dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Hans Frank, President of the Academy for German Law, 7th year 1940." Now, if I may ask Your Honors to turn to Document Number 661-PS, I should first like to quote Page 1, lines 6 to 24, of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 6, lines 6 to 10; and line 22, Page 6, to line 4, Page 7. I quote: "A the carrying out of costly and long-term measures for the increase of agricultural production, the Government General can, at the most, absorb 1 to 1.5 million resettlers, as it is already over-populated m many cases.... By further absorption of 1.6 million resettlers the 1925 Reich census figure of 133 inhabitants per square kilometer would be reached, which practically, because of already existing rural over-population and lack of industry, would result in a double over-pressure. "This figure of 1.6 million will barely suffice for deportations from the Reich: "The Jews from the liberated East (over 600,000); groups of the remaining Jews, preferably the younger age groups from Germany proper, Austria, Sudetengau and the Protectorate (altogether over 1 million) " Continuing the quotation, the report goes on with respect to transfers from the Reich, and I continue to quote: "The Polish intelligentsia, who have been branded as politicians, and potential political leaders; the leading economic personalities, comprising owners of large estates, industrialists and businessmen, et cetera; the peasant population, so far as it has to be removed in order to carry out, by strips of German settlements, the encirclement of Polish territories in the East." Next I quote the last paragraph on Page 1 of the English text. The German text is at Page 8, lines 3-10: "In order to relieve the living space of the Poles in the Government General as well as in the liberated East, one should temporarily remove cheap labor by the hundreds of thousands, employ them for a few years in the Old Reich, and thereby hamper their native biological propagation.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): (Their assimilation into the Old Reich must be prevented.)" Finally, I quote from the last paragraph of Page 2 of the English text. In the German text it is the last 5 lines on Page 40: "Strictest care is to be taken that secret documents, memoranda, and official correspondence which contain instructions detrimental to the Poles are kept steadily under lock and key, so that they will not some day fill the White Books printed in Paris or the U.S.A." Your Honors will recall, from your own experiences, the vicious propaganda campaigns conducted by Nazi Germany to discredit the Polish books when they made their appearance in countries friendly to Poland. The last paragraph of this document which I have just read gives the lie to that whole Nazi propaganda campaign. The plans for the deportation of thousands of innocent people, which are set forth in the document from which I have just quoted, were not mere theories spun by lawyers. They represented, as the next three documents to be offered in evidence will show, a program which was, in fact, ruthlessly executed. I next offer in evidence Document Number 2233(g)-PS, the Frank diaries, 1939, from 25 October to 15 December, which is Exhibit Number USA-302. This document was obtained from the 7th Army document center at Heidelberg I quote from the last paragraph of Page 1, carrying over to the first two lines of Page 2 of the English text. In the German text the statements appear at Page 19, lines 19 to 28. Defendant Frank stated, and I quote: "The Reichsfuehrer SS"-meaning Himmler-"wishes that all Jews be evacuated from the newly gained Reich territories. Up to February approximately 1 million people are to be brought in this way into the Government General. The families of good racial extraction present in the occupied Polish territory (approximately 4 million people) should be transferred into the Reich and individually housed, thereby being uprooted as a people." I next offer in evidence Document Number EC-305, which is Exhibit Number USA-303.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): This exhibit is the top-secret minutes of a meeting held on 12 February 1940, under the chairmanship of Defendant Goering, on "Questions Concerning the East." The document was found in the captured OKW files. Himmler and Defendant Frank likewise were present at this meeting. I initially quote from Page 1, lines 15 to 17, of the English text. These extracts are found in the front page, lines 1 to 8, of the German text. The minutes state, and I quote: "By way of introduction the General Field Marshal"- meaning Defendant Goering-"explained that the strengthening of the war potential of the Reich must be the chief aim of all measures to be taken in the East." I next quote the first two lines of the last paragraph on Page 1 of the English text. The German text appears at Page 2, lines 2 to 4. "Agriculture: The task consists of obtaining the greatest possible agricultural production from the new eastern Gaue, disregarding questions of ownership." I next quote from the second paragraph of Page 2 of the English text. This is at Page 3, lines 22-24, of the German text: "Special questions concerning the Government General.... The Government General will have to receive the Jews who are ordered to emigrate from Germany and the new eastern Gaue." Finally, I quote the paragraph numbered 2 under Roman numeral II of Page 2 of the English text, These statements appear in the German text at Page 4, lines 3-19: "The following reported on the situation in the Eastern territories.... "2. Reichsstatthalter Gauleiter Forster"-who said-" 'The population of the Danzig-West Prussia Gau (newly acquired territories) is 1.5 million, of whom 243,000 are Germans, 850,000 well-established Poles, and 300,000 immigrant Poles, Jews, and asocials (1,800 Jews). There have been evacuated 87,000 persons, 40,000 of these from Gdynia. From there also the numerous shirkers, who are now loo7ked after by welfare, will have to be deported to the Government General.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Therefore an evacuation of 20,000 additional persons can be counted on for the current year."' Comparable reports were made by other Gauleiter at the meeting. The figures that were quoted, it may be noted, were only as of February 1940. The forcible deportations, which are reported in the exhibits from which I have just read, did not involve merely ordering the unfortunate victims to leave their homes and to take up new residences elsewhere. These deportations were accomplished according to plan in an utterly brutal and inhuman manner. Document Number.1918-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-304, affords striking proof of this fact; and I offer it in evidence. This is a speech delivered by Himmler to officers of the SS on a day commemorating the presentation of the Nazi flag. It is contained in a compilation of speeches delivered by Himmler, and was captured by the Counter-Intelligence branch of the United States Army. The exact date of the speech does not appear in the exhibit, but its contents plainly show that it was delivered sometime after Poland had been overrun. I quote from the second to the eighth lines of Page 1 of the English text. In the German text this quotation appears on Page 52, lines 2 to 10. In this speech Himmler said, and I quote: "Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks about the deportation of these people here. These thoughts came to me today when watching the very difficult work out there performed by the Security Police, supported by your men, who help them a great deal. Exactly the same thing happened in Poland in weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul away thousands, ten thousands, a hundred thousand; where we had to have the toughness-you should hear this but also forget it again-to shoot thousands of leading Poles." I repeat the latter statement: "Where we had to have the toughness ...
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): to shoot thousands of leading Poles." Such Poles from the incorporated area as managed to survive the journey to the Government General could look forward, at best, to extreme hardship and exposure to every form of degradation and brutality. Your Honors will recall Defendant Frank's statement contained in Document Number EC-344(16), now Exhibit Number USA-297, which was introduced a short while ago, that the Polish economy would be reduced to the absolute minimum necessary for the bare existence of the population. Your Honors will also recall Defendant Goering's directive in Document Number EC-410, now Exhibit Number USA-298, also introduced a few moments ago, that all industrial enterprises in the Government General not absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the naked existence of the Polish population must be removed to Germany. A bare and naked existence, by the precepts of the conspirators, meant virtual starvation. For the Jews who were forcibly deported to the Government General there was, of course, absolutely no hope. They were, in effect, deported to their graves. The Defendant Frank, by his own admissions, had dedicated himself to their complete annihilation. I refer Your Honors to the Frank diaries, conference volume, 1941, October to December, which is Document Number 2233(d)-PS, which was introduced by Major Walsh earlier as Exhibit Number USA-281. The particular statement that I want to quote appears on Page 4, Your Honor, of Document Number 2233-PS. I believe it appears at Page 71, lines 9 and 10 of the German text. I quote-this is what Defendant Frank stated, "We must Annihilate Jews, wherever we find them, and wherever it is possible...." I turn next to that aspect of the conspirators' program which involved the forcible Germanization of persons in the incorporated area who were deemed to possess German blood. I refer you now, Your Honors, to the incorporated area, to persons who were deemed to possess German blood.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Such persons, the evidence will show, were given the choice of the concentration camp or submission to Germanization. Himmler was the chief executioner of this program; and initially I should dike to introduce a few documents which disclose the powers bestowed upon him and his conception of his task. First, I offer in evidence Document Number 686-PS. This is Exhibit Number USIL-305. This is a copy of a secret decree signed by Hitler and Defendants Goering and Keitel, dated 7 October 1939, entrusting Himmler with the task of executing the conspirators' Germanization program. This particular document came from the ministerial collection center at Kassel, Germany. I quote from Page 1, lines 9 to 21 of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 1, lines 13 to 25: "The Reichsfuehrer SS"-that was Himmler-"has the obligation in accordance with my directives: "1. To bring back for final return into the Reich al1 German nationals and racial Germans in the foreign countries. "2. To eliminate the harmful influence of such alien parts of the population which represent a danger to the Reich and the German fold community. "3. The forming of new German settlements by resettling and,. in particular, by settling the returning German citizens and racial Germans from abroad. "The Reichsfuehrer SS is authorized to take ad necessary general and administrative measures for the execution of his obligation." Himmler's conception of his task under this decree is plainly stated in the foreword which he wrote for the Deutsche Arbeit issue of June-July 1942. The foreword is contained in Document Number 2915-PS, now Exhibit Number USA-306. I quote from the first four lines of the English text. The German text appears at Page 157: "It is our task"-Himmler wrote-"to germanize the East, not in the old sense-that is, to teach the people there the German language and German law-but to see to it that only people of purely German, Germanic blood live in the East. Signed, Himmler." I next offer evidence Document Number 2916-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-307.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): This document contains various materials taken out of Der Menscheneinsatz of 1940, a confidential publication issued by Himmler's office for the consolidation of German nationhood. I quote initially from Page 1, lines 7 to 11. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 51, first four lines under letter "D." I quote: "The removal of foreign races from the incorporated Eastern Territories is one of the most essential goals to be accomplished in the German East. This is the chief national political task, which has to be executed in the incorporated Eastern Territories by the Reichsfuehrer SS, Reich Commissioner for the Preservation of German Nationality." I next quote from lines 33 to 39 of Page 1 of the English text. In the German text these extracts appear on Page 52, lines 14 to 20. I quote: "There are the following two primary reasons which make - the regaining of this lost German blood an urgent necessity: "1. Prevention of a further increase of the Polish intelligentsia through families of German descent, even if they are Polonized. "2. Increase of the population by racial elements desirable for the German nation and the acquisition of ethnobiologically unobjectionable forces for the German reconstruction of agriculture and industry." Further light is thrown upon the goals which the conspirators had set for their Germanization program in conquered Eastern areas by a speech delivered by Himmler on 14 October 1943. This speech was published by the National Socialist leadership staff of the OKW. The document came to us through the Document Section, 3rd U.S. Infantry Division. Excerpts from this speech are set forth in LAO, which is Exhibit Number USA-308. I quote all of the English text; and in the German text these excerpts appear at Page 23, lines 6 to 11, 12 to 15, 20 to 23, and Page 30, lines 7 to 16.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Himmler said, and I quote: "Therefore, I consider that in dealing with members of a foreign country, especially some Slav nationality, we must not start from German points of view, we must not endow these people with decent German thoughts and logical conclusions of which they are not capable, but we must take them as they really are. "Obviously in such a mixture of peoples there will always be some racially good types. Therefore I think that it is our duty to tale their children with us, to remove them from their environment, if necessary, by robbing or stealing them. Either we win over the good blood that we can use for ourselves and give it a place in our people or ... we destroy that blood." Continuing the German text on Page 30, lines 7 to 16, which is a continuation of the English text, I believe, Your Honor- Himmler stated and I quote: "For us the end of this war will mean an open road to the East, the creation of the Germanic Reich in this way or that . . . the fetching home of 30 million human beings of our blood, so that still during our lifetime we shall be a people of 120 million Germanic souls. That means that we shall be the sole and decisive power in Europe. That means that we shall then be able to tackle the peace, during which we shall be willing for the first 20 years to rebuild and spread out our villages and towns, and that we shall push the borders of our German race 500 kilometers farther to the East." In furtherance of the unlawful plans disclosed by the last four exhibits, which have been offered in evidence, the conspirators contrived a racial register in the incorporated area of Poland. The racial register was, in effect, an elaborate classification of persons deemed to be of German blood, and contained provisions setting forth some of the rights, privileges, and duties of the persons in each classification.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Persons were classified into four groups: (1) Germans who had actively promoted the Nazi cause; (2) Germans who had been more or less passive in the Nazi struggle, but had retained their German nationality; (3) Persons of German extraction who, although previously connected with the Polish nation, were willing to submit to Germanization; (4) Persons of German descent, who had been "politically absorbed by the Polish nation," and who would be resistant to Germanization. The racial register was inaugurated under a decree of 12 September 1940 issued by Himmler as Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German nationhood, and this is contained in Document Number 2916-PS, previously introduced in evidence. That is Exhibit Number USA-307. I quote from Page 4 of the English text, lines 14 to 46. In the German text these extracts appear at Page 92, lines 29 to the end of the page, and lines 1 to 9 of Page 93. I quote: "For inter-office use the list of racial Germans will be divided into four groups: "1. Racial Germans who fought actively in the ethnic struggle. Besides the membership of a German organization, every other deliberated activity in favor of the Germans against a foreign nationality will be considered an active manifestation. "2. Racial Germans who did not actively intervene in favor of the German nationality but had preserved their traceable German nationality. "3. Persons of German descent who became connected with the Polish nation in the course of the years but have, on account of their attitude, the pre-requisites to become full fledged members of the German national community. To this group belong also persons of non-German descent who live in a people's mixed marriage with an ethnic German in which the German spouse has prevailed. Persons of Masurian, Kushubian, Slonzak, or Upper Silesian descent, who are to be recognized as racial Germans usual!:; belong to this group 3. "4. Persons of German descent politically absorbed by the Polish nation (renegades).
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): Persons not included on the List of racial Germans are Poles or other foreign nationals. Their treatment is regulated by B II.... "Members of groups 3 and 4 have to be educated as full Germans, that is, they have to be re-germanized in the course of time through an intensive educational training in Old Germany. "The establishment of members of group 4 has to be based on the doctrine that German blood must not be utilized in the interest of a foreign nation. Against those who refuse re-Germanization, Security Police measures are to be taken...." The basic idea of creating a racial register for persons of German extraction was later incorporated in a decree of 4 March 1941 signed by Himmler and the Defendants Frick and Hess. This decree is dated 4 March 1941; and is set forth in the Reichsgesetzblatt, 1941, Part 1, Page 118. We ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice thereof. The entire apparatus of the SS was thrown behind the vigorous execution of these decrees. Proof of this fact is contained in Document Number R-112, which is Exhibit Number USA-309, and I now offer it in evidence. This exhibit contains directives issued by Himmler as the Reich Commissioner for the consolidation of German nationhood. I quote first from the last two paragraphs of the English text of the directives, 16 February 1942, which is on Page 3 of this exhibit. In the German text this provision appears on Page 1 of the first decree, dated 16 February 1942, Paragraph 1 and 2. The directive provided, and I now quote: "I. Where racial Germans have not applied for entry in the German ethnical list you will instruct the subordinate agencies to turn over their names to the local State Police (superior) Office. Subsequently, you will report to me. "II. The local State Police (superior) Office will charge the persons whose names are turned over to it to prove within 8 days that they have applied for entry in the German ethnical list.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): "If such proof is not submitted, the person in question is to be taken into protective custody for transfer to a concentration camp." The measures taken against persons in the fourth category- "Polonized Germans" as the conspirators called them-were particularly harsh. These persons were resistant to Germanization, and ruthless measures calculated to break their resistance were prescribed. Where the individual's past history indicated that he could not be effectively germanized, he was thrown into a concentration camp. Some of these measures are set forth in Subparagraph A of Paragraph II on Page 5 of Document R-112, and I quote in full from the English text of that particular paragraph. This passage is set forth in the German text at Pages 2 and 3 of the second decree dated 16 February 1942 under II. This is what the directive provides: "II. The re-Germanization of the Polonized Germans presupposes their complete separation from Polish surroundings. For that reason the persons entered in Division 4 of the German ethnical list are to be dealt with in the following manner: "A. They are to be resettled in Old Reich territory. "1. The Higher SS and Police Leaders are charged with evacuating and resettling them in Old Reich territory according to instructions which will follow later. "2. Asocial persons and others who are of inferior hereditary quality will not be included in the resettlement. Their names will be turned over at once by the Higher SS and Police Leaders (Inspectors of Security Police and Security Service) to the competent State Police (superior) Office. The latter will arrange for their transfer to a concentration camp. "3. Persons with a particularly bad political record will not be included in the resettlement action. Their names will also be given by the Higher SS and Police Leaders (Inspectors of Security Police and Security Service) to the competent State Police (superior) Office for transfer to a concentration camp.
CAPTAIN SAMUEL HARRIS (Assistant Trial Counsel for the United States): "The wives and children of such persons are to be resettled in Old Reich territory and to be included in the Germanization measures. Where the wife also has a particularly bad political record and cannot be included in the resettlement action, her name, too, is to be turned over to the competent State Police (superior) Office with a view to transferring her to a concentration camp. · In such cases the children are to be separated from their parents and dealt with according to III, Paragraph 2 of this decree. "Persons are to be considered as having a particularly bad political record who have offended the German nation to a very great degree (for example, those who participated in persecutions of Germans, or boycotts of Germans, et cetera .)" Coincident with the program of germanizing persons of German extraction in the incorporated areas, the conspirators, as previously indicated, undertook to settle large numbers of Germans of proven Nazi convictions in that area. This aspect of their program is clearly shown by an article by SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Police Wilhelm Koppe, who was one of Himmler's trusted agents. Excerpts from this article are contained in Document Number 2915-PS, which was earlier introduced as Exhibit Number USA-306. I quote from the second paragraph of the English text of this exhibit. The German text appears at the third line from the bottom of Page 170 and continues to the first full paragraph of Page 171. I now quote Koppe's statement: "The victory of German weapons in the East must, therefore, be followed by the victory of the German race over the Polish race, if the regained Eastern sphere-according to the Fuehrer's will-shall henceforth remain for all time an essential constituent part of the Greater German Reich.