dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
COL. POKROVSKY: A public announcement, however, of mobilization should not be counted on, should military events be confined to Fall Weiss." It seems highly significant to me that the fascist conspirators, though fully conscious of the fact that war was to begin, had planned the execution of their criminal intent without announcing any mobilization. And finally, I should like to point out that in Keitel's order to the Armed Forces, Number 37/39, of 3 April 1939, issued in connection with Fall Weiss, the following directives by Hitler were made public: "I. Operational plan Fall Weiss must be elaborated with a view to the fact that its execution must be possible at any time, as from 1 September 1939." We know that the invasion of Poland was, in fact, started on 1 September 1939-in short, on the very first day on which the German Armed Forces had to be fully ready for action. Operational Order Number 1, 25039, of 21 August 1939, issued to the Command of Naval Group OST, on board the battleship Schleswig Holstein, stated as follows-this document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as a German photostatic copy: "I. General situation. a) Political: All the armed forces must be defeated by means of a lightning thrust, to enable the creation in the East of a situation favorable for the defense of the Reich. The Free City of Danzig will be declared a Reich city." It is worth while to bear this sentence in mind when speaking of the "free expression of will by the Danzig population," which allegedly aspired to become part of the Reich. It must not be forgotten that this free expression of will had been foreseen by the above operational Order Number 1, to the very day. To conclude, I consider it essential to read into the record, almost in full, a rather long but exceptionally important document. I have in mind a note by the Defendant Bormann of 2 October 1940, referring to a conversation about Poland. This conversation was held after a dinner which took place in Hitler's apartment.
COL. POKROVSKY: You will find this note on Page 311, Volume I, Part 2 of the document book: "Secret; Berlin, 2 October 1940; note. "On 2 October 1940, after dinner at the Fuehrer's apartment, a conversation arose on the nature of the Government General, the treatment of the Poles and the incorporation, already approved by the Fuehrer, of the Districts of Piotrokow and Tomassov into the Warthegau. "The conversation began when the Reich Minister, Or. Frank, informed the Fuehrer that the activities in the Government General could be termed very successful. The Jews in Warsaw and other cities had been locked up in the ghetto; Krakow would very shortly be cleared of them." I now consider it possible to omit a few paragraphs. "The Fuehrer further emphasized that the Poles, in direct contrast to our German workmen, are specially born for 1QW labor; we must give every possibility of advancement to our German workers; as to the PoleE~there can be no question of improvement for them. On the contrary, it is necessary to keep the standard of life low in Poland and it must not be permitted to rise. "The Government General must, under no condition whatsoever, be an isolated and uniform economic region; it must not produce independently, even in part, any manufactured goods necessary for its subsistence; the Government General should be used by us merely as a source of unskilled labor (in industries such as brick manufacturing, road construction, et cetera). One cannot change the nature of a Slav, as the Fuehrer has already emphasized. While as a rule our German workers are by nature assiduous and diligent, the Poles are lazy and it is necessary to use compulsion to make them work. "However, there is no reason to expect that the Government General will become an independent economic region, as there are no mineral resources, and even should such be available the Poles are not capable of utilizing them.
COL. POKROVSKY: "The Fuehrer has explained that the Reich needs large estates to provide food for our large cities; these large estates, as well as other agricultural enterprises, are in need of labor, and cheap labor in particular, for the cultivation of the soil and for harvesting. As soon as the harvest time is over, the laborers can go back to Poland because should they be employed in agriculture the whole year round they themselves would use up an important part of the crops. The best solution would thus be to import from Poland temporary laborers for the duration of the sowing and for the harvesting. Our industrial districts are overpopulated, while at the same time there is a lack of manpower in agriculture. That is where we can make use of the Polish laborers. For this reason, it would be quite right to have a surplus of manpower in the Government General, so that every year the laborers needed by the Reich' could be procured from there. It is indispensable to bear in mind that the Polish gentry must cease to exist; however cruel this may sound, wherever they are, they must be exterminated. "There must, of course, be no sexual intercourse with Poles. It would consequently be a correct procedure if Polish harvesters, both men and women, came together to the Reich. Whatever the mutual relationships were in their camps would not be a matter of our concern-no zealous Protestant should poke his nose into these affairs. "The Fuehrer stressed once more that there should be one master only for the Poles-the German; two masters, side by side, cannot and must not exist; therefore, all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be exterminated. This sounds cruel, but such is the law of life. "The Government General represents a Polish reserve of manpower-a vast Polish labor camp. The Poles will also benefit from this, as we look after their health and see to it that they do not starve, et cetera, but they must never be raised to a higher level, for they will then become anarchists and Communists.
COL. POKROVSKY: It will therefore be proper for the Poles to remain Roman Catholics; Polish priests will receive food from us and will, for that very reason, direct their little sheep along the path we favor. The priests will be paid by us and will, in return, preach what we wish them to preach. If any priest acts differently, we shall make short work of him. The task of the priest is to keep the Poles quiet, stupid, and dull-witted. This is entirely in our interests. Should the Poles rise to a higher level of development, they will cease to be that manpower of which we are in need. In other respects it will suffice for a Pole to possess a small holding in the Government General-a large farm is not at all necessary; he will have to earn the money he requires in Germany. It is precisely this cheap labor we need; every German and every German worker will benefit by this cheap labor. "A strict German administration must exist in the Government General to keep order in the labor reservations. These reservations mean for us the maintenance of agriculture, particularly of our large estates, and they are, besides, a source of supply of labor." I see no necessity to read into the record the exchange of views between those present, although it is mentioned in the document, and I shall go on directly to Hitler's final statements: "To sum up, the Fuehrer wants to state once more: "1. The lowest German workman and the lowest German peasant must always stand economically 10 percent above any Pole." I omit the second paragraph and pass to the third which is of great interest: "3. I do not wish"-the Fuehrer stressed-"that a German workman should, as a rule work more than 8 hours when we return to normal conditions; if a Pole, however, works 14 hours, he is still, in spite of that, to earn less than a German workman. "4. The ideal picture is this: A Pole must possess a small holding in the Government General which will, to a certain extent, provide him and his family with food.
COL. POKROVSKY: The money required by him for clothes, supplementary foods, et cetera, et cetera, he must earn by working in Germany. The Government General must become a center for supplying seasonal unskilled labor, particularly agricultural laborers. The existence of these workmen will be fully guaranteed, because they will always be used as cheap labor." This document deals with the question of Hitler's attitude towards Poland and the Polish people with such exhaustive clarity that it calls for no further comment. I wish only to draw Your Honors' attention to three points. Firstly, Hitler definitely states and develops in detail the idea that in the new fascist order in Europe the Polish people and the Polish State must be nothing but a Polish labor camp for fascist Germany. Secondly, Hitler is convinced that the Poles will benefit from such a state of affairs, since the fascist conspirators intend to care for the health and adequate nourishment of the Poles whom they have reduced to slavery. I beg Your Honors to consider the fact that by "adequate nourishment" Hitler understands a state of affairs according to which every Pole should be maintained at an economic level considerably below that of the most wretched German. By "care" he means that the standard of living in Poland should be low and that it should not improve, so that no Pole be engaged otherwise than in heavy unskilled labor, 14 hours a day. Finally, Hitler sets the task for the extermination of the entire intelligentsia, stating arrogantly that there should exist only one master for the Poles-the German. In the course of further presentation of documents to the Tribunal we shall prove that Hitler and his followers, in the persons of the participants in the fascist conspiracy, strove to exterminate the Polish people and to reduce the standard of living of the Poles to the most pitiable and beggarly level. Their very existence depended solely on the fact that it assured cheap manpower for the fascist masters.
THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a convenient time to break off?
COL. POKROVSKY: The Tribunal has at its disposal the diaries of the Defendant Frank. In the one marked "Diary of the Year 1943, V," we find on Pages 1070-1072 an important entry; in the Russian translation this passage is on Page 5 of the addenda to the "Excerpts from Frank's Diaries," and on Page 321 of your document book, marked in pencil. I quote this passage: "Krakow, 23 October 1943. "The Governor General makes a report at the Administrative Academy on 'The Leadership Principle in Government.' From the point of view of constitutional and international law, the Government General, as an appendage to Greater Germany, constitutes a part of the territory over which the power of Greater Germany in Europe extends. The sovereignty over this territory belongs to the Fuehrer of Greater Germany and on his behalf it is exercised by the Governor General who, as the deputy of the Fuehrer, possesses all his powers." I would like to inform you, Your Honors, of two more documents of a strictly official nature. In the Reichsgesetzblatt for 1939, Part I, Page 2077-Page 333 of your document book presented by us as Exhibit Number USSR-296 (Document Number USSR-296)-is published the "Fuehrer's and Reich Chancellor's Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish Territory," dated 12 October 1939. I shall read into the record Paragraph 2 of this decree. It consists of two subparagraphs: "Paragraph 2: "1. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Frank as Governor General of the occupied Polish territories. "2. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart as Deputy Governor General." In the same Reichspesetzblatt but this time for 1940, Part I, Page 399, is published a decree regarding the power to grant pardons in the occupied Polish territories. It is registered with the Tribunal as Document USSR-289 (Exhibit Number USSR-289) and is on Page 336 of the document book.
COL. POKROVSKY: It reads: "In the occupied Polish territories I delegate to the Governor General of occupied Polish territories the power to confirm death sentences as well as pardons or to reject applications for pardons, with the right further to delegate his powers." The power of life and death, the sovereign prerogative, was entrusted in a Poland occupied by the Hitlerites, to the Defendant Frank. It would not be misplaced to recall that it was this same Hitler who had said that he would show, by the concrete example of a mutual relationship between the Polish and the German peoples, that such a form of intercourse had been found "which would usefully serve the cause of peace as well as the welfare of both nations." I have spoken of the kind of example that was intended, and what the welfare was to which reference had been made. The 6 April 1941 was marked by a new crime planned and carefully prepared beforehand by the Hitlerite conspirators. Without any warning or declaration of war, they attacked Yugoslavia. The attack on Yugoslavia was a gross breach of Article 3 of the Hague Convention of 18 October 1907, and of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 27 August 1928. The Delegations of Great Britain and of the United States have already submitted to the Tribunal a considerable number of documents referring to the subject of the treacherous attack on Yugoslavia. I have only to submit a few new proofs and to establish a connection between these new documents and those already read into the record. Official German documents enable us to reconstitute events with exceptional vividness. In this case German pedantry turns against the authors of the criminal plan. On 27 March 1941 Adolf Hitler held a special conference regarding the situation in Yugoslavia. On the same day he signed a topsecret Directive 025, for the High Command (Oberbefehlshaber) only. Both documents, filed under Document Number 1746-PS, are among the evidence already accepted by the Tribunal.
COL. POKROVSKY: Subparagraph 2 of Directive 025 has already been quoted in full in the speech of the Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R. The first subparagraph of this document was also read into the record on 7 December 1945. I should like to add a few more lines and read Paragraph 3 into the record. This passage is on Page 337 of the document book. It states as follows: "In detail I order the following: "a) As soon as the concentration of sufficient forces is concluded and meteorological conditions permit, all Yugoslav antiaircraft and Belgrade must be destroyed by continuous day and night air attacks. "b) If possible, simultaneously, but under no circumstances sooner, Operation Marita must be started, with the primary limited objective to seize the harbor of Salonika." I believe that three points should be stressed here: 1) The intention of carrying out the total destruction of the capital of the state; 2) The correlation between the aggression against Yugoslavia and the aggression against another country, Greece-the aggression against Greece was coded, as the Tribunal knows, under the name of Operation Marita; 3) The necessity to complete the concentration of German forces as well as meteorological conditions were the factors that determined the time limits for the attack. As in all previous cases of criminal fascist aggression, we see one and the same thing-the criminal intent of the predatory invader, treachery, and cold calculation. Preparations for the successive acts which had been carried on over a very long period followed the customary Hitler routine, already disclosed by the prosecutors: Fifth Column activities, the use of the protection of the German minority as a slogan and the lying practice of peaceable declarations combined with unceasing preparations for invasion. As I have already stated, the preparation of the crime was carried on over a very long period and followed the customary Hitler routine already disclosed by the prosecutors.
COL. POKROVSKY: On 27 March 1941, on the very day when Hitler signed Directive 025, he personally conducted, in Berlin, a special conference on the situation in Yugoslavia. The minutes of this conference were presented by the United States Prosecution on 4 December 1945 as Document Number 1746-PS. Other documents relating to this conference have also been registered under the same number. At the conference, the objective was determined with absolute precision and a plan of action was presented. You will, Your Honors, find the passage I have quoted on Page 349. Hitler declared: ". . . we are not going to wait for any declarations of loyalty by the new government, but to carry out all preparations for the destruction of the Yugoslav armed forces and of Yugoslavia itself as a national unit. ". . . it is especially important from the political point of view that the blow against Yugoslavia should be carried out with the utmost violence and that its military destruction should be effected with lightning speed." And a little further back in the document is stated: "No diplomatic inquiries will be made and no ultimatum presented.... The attack will start as soon as the necessary supplies and troops are ready." Thus, Hitler was not in the least interested in the factual attitude of one or the other Yugoslav Government toward Germany, but in the factual destruction of Yugoslavia as a state; and he strove to accomplish this destruction with cruelty and lightning speed. The operational staff of the OKW, meticulously following Hitler's directive regarding a cruel and rapid destruction of Yugoslavia, speedily worked out a detailed plan for co-ordinated operations of the German and Italian Armies. It was issued as an official operational directive dated 23 March 1941. I consider - it essential to reread three lines of this document, already submitted to the Tribunal under the same Document Number 1746-PS. You will find it on Page 352 of the document book. I read Paragraph 4 of this document into the record. ". . .
COL. POKROVSKY: The German task is to attack Yugoslavia with the greatest possible concentration of forces, to smash its armed forces and destroy it as a state." I cannot but remind the Tribunal of the terminology used by Hitler and the other fascist conspirators. Hitler said, "There can be no question of sparing Poland." He demanded, "Yugoslavia is to be eliminated as a state, ruthlessly and with lightning speed." Mercilessness, ruthlessness, extermination of peoples and states: such was the style and meaning of the actions of the fascist conspirators. The aggression against Czechoslovakia, the attack on Poland, the desire to destroy Yugoslavia, all these were links in the same chain. But the chain does not end with these links The task of the next representative of the U.S.S.R. Prosecution will be to show Your Honors that the fundamental purpose of these criminals, the main link in the center of all of the Hitlerite conspiracies, was the attack on the U.S.S.R. The documents relating to the crimes against Yugoslavia will prove that, in attacking that country, the fascist conspirators strictly followed their customary methods. Even in detail they repeated their earlier crimes perpetrated against Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Even in case we did not know who actually organized the attack on Yugoslavia, the very nature of the facts, the sequence of events, the manner in which the crimes were perpetrated, would unmistakably indicate the culprits. I turn to Document USSR-36, (Exhibit Number USSR-36) under which number I offer in evidence the Official Report of the Yugoslav Government. The first section, entitled "The Systematic Preparation of the Conspiracy for the Enslavement and the Destruction of Yugoslavia," contains a series of valuable information. I wish to cite that excerpt from this document which you will find on Page 355 of the document book, Paragraph 4 on Page 3 of the Russian text, 3rd paragraph from the top reads: "The Government of the Third Reich and the Hitlerite Party secretly organized the German minority.
COL. POKROVSKY: Settled in Yugoslavia by the Austrian emperors over a century ago, the Germans enjoyed as brothers full rights and a cultural autonomy. They had their own schools and their representatives in parliaments as well as in the local government. They numbered half a million (that is about three percent of the total population). From 1920 they had their mass organization-the Swabian-German Cultural Union-'Kulturbund' for short. And out of this very organization and through it, as well as out of all the Germans in Yugoslavia, the Nazi Party created a political and military organ for the destruction of Yugoslavia." I believe I can skip several lines without loss and quote further: "In Yugoslavia, the Nazi Gaue were secretly formed and Gauleiter appointed. Under the guise of various physical training and sport associations, Hitlerite units were organized half a million strong. Numerous 'tourists,' 'travellers,' 'businessmen,' and 'relatives' came from the Reich-in reality they were Nazi instructors and organizers." I skip a number of details which can be disregarded, and pass to the second paragraph of the same section on Page 4-that would be Page 356 in your document book-where the manner is described in which the Fifth Column was further strengthened. I now shall read into the record Paragraph 2, beginning with the second subparagraph: "The Hitlerites drew into their orbit all the separatist and chauvinistic elements, as for instance, Pavelich's Ustasha; the Zbor, a movement headed by Ljotec; the MFRO (the Macedonian fascist movement), headed by Vanca Mihajlovic; and organized them as terrorist organizations with headquarters in Berlin.
COL. POKROVSKY: On the other hand, acting through their agents, Prince Paul, Stojadinovic, Cvetkovic, and Cincar-Marcovic, they attracted the pan-Serbian centralists and turned them into a terrorist group which, from the vantage points of governmental authority, was 'peacefully' to deliver Yugoslavia into slavery by adhering to the Tripartite Pact." Further, the report emphasizes the fact that, while organizing numerous branches of the Fifth Column, the Hitlerites continually gave newer and more perfidious assurances about their ostensibly friendly intentions with regard to Yugoslavia. This is discussed in Paragraph 3 on Page 5 of the Russian text; our Document Number USSR-36. You will find this passage, Your Honors, on Page 357 of the document book: "3. At the time when both the Hitlerite Government and the Party were so thoroughly and with such versatility preparing their conspiracy to invade and occupy Yugoslavia, Hitler seized every opportunity to declare to the whole world, on behalf of the same Government, the same Party, and the whole of Germany, that Yugoslavia could count on them as devoted friends." On 17 January 1938, that is, some weeks before the occupation of Austria, Hitler had a meeting with the then Prime Minister of Yugoslavia at which the Defendants Goering and Von Neurath were present. The original document from which I shall quote certain passages was submitted to the tribunal as Document Number TC-92. The extract which I shall quote further on as documentary evidence, is dated 4 December 1945. You will find it on Page 411 of the document book. On 4 December 1945 a printed collection of German documents dealing with the conflict with Yugoslavia and Greece was offered to you in evidence. In the listing of documentary evidence it is referred to as Document Number TC-92. On Page 68-and you will find it as I have already stated on Page 411 in your document book, as Document Number 28 of that collection-we have a transcript of the conversations which took place during the conference of 17 January 1938.