The evacuation brought with itself a complete expropriation of movable and immovable property of the farmers.
The entire Government.
The general impression was that the Pole would have a fate similar to that of the Jews.
The evacuation in the District LUBLIN was a welcome by the skill, for which it is known.
This had the result that considerable parts The consequence was a tremendous deterioration of the security situation.
These 2) Already at the first mention of the crime of KATYN, it became obvious constitutes a primary argument in Communist propaganda slogans.
The shooting again and again without the knowledge and against the rail of the Fuehrer must be prevented under all circumstances.
This does not apply naturally to the executions of bandits and partisans. In cases of collective punishments which nearly always hit innocent people and which are politically indifferent, the unfavorable, psychological effect is immeasurable. Serious punitive measures and executions should only be carried out after a procedure satisfying the most primitive conceptions of justice and under publication of the sentence.
"Even if the court procedure is carried on in such a simple, imperfect and improvised manner, it servos to avoid or to lessen the unfavorable effect of a punitive measure which the population considers as purely arbitrary, and hampers the Bolshevist agitation which claims the German measures there to be only the prelude for future incidents. Added to this is that collective punishment, which naturally is directed primarily against the innocent, in the worst case against forced people or desperate ones, are not exactly judged as a sign of strength of the ruling power from which the population expects that it will hit the terrorists themselves and that it liberates them thus from the insecurity which burdens them."
"3.) Besides the most important suppositions mentioned in 1.) and 2.), for the pacification of the General Government, security of property among the non-agricultural people, must also be confirmed, to be granted insofar as it is not opposed by urgent needs of war. The appropriations or confiscation without compensation in the industrial sector, in commerce and trade and other private property was not to take place in any case, insofar as the owner or the custodian has not committed an offense against the German authorities. If the use of industrial enterprises, commercial concerns, or real estate is necessary for war-essential reasons, it should be preceded in every case under avoidance of hardships and guarantee of appropriate compensation. Through such a procedure the initiative of Polish employers would on one side be furthered and on the other hand, damage to the interests of German war economy would be avoided.
"4.) With the influencing of the attitude of the Poles an importance is due to the influence of the Catholic Church, which cannot be entirely overestimated. I do not mistake that the Catholic Church always belonged to the leading fighters for an independent national Poland. Numerous clergymen also made their influence felt, even after the German occupation. Also, hundreds of arrests were carried out in these circles. A series of priests were taken to concentration camps and also shot. However, in order to van the sentiment of the Polish population, at least a legal attitude of the church is necessary, if not cooperation as well. It can be won without any doubt, especially today under the effect of the crimes of Katyn, for a reinforcement of the defensive front against Bolshevism with the Polish people, which must already, out of instince of self-preservation, refuse a Bolshevistic reign in the Vistula area. However, it is a prerequisite for that to refrain in the future from all measures against their activity and their property inasmuch as they are not necessitated by immediate war interest "Damages exceeing by far the advantages obtained in the individual cases have been caused up to the most recent time --."
THE PRESIDENT: I had thought that your extracts were going to be brief. You have now read from page 53 to page 65.
DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, this document is the only one of this kind which is available to me and in consequence of the fact that the Prosecution has only quoted those passages literally which the defendant, Dr. Frank, himself has criticized severely, I consider it my duty now to read a number of passages, to quote them, in order to give the entire picture correctly and to show what really the defendant, Dr. Frank, intended to achieve with this document. I shall only quote a few more lines and then I will pass to another document.
THE PRESIDENT: I had hoped that one or two extracts from that document would show what the defendant Frank was putting forward, one or two paragraphs
DR. SEIDL: Yes. Then we come to the next document, Mr. President, that is on page 68, the affidavit by the witness Dr. Buehler, which I presented to the witness today and which has received the number Exhibit Frank 1, page 68 in the document book.
On page 70 there appears U.S.A. Exhibit 473. If I remember correctly that is the document which has been read entirely by the Prosecution and I would like to ask the Court only to take official notice of that also in the defense of Dr. Frank.
former Kreishauptmann, Dr. Albrecht. To be exact I have to state that this is not exactly an affidavit in the true sense of the word. It is only a letter which Kreishauptmann, Dr. Albrecht, through the General Secretary of the Tribunal, has sent to me. I then returned the letter in order to have it sworn to by the witness but I have to say that until now that sworn statement has not been returned so that for the time being, this exhibit would only have the material value of a letter. letter that document can be accepted by the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: I think the Tribunal did consider that matter before when your application was before it. They will accept the document for what it is worth. If you get the document in affidavit form you will no doubt put it in.
DR. SEIDL: Yes. That will be Exhibit Frank Number 7. I forgego the quoting of the third point and cone to page 74 of the document book and I quote under figure 4:
The struggle of Dr. FRANK against the exploitation and neglect of the General Government in favor of the Reich. Conflict with Berlin. " The first meeting with Dr. FRANK occured shortly after the fundation of the General Government in the Fall of 1939 in the Polish district-capital RADOM where the 10 Kreishauptmaenser of these districts had to report concerning the condition of the population of their administrative district and the problems of a possibly quick and effective reconstruction of the general as well as the administrative and economic life. " Outstanding was the special attention shown by Dr. FRANK and his ceep concern about the area entrusted to him. This found expression in the instructions not to consider or treat the General Government or allow it to be treated, as an object of exploitation or as a useless area, but rather as a center of public order and an area of concentration at the back of the fighting German front and at the gates of the German homeland, like a bridge of land between the two, There fore the loyal native inhabitants of this country have as citizens of the GG a claim to the full protection of the German administration. For this purpose the constant efforts of all authorities and economic units would be demanded by him, and, by constant control through supervising authorities, be personnally superintended by him through periodic inspection trips with the participation of the central expert authorities.
In this way, for instance the two district captaincies (Kreishauptmannschaften) which were administered by me were in the course of four years inspected by him personally three times. " In face of the demands of the Berlin central authorities, who believed it possible import more from the General Government into the Reich than was advisable Dr. Frank represented vigorously the political independence of the German Government as a "annex"(Nebenland) of the Reich, and his own independence as being directly subordinated to the Supreme Head of the State only, and not to the Reich Government. He also instructed us on no account to comply with demands of that kind which might come to us on the basis of personal relations with the authorities by whom we were sent, or the specialist ministries in the Reich which was equally expected from us, to report him about it. This firm, attitude brought Dr. Frank the displeasure of the Berlin government circles, and the nickname "France" (Frankreich) to the General Government. " A campaign of calumny has been initiated in the Reich against him and against the entire administration of the General Government by systematically generalizing and exaggerating regrettable ineptitudes and human weaknesses of individual at the same time attempting to belittle the actual constructive achievements." number 6 and will quote number seven.
"7. Dr. Frank as a oppontent of Violent Actions against the Native Polulati Especially as an Opponent of the SS.
"Besides the exploitation and the pauperization of the General Government, the accusation of the enslaving of the native population as well as their deportation into the Reich and many atrocities of various kinds appeared in the newspaper reports on the Nurnberg War Crimes Trials and are presented as serious evidence against Dr. Frank. As far as atrocities are concerned, the guilt does not lie with Dr. Frank but in part with the numerous non-German agitators and provocateurs who increased with the additional pressure against the fighting German fronts increased their underground activity, and for the Security Organization in the General Government, SS Obergruppenfuehrer Krueger and his agencies.
My observations, however, in this respect are sketchy because of the strict secrecy of these offices.
"On the other hand, Dr. Frank Trent so far in accommodating the Polish population that this was frequently objected to by his German compatriots. That he did the correct thing by his stand for the justified interests of the Polish population is proven, for example, by the impressive fact that barely a year and a half after the defeat of the Polish people in a campaign of eighteen days the concentration of German army masses against Russia in the Polish area took place without a noteworthy disturbance, and that the Eastern railroad could leg the troop transports move with Polish personnel up to the most forward unloading points without having then delayed by sabotage."
I quote the last paragraph on page seventy-nine:
This humane attitude of Dr. Frank which earned him respect and sympathy among considerable groups of the natives led, on the other hand, to bitter conflicts with the SS, among whose circles Himmler's say, 'They shall not love us, but fear us,' circulated as a key word of their thinking and action.
"At times it came to a complete break. I remember exactly that Dr. Frank during a government visit of the Carpathian districts of the District Captaincy (Kreishauptmannschaft) of Stanislau in the summer of 1943 in Jaremtsche on Pruth complained most bitterly during a lonely walk with me and my wife about the arbitrary acts of the SS which quite frequently crossed him political course. At that time he called the SS the Black Plague, and pointed out when he noticed our astonishment at hearing such criticism even from his mouth that it would, for example, be absolutely unpreventable if my wife should be innocently arrested some day or night by agencies of the Gestapo and should disappear never to be seen again without having received the possibility of a defense in a legal trial. Some time afterwards, he held a speech before the students in Heidelberg which attracted much attention and was loudly applauded about the necessity of the reestablishment of a German constitutional state (Rechtsstaat) as would always have done justice to the real requirements of the Germans. When he wanted to repeat this speech in Berlin, he is said to have been forbidden by the Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor as reported to me by a reliable, but unfortunately forgotten source, to make speeches for a quarter of a year at Himmler's instigation.
break down of Dr. Frank, which made necessary a fairly long convalescent leave. As far as I can remember this was in the winter of 1943/44/" on to page eighty-four of the document book. That is an affidavit by SS Obergruppenfuehrer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski of the 21st of February 1946. This affidavit received the exhibit number "Frank No. 8."
THE PRESIDENT: Didn't this witness give evidence?
DR. SEIDL: The witness was questioned here by the prosecution and I made the motion at that time that either 1 could interrogate the witness again or that I would have the use of an affidavit. On the 8th of March 1946 the Tribunal made the decision, if I remember correctly, that I could use an affidavit from that witness but that the prosecution would be free if they desired to question the witness again.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. SEIDL: I shall read the statements of the witness concerning this affair, and I quote under number one:
"1. Owing to the infiltration of Russian partisan groups over the line of the river Bug into the General Government in 1943, Himmler declared the General Government to be a guerilla warfare territory. By this it became my duty, as Chief of the guerilla warfare units to travel over the General Government to gather information and experience, and to submit reports and suggestions for fighting the partisans.
"In the general information Himmler gave me, he called the Governor General Dr. Frank a traitor to his country, who was conspiring with the Poles, and whom he would expose to the Fuehrer very shortly. I still remember two of the reproaches Himmler made against Frank:
"(a) At a lawyer's meeting in the Old Reich territory Frank is said to have stated that 'he preferred a bad constitutional State to the best conducted Police State', and "(b) During a speech to a Polish delegation Frank had disavowed some of Himmler's measures and had disparaged, in front of the Poles, "2. After having personally obtained on a circular tour information on the spot about the situation in the General Government, I visited the higher SS and Police-fuehrer Krueger and the Governor General, Dr. Frank, in Cracow.
"Krueger spoke very disapprovingly about Dr. Frank and made Frank's faltering and unstable policy towards the Poles responsible for conditions in the General Government, he called for harsher and more inconsiderate measures and said that he would not rest until the traitor Frank was overthrown. I had the impression, from Krueger's statements, that personal motives also influenced his attitude and that he himself would have liked to become Governor General.
"After that I had a long discussion with Dr. Frank, I told him of my impressions, while he went into lengthy details about a now policy for Poland which aimed at the pacification of the Poles by way of concessions. In agreement with my personal impressions Dr. Frank considered the following factors responsible for the sente situation in the General Government:
"(a) the inconsiderate resettlement action taken now, in the midst of war, especially the senseless and purposeless resettlement Globocznik the Lublin SS and Police-fuehrer and "(b) the insufficient food quota allotted to the General Government.
is pronounced enemies of any conciliatory policy Dr. Frank designated Krueger and Globocznik who should be recalled without fail. With the conviction that failure by Dr. Frank would only mean a more inconsiderate and uncompromising person as his successor, I promised him my support. Having been assured of strictest secrecy I told Frank I shared his opinion that Krueger and Globocznik would have to disappear. He, Dr. Frank, knew however that, Himmler hated him and that he was urging Hitler to have him removed. With such state of affairs any request on Frank's part to have Krueger and Globocznik recalled would not only be rejected, but would even strengthen their position with Himmler. Frank should give me a free hand, then I could promise him that both would be relieved within the shortest possible time.
Dr. Frank agreed to that, and then "3. The Warsaw r evolt of 1944 --
THE PRESIDENT: I must point out to you that you said you were going to be only two hours on five volumes. You have now been over an hour en one volume, and you are reading practically everything in these documents. It isn't at all what the Tribunal has intended. You have been told that you may make short comments showing how the documents are connected with each other and how they are connected with the all of it. That is not what you are doing at all.
DR. SEIDL: Then may I ask the Tribunal to take official notice of number three of the affidavit by von dem Bach-Zelewski? whether the governor general had anything to do with the crushing of that revolt.
THE PRESIDENT: As a matter of fact, does the indictment charge anything in connection with the crushing of the Warsaw revolt in 1944?
DR. SEIDL: There is nothing in the Indictment itself about the part of the governor general in the crushing of that revolt. However; the Soviet prosecution has submitted a telegram of which it is not sure however whether it had been sent but which puts the defendant Dr. Frank in some relation to the Warsaw revolt. But I shall not say anymore in detail about that now.
This is an affidavit by the witness Wilhelm Ernst von Palezieux, from whom the Tribunal has approved an interrogatory. But I was told by the Tribunal that in place of an interrogatory I could submit an affidavit. I quote only the two main paragraphs, and I quote:
"The art treasures stored in the castle in Cracow since the soring of 1943 were under official and legal supervision there. Dr. Frank always referred to these art treasures to me as state property of the General Government. Catalogues of the existing art treasures had already been made before my presence in Poland; the list of the first selection had been printed in book form as a catalogue with descriptions and statement of origin"-
THE PRESIDENT: Now you are reading the affidavit all over again. You are giving us the whole affidavit over again. We don't want that sort of--
MR. SEIDL: Mr. President, I assume so far that in all those cases where a witness does not appear before the Tribunal in person it is admissable that either the interrogatory be read or the affidavit because otherwise the contents of his testimony would not become part of the record and therefore part of the proceedings.
THE PRESIDENT: That rule was in order that the defendants and their counsel should have the document before them in general; that is the reason for reading the documents through the earphones. Put the Tribunal will adjourn now. But I want to tell you that you must shorten your presentation of this documentary evidence. We have already been a good deal more than an hour over one book and we have four more books to deal with, and it doesn't do your case any good to read all these long passages because we have some more weeks of the trial, and it is only necessary for you to rive such connecting statements as make the documents intelligible and to correlate them with the oral evident that is being given.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 24 April 1946 at 1000 hours.)
Tribunal in the matter of: The United States of
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl.
DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, gentlemen of the Tribunal, the last document of Volume 1 was the affidavit of the witness Ernst von Palezieux, and I am asking the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. The affidavit is given Frank No. 9, and that completes the first volume.
THE PRESIDENT: The first volume, what page?
DR. SEIDL: That was page 92 of the first volume, Exhibit Frank No. 9.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. That is the end of the first volume, isn't it?
DR. SEIDL: Yes, that is the end of the first volume. Volumes II, III, and IV of the document book comprise extracts from Frank's Diary. I do not propose to give numbers to all these extracts individually, but I am asking the Tribunal to receive the whole Diary as Exhibit no. 10, and I propose to quote only a few short extracts, such as pages 1 to 27, Mr. President. They are extracts from the diary which have already been submitted by the Prosecution. brief passages I have tried to prove that these extracts are partly such as do not represent the true and relevant content of the diary. Those are Exhibits USA 173, on page 1 of the document book, USA 223 on page 3, USA 271 on page 8, USA 611 on page 11. On page 14 of the document book there appears to be a misprint. The USA number is not 13, but 613. That is page 14 of the document book.
THE PRESIDENT: It begins on page 13 in my copy, doesn't it?
DR. SEIDL: No, it is on page 14. It is an entry dated the 25th of January 1943.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, the document that I have got and which I think you are referring to is document 2233-PS, USA 613. That is on page 13. I don't think it makes any difference.
DR. SEIDL: In that case, that must be the error by the Translation Department, but at any rate I don't think it is important, I do refer to that quotation. Then, on page 22 is another quotation by the Soviet Prosecution. Page 24 of the document book contains a quotation submitted both by the American and Russian Prosecution.
It is USA 295. am only trying to show that in a number of cases the impression must be a different one, if one either reads the entire speech or at least a larger portion of it.
I then pass on to page 31 of the document book, an entry dated 10 October 1939, in which the defendant, Dr. Frank, is giving instructions regarding the supply of five thousand tons of grain per week to the Reich Economic Ministry -- that is on page 32 of the document book.
On page 34, entry of the 8 March 1940, and I quote the first three lines:
"The Governor General: In close connection with that is the actual governing of Poland. The Fuehrer ordered me to regard theGeneral Government as the home of the Polish people. Accordingly, no Germanization policy of any kind is possible." January, 1940, and I quote the first five lines:
"Dr. Walbaum: (Chief of the Hygiene Department): The status of public health in General Government is satisfactory. Much has already been accomplished in this field. In Warsaw alone 700,000 typhus injections have been given. This is a monstrous total, even for German conditions; it is actually a record." dated 19 February 1940.
"The Governor General is still of the opinion that the Polish law must be properly interpreted. One would have to come to some Polish type of regime and the chief of the Polish legal system would then be the appropriate person for such a task."
THE PRESIDENT: I am afraid there seems to have been some slight difference in the paging and therefore if you would give us carefully and somewhat more slowly the actual date of the document we should be able to find it perhaps for ourselves. The pages do not seem to correspond.
DR. SEIDL: Very well. quote:
"The Governor General expresses in this connection --."
This is on page 51 in my book. This entry is of the 26 February, 1940.THE PRESIDENT: It is on page 40 in our book.
DR. SEIDL: "The Governor General expresses in this connection the wish of Field Marshal General Goering to establish the German administration in such a way that Polish life as such be secured.
Warsaw should not give the impression of a city becoming a subject of Germanization but rather that Warsaw according to the Fuehrer's will, should be one of the cities which within the framework of the constitution intended for Poland should continue to exist as a Polish community organization." of universities and high schools. I quote:
"The Governor General points out in this connection that the universities and highschools have been closed. However, for the duration it would become impossible to prevent the continuation of medical education. The Polish trade school system should also be brought under way again, and that by participation of the city."
Next I quote from my document book on page 56. It is an entry of the 1st of March, 1940.
"The Governor General announces in this connection that the directive had now been issued to leave an open road for Polish development as far as possible within the interests of the German Reich. The present attitude was that the General Government was the home of the Polish people." to the Reich territory. It is on page 60 of my book, entry of 19 September 1940 -- I beg your pardon, 12 September 1940.
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a moment. You mean the first of September, do you?
DR. SEIDL: The 12 of September -- no, I beg your pardon, I should be 12 March, there is a misprint, 12 March, 1940, page 197 of the diary. I quote:
"Governor General, Dr. Frank, emphasizes that, although one could get a sufficient number of workers together by force, after the methods of the slave trade, by using a sufficient number of police and by procuring sufficient means of transportation, the use of propaganda, however, for a number of reasons deserves preference under all the circumstances."
The next quotation is on page 68 in my book; it is an entry of April 23, 1940. I quote the last five lines:
"The Governor General states that the General Government is only pursuing the aim of offering the Polish nation protection in an economic respect alone. He would almost be willing to assume that one can achieve better results with Poles than with autocratic trustees." 1940. In this connection the Governor General states to the President of the Polish Court of Appeals for the district Radom, and I wish to quote the last four lines:
"We do not wish a war of extermination. The protection of the Reich over the Polish people in the German zone means for you the possibility of adhering to and developing the traditions of your people."
I nowcome to page 77 of my document book; it is an entry from the volume of July to September, page 692 and I quote:
"The Governor General referred to the still existing food difficulties in the General Government."
" ...that he ask the General to see that the newly arrived troops with their provisioning and other requirements did not place a burden on the food situation of the General Government. Above all, every kind of confiscation should cease." September, 1940, page 819 of the diary. This entry deals with the establishment of the medical academy which was planned by the Governor General and I am asking the Tribunal to take judicial notice of it. dated October 9, 1940, from the speech of the Governor General on the occasion of the opening of the autumn fair at Radom and it appears on line 5.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Seidl, the important things for us are the page in the diary and the date. We seem to have the pages in the diary and the dates so if you will tell us them that will be of the greatest help to us.
DR. SEIDL: The date is October 9, 1940, it is page 966-967 of the diary and I quote line six:
"It is clear that if we wish to internationalize we must first Germanize."
THE PRESIDENT: The translation in our book of that sentence is:
"It is clear that we neither want to denationalize nor shall we Germanize."
DR. SEIDL: There must have been an error in the translation.
THE PRESIDENT: In which tanslation, in the one I have just read out?
DR. SEIDL: In the English translation. I shall now quote correctly -
"It is clear that we do not either wish to denationalize nor shall we Germanize. Everything else would be senseless."
THE PRESIDENT: That is what I read. Well, it is right in our book anyhow.
DR. SEIDL: What the Governor General wants to say is that we did not wish to deprive the Poles of their national character and that we did not want to make them into Germans. of the original diary. It refers to a conference with the Reich Labor Minister and I quote part thereof:
"No, the Governor General, had complained to the Fuehrer about the fact that Polish agricultural workers had their wages reduced by fifty percent. Apart from that their wages had been used for a purpose which was contrary to the spirit of this exchange of workers."
The next quotation is dated 29 November, 1940. It is on page 1085 in volume 4, I quote:
"Professor Watzke further declares that at that time, on the part of the office of Reichsleiter Rosenberg, efforts were being made to confiscate the Polish library in Paris. The Department of Schools was of the opinion that the property of that library belonged to the State Library in Warsaw, since 17,000 volumes were already in Warsaw at the time.
"The Governor General ordered that, without delay, the transfer of this Polish library from Paris to Warsaw should be carried out." an economic meeting, of which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice, without quoting from it.
The next quotation is dated February 25, 1940. It is a labor meeting of the department chiefs and mayors of the district of Radom. I quote from page 13:
"Thereupon the Governor General spoke, and made the following statements." It goes on, on page 13:
"I summarize all the arguments.
"1. The Government General is that part of the occupied Polish territory which is not an integral part of the German Reich.
"2. This territory is, first of all, designated to be the homestead of the Polish people by the Fuehrer. That the Fuehrer told me in Berlin, as well as Field Marshal Goering, who emphasized it again and again, namely, that this territory was not to be Germanized, it was to be regarded as the particular homestead of the Polish people and secured as such; it was to be a territory placed at the disposal of the Polish nation by the German nation, for their reservation." quote the last paragraph:
"And then I want to tell you one thing. The Fuehrer has urged me to secure the self-administration of the Poles as far as possible, and that the Woits and the lower levels of authority of the smaller mayors should remain in the hands of the Poles, which would be in our interest too."
I now pass on to the entry of March 4, 1940. It is the volume, "Meetings, February 1940 to November 1940."
I am referring to page 8:
"The Governor General wishes it considered that if the labor order were to be used properly, one could exercise a slight force. A new decree coming from Berlin, which orders special measures of force and threats of penalties, is turned down by him. Measures which would cause excitement should be avoide Transport of people by force has everything against it."
The last quotation in my document book is on page 143. It is an entry dated January 27, 1941, Volume I, page 115. It is a conference with Secretary of State Dr. Buehler, and the Reich Finance Minister, Count Schwerin von Krosigk, and I quote the last paragraph:
"The efforts of all persons used in the Government General must be thanked for the fact that after extraordinary and extreme difficulties had been overcome there is now an upward development of the economic situation. The Government General, since its entire existence, had carried out the demands of the Reich with great conscientious effort. It would, therefore, be possible to make the request that in the future the Reich would not exceed the demands made on the Government General, which would make the maintenance of a proper order in the Government General possible, and which, after all, in turn, would serve the Reich."
That exhausts Volume II of the document book. I now come to Volume III, and I ask the Tribunal to turn at once to a quotation on page 17 in my book. It is an entry on the occasion of a government meeting of October 18, 1941. I quote the eighth line from the bottom; it is a statement of the Governor General:
"I shall, on one occasion, react to these demands--and these are the demands of the Reich--by saying that our strength has been exhausted and that we can no longer assume responsibility toward the Fuehrer. Any instructions, orders, or threats cannot cause me, or prevent me from saying emphatically "no" to demands which, even under the stress of war-time conditions, are no longer tolerable.
"I will not permit that which you, Mr. Naumann, expressly indicated could happen, namely, by putting large spaces as maneuver grounds at the disposal of the troops, and thus disrupt completely the food situation, which is already utterly insufficient."