dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): Goering, as Delegate for the Four Year Plan, was responsible for the control of the economy in all occupied territories and in this respect had authority over the minister for the East, for Rosenberg could only issue economic decrees with Goering's agreement. The Chief of the German Police, Himmler, was solely and exclusively competent for police security in the Occupied Eastern Territories; there was no police division at all in the ministry for the East, nor in the Reich Commissariats. Rosenberg's competence was furthermore undermined by Himmler as Reich Commissioner for the Preservation of German Nationality and by Speer, on behalf of whom a Fuehrer decree detached all technical matters from the eastern administration. It was further weakened by Goebbels who claimed for himself the control of propaganda in the Occupied Eastern Territories as well. Later on I shall come to the important question of labor mobilization, which was put under the authority of Sauckel. Nevertheless, Rosenberg was the minister responsible for the Occupied Eastern Territories. In view of this, the following must be emphasized: In this Trial Rosenberg is not made responsible from the political standpoint, since the High Tribunal is no parliament; neither is he made responsible from the point of view of constitutional law, for the High tribunal is not a supreme court of judicature. The liability of the defendant with respect to civil law is not in question either, but only his criminal liability, his responsibility for his own alleged crimes and for the crimes of others. I do not need to outline in more detail the fact that in order to establish criminal liability and to condemn it, it must be proved that the defendant illegally committed acts punishable by law and that he may only be punished for failure to act, that is, for an omission, if he had the legal duty to act and if it was due to his inactivity that the crime occurred, always assuming that the actual possibility existed of his preventing the crime.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): The fact seems to me of decisive importance that Rosenberg although Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, was not a supreme ruler. Supreme rulers were the Reich Commissioners of the gigantic territories "Ostland" and "Ukraine." The lines along which these territories were to be constitutionally remodeled were not yet visible, but one thing was certain: The Reich Commissioner was the highest authority. For instance, it was he who, on the most important measures-like shooting of inhabitants of a region for acts of sabotage-had the right to make the ultimate decision. I should like to insert that in practice in these cases the Police had exclusive competence. The Reich, that is, other authorities, had the right to fundamental legislation and over-all supervision. By a slight change in the well-known remark of Benjamin Constant, the French professor of constitutional law, "Le rot regne, mats it ne souverne pas," one may define in the following way Rosenberg's position as Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories: "Le ministre gouverne, mais it ne règne pas." As in certain dominions of the British Empire, there existed a sovereignty of the Reich Commissioner with a central over-all supervision by the minister for the East. Today nobody would think of summoning the competent British minister before a tribunal because a governor in India had allowed a native village to be bombed and burned down. And so I come to my conclusion that in Rosenberg's case there exists no automatic criminal responsibility for the nonprevention of crimes in the East, if only because, although he had authority of supervision, he was not sovereign; the two Reich Commissioners had the supreme authority. The question must furthermore be asked and briefly examined whether the defendant is individually guilty of the criminal exploitation and enslavement of the nations of the East and perhaps of further crimes.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): What was his attitude, what were the general lines and general trends of his policy, what did he do positively, and what did he prevent or at least try to prevent? In the Baltic countries, national administrations or directorates were installed under German supervision. The German administration was compelled by the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories to show great understanding for all desires which could be fulfilled and strive for good relations with the Baltic countries; the Baltic countries had a free legal, educational, and cultural system and were only limited with respect to questions concerning politics, economy, and the police. After the war of 1914-18 agrarian reform in the Baltic states was carried out almost exclusively at the expense of the 700-year-old German holdings. Nevertheless Rosenberg, as minister for the East, made a law returning to private ownership the farms which had been made collective by the Soviet Union since 1940 and, by this restitution of soil which had originally been taken away from German proprietors, showed the greatest possible good will of the German Reich. This, as well as the already-mentioned agrarian program, has been expressly confirmed by the witness Riecke. In the General District of White Ruthenia independent administration was initiated under Reich Commissioner Kube. The White Ruthenia Central Committee was founded, as well as a White Ruthenian relief system and a White Ruthenian youth organization. When a White Ruthenian youth delegation returned from a visit to Germany, Kube said that he would continue to act as a father to White Ruthenian youth; the following night he was murdered, yet this policy was not changed. I should like to observe here in passing that the actual Russian territories between Narva and Leningrad and around Smolensk remained all the time under military administration; likewise the districts around Kharkov and the Crimea.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): As far as the Ukraine is concerned, Rosenberg intended to give it extensive central self-administrative sovereignty, as soon as possible, similar to the directorates in the Baltic states and combined with a pronounced advancement of the cultural and educational needs of the people. After Rosenberg had originally considered himself entitled to assume that Hitler agreed with this idea, another conception later came to prevail, namely, that all forces should be directed toward the war economy. Rosenberg managed to achieve and carry through one thing only: The new agrarian program of 15 February 1942, which provided for a transition from the collective economy of the Soviet Union to private enterprise and then to ownership by the farmers. On 23 June 1943 the property decree was issued as a complement to this. At first it was not possible to carry this out because of Reich Commissioner Koch's opposition, and then military events brought everything to an end. A further fundamental decree was based on a general adjustment of the school system, which Rosenberg had ordered to be worked out because the Reich Commissioner of the Ukraine declined to do it himself. Rosenberg provided for elementary schools and higher technical schools; the Reich Commissioner protested against this. On account of the conflict, which became more and more acute, between Rosenberg and Reich Commissioner Koch, Hitler in June 1943 issued the following written instruction: The Reich Commissioner had no right to make any obstructions, but the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories should confine himself to essential questions, and when issuing any orders should make it possible for the Reich Commissioner of the Ukraine to express his opinion beforehand, which practically meant Koch's co-operation beside Rosenberg. During his examination of 8 April 1946 the witness Lammers described Rosenberg's peculiar constitutional position as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories and his political position, which became constantly weaker.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): I would like to emphasize the following striking and especially important declarations made by the witness: The authority of the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories was detracted from by the Armed Forces, by Goering as the Delegate for the Four Year Plan, by Himmler as Chief of the German Police, by Himmler as Reich Commissioner for the Preservation of Germandom (resettlement measures), by Sauckel as Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor, by Speer in the field of armaments and engineering, and finally, through differences of opinion, by Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Furthermore, Rosenberg was limited by the fact that two Reich Commissioners, Lohse and Koch, were appointed for the Occupied Eastern Territories. The Higher SS and Police Leader was "personally and directly" subordinated to the Reich Commissioner; but, as Lammers has declared, in technical respects he could not take any orders from Rosenberg or from the Reich Commissioner but only from Himmler. Lammers said furthermore: Rosenberg always wished to pursue a moderate policy in the East; he was without any doubt against a policy of extermination and against a policy of deportation, which were widely advocated in other quarters. He made efforts to rebuild agriculture through the agrarian program, to put the educational system, church affairs, the universities and schools in order. Rosenberg had great difficulty in asserting himself, for especially the Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine simply did not follow Rosenberg's orders. Rosenberg favored instituting a certain degree of independence in the eastern nations; he particularly had at heart the cultural interests of the latter. The differences of opinion between Koch and Rosenberg, says Lammers, could have filled volumes of files. Hitler called Rosenberg and Koch to him and decided that they should meet each month in order to consult each other.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): The witness Lammers said, quite rightly, that of Rosenberg as the superior minister it was asking too much to have to come to an agreement in each case with his subordinate, the Reich Commissioner. Subsequently it was shown that in spite of the meetings they came to no agreement, and finally it was Herr Koch who was right in the eyes of the Fuehrer. As Lammers says it was about the end of 1943 that Rosenberg was received for the last time by the Fuehrer, and even before that time he had always had great difficulties in reaching the Fuehrer. There had been no more Reich Cabinet sessions since 1937. Hitler's ideas tended more and more in the direction of Bormann-Himmler. The East became the ground for experiments. To this group-as it is quite clear today, for the first time-it seemed hopeless to look for understanding on the part of Rosenberg as to the development of the Reich as they wished it. Rosenberg had no idea of the extent of the fight waged against him. His quarrel with Reich Commissioner Koch, the exponent of Himmler and Bormann, is proof of this ignorance; but it is also complete proof of Rosenberg's integrity. On 14 December 1942 Rosenberg issued a set of instructions to the Reich Commissioner of the Ukraine (Document Number 19-PS); his other instructions have unfortunately not been found. In this, Rosenberg requested the administrative chiefs to preserve decent attitudes and views; he demanded justice and human understanding for the population, which had always seen in Germany the supporter of legal order (Document Number 194-PS); the war had brought terrible hardships, but every offense should be fairly examined and judged, and should not be punished to excess. It is also inadmissible that German authorities meet the population with expressions of contempt.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): One can only show one is the master through correct manner and actions, not by ostentatious behavior; our own attitude must bring others to respect the Germans; those administrative chiefs who have shown themselves unworthy of their tasks, who have misused the authority they were given, and who by their obnoxious behavior have shown themselves to be unworthy of our uniform, must be treated accordingly and summoned before a court or removed to Germany. The echo which such decrees called forth in Koch is shown in his memorandum of 16 March 1943 (Document Number 192-PS). Koch writes that "it is a strange thought that not only must a correct attitude be displayed toward the Ukrainians, but that we must even be amiable to them and always ready to help." Furthermore Rosenberg demanded esteem for the highly developed consciousness of the Ukrainian people and, according to Rosenberg, a high degree of cultural self-administration was desirable for the Ukraine; nations as big as the Ukraine could not be kept in permanent dependence, arid the eastern campaign was a political campaign and not an economic raid. Here Koch, addressing Rosenberg, refers in a cynical manner to the climax reached in the relations of his organization with Ukrainian emigration. There are other decrees of Rosenberg's which are criticized by Koch. One of these is the decree of 18 June 1942 concerning the acquisition by Rosenberg of Ukrainian schoolbooks for a total of 2.3 million Reichsmark to be charged to the budget of the Reich Commissariat without his previously even getting in touch with Koch. One million primers, one million spelling charts, 200,000 schoolbooks, 300,000 language books, and 200,000 arithmetic books were to be provided at a time when there was hardly even the most necessary paper for German school children.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): Koch goes on to say: "It is not necessary to point out repeatedly in the decrees issued by your ministry and in telephone communications that no coercion may be used in recruiting laborers and that the eastern ministry even demands to be informed of every instance in which compulsion has been used." In a subsequent decree Koch says he is blamed for having caused the closing of vocational schools; and he also says that Rosenberg ordered the General Commissioners to adopt a different school policy, thereby overstepping his authority as Reich Commissioner. Koch then concludes with a veiled threat that to him, as a veteran Gauleiter, the way to the Fuehrer could not be barred. So much challenging criticism of Rosenberg, so much unintentional praise, and so much proof of the absolute decency of his behavior and the far-sighted and statesmanlike direction of his office as chief of the eastern administration! One last document in the fight of Rosenberg against Koch is the report regarding Reich Commissioner Koch and the timber region of Zuman of 2 April 1943 (Document Number 032-PS), regarding which Rosenberg gave exhaustive information as a witness. In this very matter Rosenberg displayed his conscientiousness particularly clearly. And now we have again to unroll another scene before our eyes, because the Prosecution attached specific importance to it: In July 1942, Bormann wrote a letter to Rosenberg; Rosenberg replied, and a third party, Dr. Markull, an associate of Rosenberg in his ministry, wrote a commentary regarding it. According to Dr. Markull's representation the contents of Bormann's letter, the original of which is not extant, was the following: the Slavs should work for us; if of no use to us, they ought to die; health provisions were superfluous; the fertility of the Slavs was undesirable, their education dangerous; it would do if they could count up to one hundred. Every educated person is a potential enemy. We could leave them their religion as an outlet.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): As sustenance they should receive only the barest necessities; we are the masters and we come first. To that letter by the closest collaborator of Hitler there could be only one reply by Rosenberg: feigned consent and feigned compliance. In the inner circle of the eastern ministry there arose considerable apprehensions regarding this significant change in the attitude of its chief, apprehensions which were expressed in Dr. Markull's memorandum of 5 September 1942. Rosenberg as a witness has stated that there cannot exist any doubt, when that document is read impartially, that he agreed only for the sake of pacifying Hitler and Bormann. Rosenberg wanted to insure himself against an attack from the Fuehrer's headquarters, which he anticipated with certainty because he allegedly did more for the eastern population than for the German people, because he required more physicians than there were available for sick Germans, et cetera. The Markull memorandum is the truest possible bona fide reflection of Rosenberg's personality and influence, since it shows the anxious subordinate trying to conjure up the spirit of his minister as he had come to know and to love him in his work, and to dispel an alien phantom who seemed to have taken his place. It is stated there that such a train of thought conformed with the policy of Reich Commissioner Koch, but not with the decrees of the Reich Minister and the conception of at least 80 percent of the District Commissioners and specialists who were counting on their minister and who considered that the eastern population should be treated decently and with understanding, for it evinced a surprisingly high capacity for culture, its efficiency in work was good, and we were about to waste a precious stock of gratitude, love, and confidence.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): The controversy between the minister and the Reich Commissioner was well known among the high authorities of the Reich, and it was no secret that the ministry was unable to carry out its policies in opposition to the Reich Commissioners, who considered the eastern ministry as entirely superfluous; the writings of Bormann would disavow the entire policy of the eastern minister up to now, and one was given the impression that Koch had been backed by Hitler in his opposition to the minister. Since its foundation the ministry had had to register an ever-increasing loss of power. The Higher SS and Police Leaders refused to render to the General Commissioners the normal honors such as reports, et cetera. One jurisdiction of the eastern minister after another was being taken away by other highest Reich offices; in the offices in Berlin it was openly said that the remodeling of the ministry into a mere operations staff was to be expected. On the other hand, the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories, due to the personality of its leader, enjoyed the exceptional esteem of the public. Dr. Markull implores the minister to stand by his original ideas, saying that the unfortunate master complex should be as much avoided as the opinion that the intelligentsia were alien to the masses. The influence of spiritual forces should be taken into consideration. Germany should prove a "righteous judge," acknowledging the national and cultural rights of nations. Such had been the ideas of the minister before, and such they should remain. Rosenberg's attitude did not in fact change, since at that very time he was working on the great School Program (Schulverordnung). Later on he effected the reopening primarily of the medical faculties in colleges. And then came the conflict with the Fuehrer in May 1943.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): On 12 October 1944 Rosenberg tendered his resignation through Lammers to the Fuehrer (Document Number Ro-14), because German eastern policy in general and the political psychological treatment of eastern nations in particular, were still contrary to the point of view which he had had from the very beginning, namely, his plan of autonomy for the eastern nations and the cultural development of their capacities as part of an all-European conception of a family of nations on the continent. He now inwardly broke down at seeing a great statesmanlike program destroyed. All he could do in regard to the policy of enslavement and looting which was going on in his country was merely to accept memoranda from his colleagues in the ministry, or at best indulge in a futile paper war with people like Koch. He had not been strong enough against the plans which benighted forces wanted to carry out in the East; and he was powerless against their influence, being in addition totally unaware at that time of all the police and military orders which were presented here to the Tribunal. When Rosenberg once reminded Hitler of the creation of a university in Kiev, Hitler apparently agreed; after Rosenberg had left and he was alone with Goering, Hitler said, "This fellow has too many worries. We have more important matters on our minds than universities in Kiev." No episode can illustrate better than all the documents the one theme: Rosenberg and the reality in the East, and the other theme: Rosenberg as the alleged inspirer of Hitler. As Rosenberg did not receive any reply to his request for resignation, he tried many times to talk to Hitler personally. It was all in vain. On 11 December 1945 Mr. Dodd said: "The system of hatred, barbarism, and denial of personal rights which the conspirators had elevated to the national philosophy of Germany followed the National Socialist masters when they overran Europe.
DR.ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for the Defendant Rosenberg): Foreign workers became the slaves of the master race, being deported and enslaved in millions." And on 8 February 1946 General Rudenko said: "In the long line of ruthless crimes committed by the German-Fascist troops of occupation, the forcible deportation of peaceful citizens into slavery and bondage in Germany takes a particularly important place." He said that Goering, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Sauckel were particularly responsible for the inhuman and barbaric instructions, directives and orders of the Hitler Government, whose purpose was the carrying out of the deportation of Soviet people into German slavery. I have already spoken of the formal and individual responsibility of Rosenberg as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. I have already explained, too, that in the field of labor employment it was not Rosenberg but Sauckel who, as Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor, was the highest authority and the responsible person, by virtue of the Fuehrer's decree of 21 March 1942 (Document Number 580-PS). Thus Sauckel in this field was Rosenberg's superior. He wrote to Rosenberg on 3 October 1942 (Document Number 017-PS): "The Fuehrer has drawn up new and most urgent armament programs which require the speediest employment of two million additional foreign workers. For the execution of his decree of 21 March 1942 the Fuehrer has given me more authority for my further tasks, particularly empowering me to use my own judgment in taking all measures in the Reich and in the Occupied Eastern Territories in order to insure the organized employment of labor for the German armament industry under all circumstances." In his Program for the Allocation of Labor of 24 April 1942 (Document Number 016-PS), he emphasized that the state and local labor offices are in charge of all technical and administrative matters in connection with labor employment which come under the exclusive competence and responsibility of the Plenipotentiary General for the Allocation of Labor. The defense of Sauckel is not my task.