Copy to Regional Leader of the NSDAP Extract of par. 1 to DEGENHARD 15 April
SECRET
Documentary Memorandum for the Fuehrer Concerning: Jewish Possessions in France
In compliance with the order of the Fuehrer for protection of Jewish, cultural possessions, a great number of Jewish dwellings remained unguarded. Consequently, many furnishings have disappeared, because a guard could, naturally, not be posted. In the whole East, the administration has found terrible conditions of living quarters, and the chances of procurement are so limited that it is not practical to procure any more. Therefore, I beg the Fuehrer to permit the seizure of all Jewish home furnishings of Jews in Paris, who have fled, or will leave shortly, and that of Jews living in all parts of the occupied West, to relieve the shortage of furnishings in the administration in the East.
2. A great number of leading Jews were, after a short examination in Paris, again released. The attempts on the lives of members of the armed forces have not stopped, on the contrary they continue. This reveals an unmistakable plan to disrupt the German-French cooperation, to force Germany to retaliate, and, with this, evoke a new defense on the part of the French against Germany. I suggest to the Fuehrer that, instead of executing 100 Frenchmen, we substitute 100 Jewish bankers, lawyers, etc. It is the Jews in London and New York who incite the French communists to commit acts of violence, and it seems only fair that the members of this race should pay for this. It is not the little Jews, but the leading Jews in France, who should be held responsible. That would tend to awaken the Anti-Jewish sentiment.
BERLIN 18 Dec 1941 R/H
signed: A. ROSENBERG
Memorandum to Hitler proposing the seizure of Jewish home furnishings in Paris and the occupied west, and the execution of 100 Jewish bankers, lawyers, and other "leading Jews" in reprisal for anti-German violence in France
Authors
Alfred Rosenberg (Commissioner for Ideological Training; Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories)
Alfred Rosenberg
Baltic German architect, Nazi politician and ideologue (1893-1946)
- Born: 1893-01-12 (Tallinn)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg)
- Country of citizenship: Nazi Germany; Russian Empire; Weimar Republic
- Occupation: administrator; architect; journalist; opinion journalist
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party; Nazi Party
- Member of: Corps Rubonia; Militant League for German Culture; Thule Society
- Participant in: Beer Hall Putsch; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant)
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer
Date: 18 December 1941
Literal Title: Documentary Memorandum for the Fuehrer[.] Concerning: Jewish Possessions in France
Defendant: Alfred Rosenberg
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-001
Citation: IMT (page 1467)
HLSL Item No.: 451005
Trial Issues
Extermination of the Jews (IMT, NMT 4, 9) Persecution of political, religious, and ethnic ("racial") groups (IMT, NM… Plundering of private property and occupied territories (inc. Reinhardt Ac…
Document Summary
PS-1: Memorandum by Rosenberg for the FÜhrer, 18 December 1941, concerning seizure of Jewish property in the occupied west and the shooting of Jews in place of French hostages