Col. i.G. v. Altenstadt
OKH/Gen Qu Department War Administration 11/2120/43 secret
11 April 1943 Main Department I
Tgb No. I 784/43 secret Received 6 May 1943 Enel. 1. Dear Mr. Braeutigam:
Enclosed I am sending you for your personal information a report of a speech which Gauleiter Reichkommissar Koch made in
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Kiev on 5 March 1943. May 1 ask you to regard this report as solely meant for yourself.
With best regards,
Heil Hitler!
Sincerely yours,
Altenstadt [signature]
N.R.
Obergruppenfuehrer Dr. Kinkelein [initialed] 8 May The speech is known, isn't it? Yes.
[initials illegible]
1 enclosure.
File Koch.
Copy
High Command Army, Group B
O.Qu./VII (Mil. Govt.) B.B.Nr.83/43 secret.
Headquarters, 1 April 1943 SECRET
To the OKH/Gen Staff Army/Gen Qu Dept. War Administration (Admin.)
Subject: Treatment of the civilian population in the Ukraine. Reference: OKW/Gen St d H/Gen Qu Obt.Kr.Verw(Qu 4)
Nr. 11/1736/43 secret of 23 March 1943.
Oberkriegsverwaltungsra't Dr. Claassen participated in the meeting of the NSDAP in Kiev on March 5, 1943 and gave a verbal report on the contents of the Reich Commissar's speech. Other documents on the contents of the speech are not available here.
I. On the treatment of the population the Reich Commissar remarked in the course of his speech in several places as follows:
1. We are the master race and must govern hard but just
2. I will draw the very last out of this country. I did not come
to spread bliss, I have come to help the Fuehrer. The population must work, work, and work again * * * for some people are getting excited, that the population may not get enough to eat. The population cannot demand that. One has only to remember what our heroes were deprived of in Stalingrad * * * We definitely
did not come here to give out manna, we have come here to create the basis for victory.
3. We are a master race, which must remember that the lowliest German worker is racially and biologically a thousand times more valuable than the population here * * *
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II. Furthermore, the speech was primarily an appeal to all party members stationed in the Reich Commissariat of the Ukraine, to conduct themselves perfectly in every respect and in any situation. In this connection the Reich Commissar said the following among other things:
1 * * * in the days of the crisis, one could differentiate between three groups of people:
1. The group of those, that went about asking where one
might be able to buy another suitcase;
2. The group of slogan manufacturers with the main
slogan: "One has to wait and see."
3. The group of real National Socialists, who said: "Now
of all times we will not move an inch from here!"
With this third group we say: Whoever wallows in defeatism, who gripes, will have trouble with this National Socialist community, gathered here; he will get a slap in the face * * * We
owe such conduct to the front, which we would prefer to join if the Fuehrer would give us permission * * * There is not a single place at the front, at which the Russians could have forced us to retreat. The Russian has not been able to force his will upon us * * *
* * *
2. * * * Nowdays, one often hears: "Had we," or "Were we."
I only tell these people one thing: Had one had more faith in Adolf Hitler and had one taken a.firmer grip at the sword, everything would have been different * * *
3. * * * We have brought you, my fellow party members to
the Ukraine as personalities but not for the purpose that you should write your papers as in a paper war. I have no objection if you want to get yourselves a rubber stamp, say "Not important for the war." This stamp you can then apply to those files which you consider superfluous or unnecessary for these times. If your superiors do not understand this, tell them so. It is not the question to build up staffs, but to decrease them. I have reduced mine in Rowno from 800 to 250 staff members.
For the High Command of the Army Group B
Chief Quartermaster
Faehndrich
For correctness of copy: [signature illegible]
Lt.
799
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT II30-PS
Date: Date Unknown
Total Pages: 2
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-II30
HLSL Item No.: Unknown