We turn now to Goering's responsibility for planning and his participation in the procurement of forced labor, the deportation and enslavement of residents of occupied territories, the employment of prisoners of war in war industry, the looting of works of art, and the germanization and spoliation of countries overrun by the Nazis. the Nazi conspirators, and has shown its two purposes, both of them criminal. The first was to satisfy the labor requirements of the Nazi war machine by forcing residents of occupied countries to work in Germany. The second purpose was to destroy or weaken the peoples of the occupied territories. It has been shown that millions of foreign workers were taken to Germany, for the most part under pressure and generally by physical force, that these workers were forced to labor under conditions of indescribable brutality and degradation, and that often they were used in factories and industries devoted exclusively to the production of munitions of war.
Goering was at all times implicated in the slave labor program. Recruitment and allocation of manpower and determination of working conditions were included in his jurisdiction as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, and from its beginning a part of the Four Year Plan Office was devoted to such work. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of our Document 1862-PS, in this connection, and with the permission of the Tribunal I shall not read the same. 1936, which appears in 1936 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, p. 887. numbers of Poles. On 25 January 1940, the defendant Frank, the Governor General of Poland, reported to Goering on his directive for the "Supply and transportation of at least 1 million male and female 750,000 agricultural workers of which at least 50% must be women - in replacement for industrial workers lacking in the Reich.
. ." which is taken from our U.S.A. Exhibit 172, our Document No. 1375.
Defendant Georing is clear from statements in the Defendant Frank's Diary for 10 May 1940, already introduced in evidence. the Defendant Goering is also responsible. On 8 March 1940, as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, and as Chairman, of the Cabinet Council for the Defense of the Reich, he issued a directive entitled: "Treatment of male and female civilian workers of Polish Nationality in the Reich," I refer to our document R-148 as proof of that fact. I shall not introduce it at this time into evidence, with the permission of the Tribunal, as it will be introduced by the Soviet prosecution at a later date. Four Year Plan Office issued a circular, signed by Dr. Mansfeld, the general delegate for labor employment in the Four Year Plan Office, addressed to various civilian and military authorities in the occupied territories, explaining that, and I quote: "Any and all methods must be adopted" to force workers to go to Germany. I shall not read from our exhibit, if the Tribunal please, but I would like to offer in evidence as USA Exhibit 585, 1183-PS. This is a circular letter of the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan, dated the 29th of January, 1942. decreee appointing the defendant Sauckel Plenipotentiary General for Manpower, directing him to carry out his tasks within the framework of the Four Year Plan and making him directly responsible to Goering as head of the Four Year Plan. decree in pursuance of the decree of the Fuhrer of 21 March 1942. The Tribunal has already judicially noted this decree which is our document 1666-PS. the defendant Goring retains full responsibility for the enormous war crimes committed by Sauckel as Plenipotentiary-General for Manpower. These crimes have been the subject of our presentations on Slave Labor and on the Illegal Use of Prisoners of War.
ordered prisoners of war to work under dangerous conditions, and in the manufacturing and transportation of arms and munitions of war, in violation of the Laws of War and of Articles 31 and 32 of the Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929 on Prisoners of War. The defendant Goring had a part in all of these crimes. employment of citizens of the Soviet Union, including prisoners of war, it appears from a memorandum signed by Koerner, who was State Secretary to the defendant Goring as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, that Goring gave certain ruthless directives for the use of Soviet citizens both prisoners of war and free Soviet workers as laborers. I refer to our document 1193-PS which, with the permission of the Tribunal, I shall not offer in evidence at this time, and which will be offered by the Soviet Prosecution. apparently the same conference of 7 November 1941, which are already in evidence, the following facts appear:
ployed in war industries;
That it was better to employ PW's than unsuitable foreign workers;
That Poles, Dutchmen, etc., should be seized if necessary, as PW's and employed as such, if work through free contract cannot be obtained. which is admitted in evidence as U.S.A. Exhibit 215. of the Regional Labor Exchange Offices, it is furthermore recorded that upon the personal order of the Reich Marshal, the Defendant Goering, 100,000 men are to be taken from among the French PW's not yet employed in the armament industry, and assigned to the airplane armament industry, and that gaps in manpower supply resulting therefrom are to be filled by Soviet PW's. pros-ram of the Nazi conspirators for the cultural impoverishment of every country in Europe. The continuous connection of the Defendant Goering with these activities has been substantiated.
In October 1939, the Defendant Goering requested Dr. Muehlmann to undertake immediately the "securing" of all Polish art treasures. In his affidavit already offered, Dr. Muehlmann states that he was the special deputy of the Governor General of Poland, the Defendant Frank, for the safeguarding of art treasures in the General Government from October 1939 to September 1943, and that the Defendant Goering, in his capacity as Chairman of the Reich Defense Council, had commissioned him with, this duty, Defendant Prank to take into custody all important art treasures which belonged to Polish public institutions, private collections and the Church, and that such art treasures were actually confiscated.
It appears also from a report made by Dr. Muehlmann on 16 July 1943 on his operations, that at one time 31 valuable sketches by the artist Albrecht Duerer were taken from a Polish collection and personally handed to the Defendant Goering who took them to the Fuehrer's headquarters.
Rosenberg has been shown. He refer to USA Exhibit 368, which is our Document No. 141-PS, which is an order dated 5 November 1940, already read in evidence, in which Goering directs the Chief of the Military Administration in Paris and the Einsatzstab-Resenberg to dispose of the art objects brought to the Louvre in the following priority:
"1) Those art objects as to which the Fuehrer has "2) Those art objects which serve to complete the Reich Marshal's collection.
"3) Those art objects and library stocks, the use "4) Those art objects that are suited for German museums."
the completion of the defendant's own collection, it is not surprising to find that Goering continued to aid the operations of the EinsatzstabRosenberg. It has been established, that on 1 May 1941 Goering issued an order under his own signature to all Party, State and Wehrmacht Services, requesting them to rive all possible support and assistance to the Chief of Staff of Reichsleiter Rosenberg. assistance which he had rendered to the work of the EinsatzstabRosenberg. In our Document 1015i-PS, which has been read in evidence on Page 1678 of the Record, he is shown writing to the Defendant Rosenberg that he personally supports the word of the Einsatzstab whereever he can do So, and that he accounted for the seizure of such a large number of art objects because he was able to gender assistance to the Einsatzstab.
Thus the Defendant Goering's responsibility, for the plunder and looting of art which was actually accomplished by the EinsatzstabRosenberg would seem clear. policies in the Western and Eastern countries occupied, by the German armies will be presented subsequently by the French and Societ prosecution. The responsibility of the Defendant Goering, in his capacity as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, as President of the Cabinet Council for the Defense of the Reich and in other capacities, will be further demonstrated by that evidence. shown by evidence already offered. The Nazis purported to incorporate the four western provinces of Poland into the German Reich.
In the remaining portions occupied by them they set up the General Government. It has been shown that the Nazis planned to Germanize the so-called incorporated territories ruthlessly, by deporting the Polish intelligentsia, Jews and dissident elements to the General Government for eventual elimination, by confiscating Polish property, by sending those so deprived of their property to Germany as laborers, and by importing German settlers. It was specifically planned to exploit the people and material resources of the territory within the General Government by taking whatever was needed to strengthen the Nazi war machine, thus impoverishing this region and reducing it to a vassal state. with the Defendants Frick and Hess, on 8 October 1939 signed the decree by which certain parts of Polish territory were incorporated into the Reich. as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, signed an order on 30 October 1939 concerning the introduction of the Four Year Plan in the Eastern Territories. task for the economic treatment of the various administrative regions would differ depending on whether a country was to be incorporated politically into the German Reich, or whether the General Government was involved which, in all probability, would not be made a part of Germany.
He went on to say:
"In the first mentioned territories the reconstructions and expansion of the economy, the safeguarding of all their production facilities and supplies must be aimed at, as well as a complete incorporation into the Greater German economic system at the earliest possible time. On the other hand there must be removed from the territories of the General Government all raw materials, scrap materials, machines, etc.
, which are of use for the German war economy. Enterprises which are not absolutely necessary for the meagre maintenance of the naked existence of the population must be transferred to Germany, unless such transfer would require an unreasonably long period of time and would make it more practical to exploit those enterprises by giving them German orders to be executed at their present location." Defendant Goering in the plans for the ruthless explotation of Poland clearly appears. But his fine hand also may be found behind the remainder of the Nazi plans for Poland. As an illustration, it was the Defendant Goering who signed, with Hitler and the Defendant Keitel, the secret decree of 7 October 1939 which entrusted Himmler with the task of executing the Germanization program. That secret decree was read into evidence at pages 1522-23. Himmler, the Defendant Frank and others, just what this appointment involved in human suffering and degradation. powers as Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, issued a decree on 17 September 1940 concerning confiscations in the incorporated Eastern territories. This decree applied to "property of citizens of the former Polish State within the territory of the Greater German Reich, including the incorporated Eastern territories." I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of our document 1665-PS, which is an "Order concerning Treatment of Property of Nationals of the Former Polish State," cited in 1940 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I., page 1270. I shall read from this document.
"Article I.
"1) Property of nationals of the former Polish State within the area of the Greater German Reich, including annexed Eastern territories, is subject to confiscation, administration by commissioner and sequestration in accordance with the following regulations."
"1) Confiscation will be applied in case of property belonging to:
a) Jews
b) Persons who have fled or who have absented "2) Confiscation may be applied
a) If the property is needed for the public good,
b) If the owners or other persons entitled to it Reich after 1 October 1918."
"1) Sequestered property can be confiscated in favor of the Reich by the competent office if the public weal, particularly the defense of the Reich or the consolidation of the German nationality requires it."
showing the extent to which the spoliation of Soviet territory and resources, and the barbarous treatment inflicted on Soviet citizens, were the result of plans long made and carefully drawn up by the Nazis before they launched their aggressive war on the Soviet Union. The Nazis planned to destroy the industrial potential of the Northern regions occupied by their armies and so to administer the production of food in the South and Southeast, which normally produced a surplus of food, that the population of the Northern region would inevitably be reduced to starvation because of diversion of such surplus food to the German Reich. It has been shown also that the Nazis planned to incorporate Galicia and all of the Baltic countries into Germany and to convert the Crimea, an area North of the Crimea, the Volga territory, and the district around Baku into German colonies. Soviet Union, it appearsthat Hitler had entrusted the Defendant Goering with the over-all direction of the economic administration in the area of operations and in the areas under political administration. It further appears that Goering had set up an economic staff and subsidiary authorities to carry out this function. its various sections appear more clearly in a set of directives "for the operation of the economy in the newly occupied territories" issued by Goering, as Reichsmarshal of the Greater German Reich, in June 1941. These directives are contained in the important "Green Portfolio" which curiously enough, was printed by the Wehrmacht. By the terms of these directives, it is stated that "The orders of the Reich Marshal cover all economic fields, including nutrition and agriculture. They are to be executed by the subordinate economic offices."
An "Economic Staff, East" was charged with the execution of orders transmitted to it from higher authority. One sub-division of this staff, the Agricultural Section, was charged with the following functions: 'Nutrition and agriculture, the economy of all agricultural products, provision of supplies for the Army in cooperation with the Army groups concerned."
Excerpts from the "Green Portfolio" have already been admitted as USA Exhibit 315, EC-472, but I will offer at this time some additional excerpts in support of the facts I have just related. I would like to offer as USA Exhibit 587, our Document 1743-PS. This is another copy of the "Green Portfolio", and I want to offer this portfolio to show to the Tribunal that these directives were originally published in June, 1941. Document EC-472, which is already in evidence as USA Exhibit 315, was a revised edition published in July, 1941. In other words, the economic plan for the invasion was ready when the Wehrmacht actually marched into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. the economic organization set up by the Defendant Goering, the Agricultural Section of the "Economic Staff East", which rendered a top secret report on 23 May 1941, containing a set of policy directives for the exploitation of Soviet agriculture. It will be recalled that these directives contemplated abandonment of all industry in the food deficit regions, with certain exceptions, and the diversion of food from the food surplus regions to German needs, even though millions of people would inevitably die of starvation as a result. Those directives have already been read into evidence at page 1558.
Minutes of a meeting at Hitler's Headquarters on 16 July 1941, kept by the Defendant Bormann, have also been read in part in evidence. It was at this meeting that Hitler stated that the Nazis never intended to leave the countries then being occupied by their armies, that although the rest of the world was to be deceived on this point, nevertheless, "this need not prevent us taking all necessary measures - shooting, desettling, etc., - and we shall take them." That quotation, may it please the Tribunal, was taken from your Exhibit USA 317, our Document L-221. Then Hitler discussed making the Crimea and other parts of the Soviet Union into German colonies. The Defendant Goering was present and participated in this conference.
September, 1941, which is our Exhibit 318, that Goering presided over a meeting of German military officials concerned with the better exploitation of the occupied territories for the German food economy. In discussing this topic, the defendant Goering said:
"In the occupied territories on principle only those people are to be supplied with an adequate amount of food who work for us. Even if one wanted to feed all the other inhabitants, one could not do it in the newly occupied Eastern areas. It is, therefore, wrong to funnel off food supplies for this purpose, if it is done at the expense of the Army and necessitates increased supplies from home." Goering in the Nazi plans for committing wholesale war crimes in occupied territories is, we submit, clear.
I turn now to Goering's planning and his participation in inhumane acts committed against civilian populations before and during the war. It has been shown that shortly after becoming Prime Minister of Prussia in 1933, Goering created the Gestapo in Prussia, which became a model for that instrument of terror as it was extended to the rest of Germany. Concentration camps were established in Prussia in the spring of 1933 under his administration, and these camps were then placed in charge of the Gestapo, of which he was chief. employed these institutions as agencies for the commission of their crimes already appears from the evidence. In 1936 Himmler became chief of the German police. Thereafter, Goering was able to devote his attention chiefly to the task of creating the German Air Force and to the task of preparing the nation economically for aggressive war. However, he continued to be concerned with these institutions of his creation. An example of this is shown in cur document 1584-PS-I, already introduced as USA Exhibit 221, which is a teletype sent by Goering to Himmler in which he requested the latter to place at his disposal as great a number of concentration camp inmates as possible, as the situation of air warfare made the subterranean transfer of industry necessary.
on the employment of prisoners in the aviation industry showed that 36,000 were being employed for the purposes of the Air Forces and that an increase to a total of 90,000 prisoners was being contemplated. on human beings at the concentration camp at Dachau, and the part that Field Marshal Milch, State Secretary and Deputy to the defendant Goering as Air Minister, for whose acts the latter must bear full responsibility, is abundantly clear from letters written by Milch to General Wolff on 20 May 1942 and to Himmler in August, 1942, both of which have been read in evidence at page 1850 of the record, our document 343-PS.
Finally, I turn to Goering's participation and planning for the elimination of all members of the Jewish race from the economic life of Germany and in the planned extermination of all Jews from the continent of Europe. a speech, urging that body to pass the infamous Nurnberg race laws. I offer as USA Exhibit 588 our document 3458-PS, which is an excerpt from Ruhle, Das Dritte Reich, page 257. Goering said:
"God has created the races. He did not want equality and therefore we energetically reject any attempt to falsify the concept of race purity by making it equivalent with racial equality. We have experienced what it means when a people has to live in accordance with the laws of an equality that are alien to its kind and contrary to nature. For this equality does not exist. We have never acknowledged such an idea and therefore must reject it also, as a matter of principle, in our laws, and we must acknowledge that purity of race which Nature and Providence have destined." in a speech in Vienna, I offer as USA Exhibit 437 our document 3460-PS, starting with pages 348. Goering said:
"I must address myself with a serious word to the city of Vienna. The city of Vienna can no longer rightfully be called a German city. So many Jews live in this city. Where there are 300,000 Jews, you cannot speak of a German city.
"Vienna must once more become a German city, because it must perform important tasks for Germany in Germany's Ostmark. These tasks lie in the sphere of culture as well as in the sphere of economics. In neither of them can we, in the long run, put up with the Jew.
"This, however, should not be attempted by inappropriate interference and stupid measures but must be done systematically and carefully. As Delegate for the Four-Year Plan, I commission the Reichsstatthalter in Austria jointly with the Plenipotentiary of the Reich, to consider and take any steps, necessary for the redirection of Jewish commerce, i.e. for the Aryanization of business and economic life, and to execute this process in accordance with our laws, legally but inexorably." war, the Nazi conspirators then began the complete elimination of Jews from the economic life preparatory to their physical annihilation. The defendant Goering, as head of the Four Year Plan, was in active charge of this phase of the persecution. requiring registration of all Jewish property. Both Goering and the Defendant Frick signed that law. It is already in evidence.
I beg the Tribunal's pardon. I would like the Tribunal to take judicial notice of that decree, which is cur document 1406-PS and cited as 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, page 414. were fully prepared to take the next step. The killing of von Rath, a German Legation Secretary in Paris on 9 November 1938, was made the pretext for widespread "spontaneous" riots, which included the looting and burning of many Jewish synagogues, homes and shops, all carefully organized and supervised by the Nazi conspirators. The defendant Goering was fully informed of the measurer taken. The teletype orders of 10 November 1938 given by Heydrich, are already in evidence and were read at Page 1405 of the record.
A letter which Heydrich wrote to Goering on the following day has also been read. It is our document 3058-PS, USA Exhibit 503. In it Himmler summarizes the so-called "spontaneous" riots that had taken place. He reported the day after the riot that, insofar as the official reports from the district police were concerned, he was able to state that 815 shops were destroyed; 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed, and that all this indicates only a fraction of the actual damage caused, as far as arson is concerned. He also said that, "Due to the urgency of the reporting, the reports received to date are entirely limited to general statements, such as 'numerous' or 'most shops destroyed'." Therefore, said Mr. Heydrich, "The figures given must have been exceeded considerably."
"191 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed. In addition 11 parish halls, cemetery chapels and similar buildings were set on fire and 3 more completely destroyed.
"20,000 Jews were arrested," Thirty-six deaths were reported, and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36. Immediately after these so-called "spontaneous" riots of 9 November, Goering acted as chairman of a meeting at the Reich Ministry of Air devoted to the Jewish question, which also was attended by the defendant Funk and other conspirators. The stenographic report on that meeting is an extraordinary document, and it does not make pretty reading. It is our document 1816-PS. I should like to read certain passages that have not as yet been read into the record, I read from the top of the first page; of the German original, the first two paragraphs of Page I Goering speaks:
"Gentlemen, today's meeting is of a decisive nature. I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's orders by the Stabsleiter of the Fuehrer's deputy Borman, requesting that the Jewish question be now, once and for all, coordinated and solved one way or another. And yesterday once again did the Fuehrer request by phone for me to take coordinated action in the matter.
"Since the problem is mainly an economic one, it is from the economic and that it shall have to be tackled. Naturally, a number of legal measures shall have to be taken which fall into the sphere of the Minister for Justice and into that of the Minister of the Interior; and certain propaganda measures shall he taken care of by the office of the Minister for Propaganda.
The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Economic Affairs shall take care of problems falling into their respective resorts." discussed. A representative of German insurance companies was called in to assist in the solving of the difficulties created by the fact that most of the Jewish stores and other property destroyed in the rioting were in fact insured. In some cases, they were ultimately insured by foreign insurance companies. All present were agreed that it would be unfortunate to pass a law which would have the effect of allowing foreign insurance companies to escape liability. The defendant Goering then suggested a characteristic solution, and I pass to Page 10. In German it is the third full paragraph on Page 311. Goering said "No, I don't even team of refunding the insurance companies the money.
The companies are liable. No, the money belongs to the State, That's quite clear. That would indeed be a present for the insurance companies. You make a wonderful Petidum there. You'll fulfill your obligations; you may count or that." phases of persecution of the Jews that took place at this meeting. It is sufficient to point out that on the same day the defendant Goering, over his own signature, promulgated three decrees putting into effect the most important matters decided at this meeting. In the first of these decrees, a collective fine of one billion Reichsmarks was placed on all German Jews. I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice of that decree, which is our document 1412-PS and appears in 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1579.
The second decree entitled "A Decree on Elimination of Jews from German Economic Life," barred Jews from trades and crafts. I ask the Tribunal to notice judicially that decree, which is our document 2875-PS, cited in 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1580.
The third decree entitled "Decree for the Restoration of the Appearance of the Streets of Jewish Economic Enterprises," took care of the insurance question raised in the morning's meeting by providing that insurance due to the Jews for various losses sustained by them was to be collected by the State.
I ask the Court to notice judicially that decree also. It is our document 2694-PS and appears in 1938 Reichsgesetzblatt, Part I, Page 1581.
THE PRESIDENT: Shall we break off for ten minutes there?
(A recess was taken from 1520-1530 hours.)
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Albrecht, the Tribunal thinks that these methods, which are methods really which we have already had under consideration, might be presented in a more summary way than you have given them, and if you can possibly shorten the matters with which you are dealing now by summarizing more than you are, it will be more useful to the Tribunal, and will save time.
MR. ALBRECHT: My Lord, I think I am practically through with this point with which I am dealing, and I think I shall not have to take more than five or ten minutes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, but I may say that the same observation will apply to those who follow.
MR. ALBRECHT: May it please the Tribunal, the material I alluded to before the recess, we feel, is merely illustrative of the energetic manner in which Goering took part in driving the Jews from economic life at this period. Two other documents are pertinent on this point.
I would like to offer our document 069-PS as USA Exhibit No. 589, which is a circular letter dated 17 January, 1939, signed by the defendant Bormann, distributing a directive of the defendant Goering with respect to the housing of the Jews. I will be content with the summarization, if the Court please, and I don't intend to read further from that document. I offer as USA Exhibit No. 590. That is an order of the defendant Goering as Commissioner for the Four-year Plan, dated 10 December 1938, prescribing the manner in which exploitation of Jewish property is to be undertaken, and warning that any profit resulting from the elimination of Jews from economic activity, is to go to the Reich. except that I do wish to call the attention of the Tribunal to the fact that the Goering letter is addressed to all the chief agencies of the Reich, to all the political leaders, and leaders of the affiliated organizations of the Party; to all Gauleiters, to all Reichsstatthalters, or governors, and to the various local heads of the German lands and subdivisions thereof.
As the German Armies moved into other countries, the anti-Jewish laws were extended, often in a more stringent form, to the occupied territories.
Many of the decrees were not signed by the defendant Goering himself, but were issued on the basis of decrees signed by him. or as Chairman of the Ministerial Council for National Defense, the defendant Goering himself signed a number of anti-Jewish decrees for occupied territories, including the decrees enumerated on pages 47 and 48 of our brief, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. for the complete physical annihilation of all Jews in Europe achieved its full fury. While the execution of this anti-Jewish program was for the most part handled by the SS and the Security Police, the defendant Goering remains implicated to the last in the final efforts to achieve a Nazi "solution" of the Jewish problem. is the final document to which I wish to draw the Tribunal's attention. It is a fitting climax to our presentation on this defendant to Your Honor. The reason why it was addressed to the notorious Heydrich, the predecessor of the defendant Kaltenbrunner, need not strain our Imagination. This document is our document No. 710-PS, which has already been admitted as USA Exhibit No. 509, in connection with the case on the Gestapo. While it has already been read into evidence with, permission of the Court, I would like to close my presentation with the reading of that letter: Goering writes to Heydrich "Complementing the task that was assigned to you on 24 January desired solution of the Jewish question."