enslavers, in the struggle for the freedom and independence of their native land.
THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a convenient time to break off for 10 minutes? - [A recess was taken.]
GEN. RUDENKO: May it please the Tribunal, I will now describe the crimes committed by the Hitlerite aggressors against my own country, against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On 22 June 1941 the U.S.S.R. was perfidiously attacked by Hitlerite Germany. However, it is not this date that should be considered as the actual beginning of the execution of Hitlerite Germany's plan of aggression against the Soviet Union. What took place on 22 June 1941 was conceived, prepared, and planned long before that. The Hitlerite conspirators pursued these preparations continuously. All Germany's aggressive actions against a number of European states, during the period between 1938 and 1941, were actually only preliminary measures for the main blow in the East. For fascist Germany had conceived the criminal design of seizing the territory of the Soviet Union in order to plunder and to exploit the peoples of the U.S.S.R. We need not seek confirmation thereof in Hitler's Mein Kampf or in the writings of the Hitlerite ringleaders, which, as is known, contained, together with a direct menace to the U.S.S.R., indications that the aggression of German imperialism must be directed toward the East in order to conquer the so-called "living space." This tendency of predatory German imperialism is expressed in the wellknown formula "Drang nach Osten." I revert for evidence to the official documents of the Hitlerite Government, which fully disclose the defendants' guilt in committing the criminal actions with which they are charged under the present Indictment. I beg to be allowed to refer, in the first case, to the document entitled, "Report Concerning the Conference of 23 May 1939." As can be seen from this document, this conference took place in Hitler's study at the new Reich Chancellery, and the minutes were taken down by Lieutenant Colonel Schmundt of the German General Staff. There were present at this conference: Hitler, Goering, Raeder, Brauchitsch, Keitel, General Milch, General of the Artillery Halder, and other representatives of the German High Command.
GEN. RUDENKO: The report states that the subject of the conference was, "Instructions concerning the present situation and the objects of our policy." Speaking at this conference, Hitler frequently broached the subject of the seizure of territory in the East. He declared: "If fate forces us into a conflict with the West, it would be desirable that we possess more extensive space in the East." And further: "Our problem is to extend our living space in the East, secure our food supplies, and solve the problems of the Baltic Sea and States. As regards food supplies, we can only rely upon the thinly populated areas. The thoroughness of German agriculture, together with the fertility of the soil, will show itself favorably in the manifold increase of food production." In another document known as the "Minutes of the Fuehrer's Conference with the Commander-in-Chief on 23 November 1939," Hitler stressed the necessity of solving the problem of the struggle for oil, rubber, and useful minerals; and at that conference, Hitler formulated the main tasks as follows: "... adapt the living space to the density of the population .... "This is an eternal problem: to establish the necessary balance between the number of Germans and their territory, and to secure the necessary living space. Sharp ingenuity can be of no avail here. The problem can tee solved only by the sword." At this conference Hitler with complete frankness disclosed his plans concerning the drive to the East. Boasting of his successful seizures of Moravia, Bohemia, and Poland he no longer kept secret his intentions of pursuing his aggression eastwards. "I did not resurrect the armed forces"-said Hitler-"for the purpose of keeping them inactive. The determination to act has always been alive in me. I always meant to solve this problem-sooner or later." In that the Nazi Government felt itself in no way restrained by the existence of a non-aggression pact signed between Germany and U.S.S.R. on 23 August 1939.
GEN. RUDENKO: However, Hitler's cynical declaration that treaties need only be respected as long as they serve a purpose is now universally known. My American colleague has already quoted in his address the speech made by the Defendant Jodl at the conference held by the Reich Gauleiter in Munich in January 1943. In his speech the Defendant Jodl said, "Hitler informed me, while we were still fighting in the West, of his plans to fight the U.S.S.R." In his turn, the Defendant Raeder at his preliminary examination testified that the idea of a military campaign against the U.S.S.R. had been born in Hitler's mind long ago, and it grew ever stronger with the decrease of the probability of an invasion of England in June 1940. According to the Defendant Keitel's statement, Hitler had decided to attack the U.S.S.R. at the end of 1940. Already in the spring of 1940 a plan of assault had been worked out. Conferences on this subject had been held during the summer. In July 1940 at a military conference in Reichenhall, the plan of attack on the U.S.S.R. was examined. This is also confirmed by the statement of the Defendant Jodl, who at his preliminary examination testified that the plans of attack on the U.S.S.R. were actually worked out in the months of November-December 1940 and that during that period the first directives were given to the Army, to the Navy, and to the Air Force. Speaking of these directives, Jodl refers to a document known as the Case Barbarossa. This document is signed by Hitler, Jodl, and Keitel. This directive, intended only for the High Command of the German Army, contains an elaborate and detailed plan for a sudden attack on the U.S.S.R. I quote: "The German Armed Forces must be prepared to crush Soviet Russia in a quick campaign even before the end of the war against England.
GEN. RUDENKO: "For this purpose the Army will have to employ all available units with the reservation that the occupied territories will have to be safeguarded against any surprises." The directive, Case Barbarossa, emphasizes that "great importance attaches to the fact that the intention of an attack will not be recognized." The directive further states that in case of emergency the order for attack against Soviet Russia will be given 8 weeks in advance of the intended beginning of operations, and that "preparations requiring more time to start are, if this has not already been done, to begin presently and are to be completed by 15 May 1941." And, finally, the same directive contains a detailed strategic plan of an attack on the U.S.S.R., which plan already contemplated the actual form of participation on the part of Romania and Finland in this aggression. In particular, the directive says bluntly: "Probable Allies and their tasks. "1. At the flanks of our operations the active participation, in the war against Soviet Russia, of Romania and Finland may be counted upon." The directive also states that: "we may count on the possibility that Swedish railroads and highways may become available for the deployment of the German Group North not later than the beginning of actual operations." Thus, it is incontestable that the Hitlerite Government at this time had already secured the assent of the Romanian and Finnish Governments for the participation of these countries, together with Germany, in the aggression against the U.S.S.R. This situation is apparent not only from the text of the directive, Case Barbarossa, but also from the other facts at our disposal.
GEN. RUDENKO: For example, in a statement by the German General of the Infantry Buschenhagen which we shall present to the Tribunal, the following appears: "At the end of December 1940 (approximately on the 20th), I, as the Chief of Staff of the German Forces in Norway, with the rank of colonel, was invited to take part in a conference of the chiefs of staff of the Armies at the OKH (High Command of the Army) at Zossen (near Berlin), which lasted several days. At this meeting the Chief of the General Staff, General Halder, expounded the Barbarossa plan of attack on the Soviet Union. Present at Zossen at the time of the meeting was the Chief of the General Staff of the Finnish Army, General Heinrichs, who was conferring with General Halder...." Buschenhagen further tells us how in February 1941 he left for Helsinki, where, together with a representative of the Finnish Army, he worked out a definite, plan for the attack on the U.S.S.R. On 2 or 3 March 1941, upon his return to Oslo, he compiled and submitted to the OKW a report on his mission. "On the basis of these documents"-stases Buschenhagen-"the operational plan 'Blue Fox' was drawn up, envisaging an attack on the Murmansk railroad from the area of Kuusamo, Rovaniemi, and Petsamo. The plan of operations in the area of Kirkenes-Petsamo was called 'Reindeer'; that in the area of Rovaniemi, 'Silver Fox."' Further, as narrated by Buschenhagen, towards the end of April or the beginning of May 1941 he flew again to Helsinki where: ".. .
GEN. RUDENKO: at the Finnish General Staff negotiations took place with Generals Heinrichs and Airo and Colonel Tapola, in the course of which we ascertained that the Finnish General Staff was fully prepared to participate in the coming war against the Soviet Union." In his personal written testimony given to the investigating authorities of the Soviet Union, which will be presented to the Tribunal, Marshal Ion Antonescu gives an account of his meetings with Hitler in November 1940, January 1941, and May 1941, at which were discussed the questions with regard to the preparation of war against the Soviet Union. During the first conference between Antonescu and Hitler, in which Ribbentrop and Hitler's personal interpreter, Schmidt, took part, problems directly concerning the preparation of the German aggression against the U.S.S.R. and the Romanian participation therein were discussed. In reply to the question put by the Soviet investigating authorities to Antonescu, whether his first conference with Hitler should be considered as his initial step towards an understanding with the Germans for the preparation of aggressive war against the Soviet Union, he stated, "I reply in the affirmative. Hitler undoubtedly had this in mind when working out the plans for attacking the Soviet Union." At the second meeting between Antonescu and Hitler, which took place in January 1941, the Defendants Ribbentrop, Keitel, and Jodl were present. Hitler requested Antonescu to permit the German armies concentrated on Hungarian territory to pass through Romania in order to enable them to assist the Italians in the war against Greece. Antonescu testifies: "I expressed my apprehension that the movement of German troops through Romania might serve as a pretext for military action by the Soviet Union against Romania, thus placing Romania in a very difficult position, as the Romanian army was not mobilized. To this Hitler replied that he will give an order for part of the (Berman troops intended for operations against Greece to remain in Romania.
GEN. RUDENKO: "Hitler also emphasized that, according to the information at his disposal, the Soviet Union had no intention to fight either against Germany or Romania. "Satisfied with this statement of Hitler's, I have agreed to allow the German troops to pass through Romanian territory. "General Jodl, who was present at this conference, described to me the strategic situation of the German Army, emphasizing the necessity of an attack on Greece through Bulgaria." Speaking of the third meeting with Hitler in May 1941, in the city of Munich, at which the Defendant Ribbentrop was present, Antonescu declared: "At this meeting . . . we had definitely agreed upon our joint assault on the Soviet Union. . "Hitler stated that he had decided to attack the Soviet Union. 'Having prepared this attack,' said Hitler, 'we must launch it unexpectedly along the entire frontier of the Soviet Union from the Black Sea to the Baltic. The suddenness of this military attack,' continued Hitler, 'will enable Germany and Romania to overcome in a very short time one of our most dangerous opponents.' "In connection with his war plans, Hitler asked me to place at his disposal Romanian territory for the concentration of German troops, and in conjunction with this to take a direct part in carrying out the attack on the Soviet Union." By entering the conspiracy on the side of Germany and preparing to attack the Soviet Union, Romania in her turn pursued aggressive aims. Antonescu in the same statements spoke of Hitler's promises as follows: "Hitler emphasized that Romania should not remain out of this war, as in order to get back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina she had no other way but to fight on the side of Germany. He added to this that in return for our help in the war Romania could occupy and administer other Soviet territories up to the Dnieper." Antonescu further testified: "As HiMer's proposal to start jointly the war against U.S.S.R.
GEN. RUDENKO: was in line with my aggressive intentions, I declared my readiness to participate in the assault on the Soviet Union and undertook to prepare the required number of Romanian troops and at the time to increase the deliveries of oil and farm produce for the needs of Germany. "After my return to Bucharest from Munich I began energetic preparations for the coming war." These facts are likewise confirmed by the documents from the archives of Antonescu, which will also be submitted to the Tribunal. I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the records of a conversation which took place between Antonescu and Dornberg, head of the protocol department of the German Foreign Office, on the 10th of February 1942, a conversation after meeting at the frontier: ". . . I declared"-remarks Antonescu-"that Romania entered into an alliance with the Axis not for the purpose of altering the treaty of Versailles but in order to fight the Slavs...." It will be seen from this record that hatred towards the Slav peoples united Hitler and Antonescu in their preparation and realization of a war of aggression. Documents which are to be presented to the Tribunal will show quite clearly the complicity of Hungary in the conspiracy to violate peace and in the preparation of an aggressive war against the Soviet Union. Hungary was assigned the definite role of attacking the rear of the Red Army through the Carpathian Mountains at the very moment when the German and the Romanian Armies were to open military operations against the Soviet Union. Thus the criminal block of aggressors against the peace-loving nations was set up with fascist Germany in the van. Reverting to the so-called Case Barbarossa, I wish to dwell on the more important points of this document. Case Barbarossa consists of three parts. The first sets forth its general aims; the second indicates allies of Germany in the war against the Soviet Union. The third part is devoted to the execution of military operations on land, in the air, and on sea.
GEN. RUDENKO: This document has the highly pertinent feature of having been issued, in view of its topsecret contents, in nine copies only, to comply fully with the demand for absolute secrecy on Germany's preparations for the attack on the Soviet Union. The first part of the plan reads as follows: "Troops of the Russian Army massed in the western part of Russia must be destroyed, and the retreat into the vast expanses of Russian territory of combat units must be prevented. Then, by rapid pursuit, a line must be reached from which the Russian air force will not be able to carry out attacks against German territory." The document further states that the ultimate objective of this plan was to consolidate the line Archangel-Volga,- paralyze the last remaining industrial area in the Urals by air operations, put the Baltic fleet out of commission, and prevent the possibility of active interference on the part of the Russian air force. In the third part of the document we find the directive to seize Leningrad and Kronstadt and to continue offensive operations with the objective of taking the most important center of communications and war-production, Moscow. "The seizure of this city"-according to the plan-"will mean a decisive success both politically and economically.' Such was the plan to invade the U.S.S.R.-conceived, worked out, and prepared long in advance by Hitlerite Germany. While undertaking strategic and diplomatic measures to prepare for its treacherous attack against the U.S.S.R., the Hitlerite Government conceived and planned beforehand to commit war crimes on the territory of the U.S.S.R. The so-called Case Barbarossa was a strategic plan. But this plan was supplemented by a number of instructions and orders designed to embrace all the measures relative to the problems connected with the invasion of the Soviet Union. Among these measures we must mention in the very first place the directive issued on 13 March 1941 by the headquarters of the German High Command.
GEN. RUDENKO: This directive deals with a series of organizational problems of a civilian nature and in particular with the problems relative to the organization of administrative authorities. It is of importance to note that this instruction placed German troops stationed in East Prussia and the so-called Government General (that is to say, Poland) under the laws and regulations destined for the zone of operations at least 4 weeks prior to the opening of the campaign. By this directive the High Command of the German Armed Forces was authorized to assume executive power and to delegate it to the commanding generals of the army groups and armies. One also cannot overlook in this directive Subparagraph B. which characterizes the tasks and objectives pursued by the conspirators. In this subparagraph it states: "In the theater of army operations, the Reichsfuehrer SS, by order of the Fuehrer, is given some special tasks for the preparation of political administration, arising from the decisive struggle between two opposing political systems. Within the limits of these tasks the Reichsfuehrer of the SE; acts independently, upon his own responsibility." Mankind is now well aware of the meaning of these "special tasks," the execution of which was exclusively entrusted to the SS generals and officers, who made full use of this right to act "independently" and "upon their own responsibility." It meant unheard of terror, plundering, violence, and killing of prisoners of war and peaceful citizens. Further, this directive, in a very specific way, gave the High Command also such tasks as the plundering and predatory exploitation of the areas occupied by the German troops. The directive is signed by the Defendant Keitel. In another instruction, issued in June 1941 as a supplement to the Plan Barbarossa, orders are issued which, in the guise of propaganda directives, prescribe the ruthless treatment of all those who oppose the German aggressors.