Chapter V: Part I: , Page 247. I quote (2)

“The Chiefs of the State Police or their deputies, upon receipt
of this teletype, must get in contact by telephone with the
political administration (Gauleitung or Kreisleitung) having
jurisdiction over their districts and must arrange a joint
meeting with the appropriate inspector or commander of the Order
Police to discuss the organization of the demonstration. At
these discussions the political leaders are to be informed that
the German Police have received from the Reichsführer SS and
Chief of the German Police the following instructions, in
accordance with which the political leaders should adapt their
measures.”

That had to do with the preparation for the general anti-Jewish uprisings.

Now, with reference to Document 3063-PS, which follows just below that one, if Your Honor pleases.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

COL. STOREY: That, if you recall, Your Honor, was a report from the Supreme Party Court Justice Buch to the Defendant Göring concerning punishment for the uprisings that followed the 9th and 10th of November demonstration. I should like to quote the portion signed by the Defendant Göring. It is, I believe, the second page of the English translation. It is dated “Berlin, 22 February 1939”:

“Dear Party Member Buch:

“I thank you for forwarding the report of your special court on
the proceedings concluded up to now concerning the excesses on
the occasion of the anti-Jewish incidents of 9 and 10 November
1938, of which I have taken cognizance. Heil Hitler! Yours,
signed, Göring.”

And then, passing, Your Honor, to Page Number 1, immediately following, of the English translation, I think the next two paragraphs will answer Your Honor’s question. I quote:

“On the evening of 9 November 1938 the Reich Propaganda
Director, Party Member Dr. Goebbels told the Party leaders
assembled at a reunion in the old town hall in Munich that in
the districts”—Gaue—“of Kurhessen and Magdeburg-Anhalt
anti-Jewish demonstrations had taken place, during which Jewish
shops were demolished and synagogues were set on fire. The
Führer, at Goebbels’ suggestion, had decided that such
demonstrations were not to be prepared or organized by the
Party; but so far as they originated spontaneously, they were
not to be interfered with either. Besides that, Party Member Dr.
Goebbels interpreted the sense of the contents of the teletype
of the Reich Propaganda Administration of 10 November
1938. . . .”

THE PRESIDENT: What does “12:30 to 1 o’clock” mean there?

COL. STOREY: That is the time of the teletype message, I assume, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

COL. STOREY: “It was probably understood by all the Party
leaders present, from the oral instructions of the Reich
Propaganda Director, that the Party should not appear outwardly
as the originator of the demonstrations but in reality should
organize and execute them. Instructions in this sense were
telephoned immediately—thus a considerable time before
transmission of the first teletype—to the headquarters of their
districts”—Gaue—“by a large part of the Party members
present.”

Now Your Honors properly asked yesterday afternoon how the Blockleiter would be affected. Your Honors will recall that, in the instructions to the Blockleiter defining his offices, it was stated that his instructions would be received orally and they would be transmitted orally and never to use writing except in extreme cases. Therefore I say that these quoted portions clearly indicate that the Party was in fact used in connection with these famous 9 and 10 November 1938, anti-Jewish demonstrations.

Now, reverting back to the text where I left off yesterday afternoon: The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the confiscation of church and religious property.

I offer in evidence Document 072-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-357, a letter dated 19 April 1941 from Reichsleiter Bormann to Reichsleiter Rosenberg. This letter exposes the participation of the Gauleiter in measures relating to the confiscation of religious property.

I now quote from the last paragraph of Page 1 of the English translation of Document 072-PS, which reads:

“The libraries and art objects of the monasteries confiscated in
the Reich were to remain for the time being in these monasteries
insofar as the Gauleiter had not directed otherwise. . . .”

On 21 February 1940 the Chief of the Security Police and SD, Heydrich, wrote a letter to Reichsführer SS Himmler, proposing that certain listed churches and monasteries be confiscated for the accommodation of so-called “racial Germans.”

The Tribunal, of course, will recall Himmler’s position.

After pointing out that on political grounds outright expropriation of religious property would not be feasible at the time, Heydrich suggested certain specious interim actions with respect to the church properties in question, to be followed progressively by outright confiscation.

I now offer in evidence R-101(a)—it is right towards the end of Your Honor’s Exhibit—as Exhibit USA-358.

If Your Honors please, there are several of those documents under R-101, and at the bottom you will notice they are labeled “a,” “b,” and “c.” The first one is R-101(a), and I quote the first five paragraphs on Page 2 of the English translation:

“Enclosed is a list of church possessions which might be
available for the accommodation of racial Germans. The list,
which I beg you to return, is supplemented by correspondence and
illustrated material pertinent to the subject.

“For political reasons, expropriation without indemnity of the
entire property of the churches and religious orders will hardly
be possible at this time.

“Expropriation with indemnity or in return for assignment of
other lands and grounds will be even less possible.

“It is therefore suggested that the respective authorities of
the orders be instructed that they make available the
monasteries concerned for the accommodation of racial Germans
and remove their own members to other less populous
monasteries.”

There is a marginal note opposite this paragraph that, translated, means “very good.”

“The final expropriation of these properties thus placed at our
disposal can then be carried out step by step in the course of
time.”

On 5 April 1940 the Security Police and Security Service SS sent a letter to the Reich Commissar for the consolidation of Germandom, enclosing a copy of the foregoing letter from Heydrich to Himmler of 21 February 1940, proposing the confiscation of Church properties. The letter of 5 April 1940 is included in the Document R-101(a), just introduced in evidence; and I quote from the second sentence of the first paragraph thereof, on Page 1 of the English translation of Document R-101(a):

“The Reich Leader SS has agreed to the proposals made in the
enclosed letter and has ordered the matter to be dealt with by
collaboration between the Chief of the Security Police and
Security Service and your office.”

I now offer in evidence Document R-101(c), Exhibit USA-358. This is a letter dated July 30, 1941, written by an SS Standartenführer whose signature is illegible, to the Reich Leader of the SS. The letter supplies further evidence of the participation of the Gauleiter in the seizure of church property. I quote from the first three paragraphs of the English translation of Document R-101(c), at the bottom of the page:

“With reference to the report of 30 May 1941, this office
considers it its duty to call the Reich Leader’s attention to
the development which is taking place in the incorporated
Eastern countries with regard to seizure and confiscation of
church property.

“As soon as the Reich laws on expropriation became effective,
the Reichsstatthalter and Gauleiter in the Reichsgau Wartheland
adopted the practice of expropriating church real estate for use
as dwellings and paying the appraised value into blocked
accounts.

“Moreover, the East German Agricultural Administration, Limited,
reports that in the Warthegau all church-owned real estate is
being claimed by the local Gau administration.”

I next offer in evidence Document R-101(d), which immediately follows Exhibit Number USA-358 already in evidence. This is a letter from the Chief of Staff of the Main Office to Himmler, dated 30 March 1942, dealing with the confiscation of church property. The letter evidences the active participation of the Party Chancellery in the confiscation of religious property.

In this letter the Chief of Staff, Main Office, reports to Himmler concerning the policy of the SS in suspending all payment of rent to monasteries and other church institutions whose property had been expropriated. The letter discusses a proposal made by the Reich Minister of the Interior, in which the Party Chancellery prominently participated, to the effect that the church institutions should be paid amounts corresponding to current mortgage charges on the premises without realizing any profit. The writer further suggests that such payments should never be made directly to the ecclesiastical institutions but rather should be made to the creditors of the institutions.

I now quote from the fourth sentence on Page 3 of that document, the English translation, whereby such an arrangement would be in line with “the basic idea of the settlement originally worked out between the Party Chancellery and the Reich Minister of the Interior.”

I understand the Reich Minister of Interior for 1933-1944 was the Defendant Frick.

The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party participated in the suppression of religious publications and interfered with free religious education.

In a letter dated 27 September 1940 Reichsleiter and Deputy of the Führer Bormann transmitted to the Defendant Rosenberg a photostatic copy of a letter from Gauleiter Florian dated 23 September 1940, which expresses the Gauleiter’s intense disapproval, on Nazi ideological grounds, of a religious pamphlet entitled, _The Spirit and Soul of the Soldier_, written by a Major General Von Rabenau.

I now offer in evidence Document 064-PS, Exhibit Number USA-359. It is an original letter signed by Rosenberg attaching the copy of that matter. It contains Defendant Bormann’s letter to Rosenberg, dated 27 September 1940, transmitting the Gauleiter’s letter of 23 September 1940 to the Defendant Hess, in which the Gauleiter urges that the religious writings of General Von Rabenau be suppressed. In his letter to the Defendant Hess, Gauleiter Florian discusses a conversation he had with General Von Rabenau at the close of a lecture delivered by the General to a group of younger Army officers at Aachen. This conversation illumines the hostile attitude of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party towards the Christian Churches. I quote from the second sentence of the second paragraph of the second page of the Gauleiter’s letter to the Defendant Hess, which appears on Page 2 of the English translation—the second paragraph—and I quote:

“After he had affirmed the necessity of the churches, Rabenau
said, with emphasized self-assurance, something like the
following:

“‘Dear Gauleiter, the Party is making mistake after mistake in
the treatment of the churches. Obtain for me the necessary
powers from the Führer and I guarantee that I shall succeed in a
few months in establishing peace with the churches for all
time.’

“After this catastrophic ignorance, I gave up the
conversation. . . .

“Dear Party Member Hess, the reading of Von Rabenau’s pamphlet,
_The Spirit and Soul of the Soldier_, has reminded me again of
this. In this brochure Rabenau affirms as before the necessity
of the Church straightforwardly and clearly, even though he is
shrewdly careful. He writes on Page 28: ‘There could be more
examples; they would suffice to show that a soldier in this
world can scarcely get along without thoughts about the next
one.’ Because Von Rabenau has a false spiritual basis, I
consider his activities as an educator in spiritual affairs
dangerous; and I am of the opinion that his educational writings
are to be dispensed with, by all means, and that the publication
section of the NSDAP can and must forgo these writings . . .

“The churches with their Christianity constitute a danger
against which a struggle absolutely must be carried on.”

That the Party Chancellery shared with the Gauleiter hostility to the Christian Churches is further revealed by the Defendant Bormann’s instruction to the Defendant Rosenberg, set forth in Bormann’s letter of transmittal, that Rosenberg take action on the Gauleiter’s recommendation that the General’s writings be suppressed.

I now offer in evidence Document 089-PS, Exhibit Number USA-360, which is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, as Deputy of the Führer, to the Defendant Rosenberg, dated 8 March 1940, enclosing a copy of Bormann’s letter of the same date to Reichsleiter Amann. Amann was a top-member of the Leadership Corps by virtue of his position as Reichsleiter for the Press and Leader of the Party publishing company. In this letter to Amann Bormann expresses his dismay and dissatisfaction that only 10 percent of the 3,000 Protestant periodicals in Germany have ceased publication for what are described as “paper saving” reasons. Bormann then advises Reichsleiter Amann that “the allocation of any paper whatsoever for such periodicals is blocked.”

I now refer to this Document 089-PS; and I quote the second paragraph of Bormann’s letter to Amann, which appears on the first page—the second paragraph—of the English translation:

“I urge you to see to it, in any re-allocation of paper to be
considered later, that religious writings, which according to
experiences so far gathered, possess very doubtful value for
strengthening the power of resistance on the part of the people
toward the external foe, receive still sharper restrictions in
favor of literature politically and ideologically more
valuable.”

I next offer in evidence Document 101-PS, Exhibit Number USA-361, which is a letter from the Defendant Bormann, again to Reichsleiter Rosenberg, dated the 17th January 1940, expressing the Party’s opposition to the circulation of religious literature to the members of the German Armed Forces. Among the soldiers of the United Nations the proposition that there are no atheists in the foxholes received a wide and reverent acceptation. However, in this document there is a contrary meaning, and I quote from Page 1 of the English translation, which reads:

“Nearly all the districts”—that is Gaue—“report to me
regularly that the churches of both confessions are as active as
ever in ministering spiritually to members of the Armed Forces.
This finds expression especially in the fact that soldiers are
being sent religious publications by the pastors of their home
parishes. These publications are, in part, very well written. I
have repeated reports that these publications are being read by
the troops and thereby exercise a certain influence on their
morale.

“I have at that time sought, by contacting at once the General
Field Marshal, the High Command of the Armed Forces, and Party
Member Reichsleiter Amann, to restrict considerably the
production and shipment of publications of this type. The result
of these efforts remained unsatisfactory. As Reichsleiter Amann
has repeatedly informed me, the restriction of these pamphlets
by means of the paper rationing cannot be achieved because the
paper used for the pamphlets is being purchased on the open
market. . . .

“If the influencing of the soldiers by the Church is to be
effectively combatted, this will be accomplished only by
producing many good publications in the shortest possible time
under the supervision of the Party. . . .

“Also, at the last meeting of the Deputy Gauleiter comments were
made on this matter to the effect that such publications are not
available in sufficient quantities. . . .

“I maintain that it is necessary that in the very near future we
transmit to the Party Service Offices, down to the
Ortsgruppenleiter, a list of additional publications of this
sort which should be sent to our soldiers by the
Ortsgruppen. . . .”

The Leadership Corps also participated in measures leading to the closing and dissolution of theological schools and other religious institutions. I now offer in evidence Document Number 122-PS, Exhibit Number USA-362, which, again, is a letter from the Defendant Bormann to the Defendant Rosenberg in his capacity as the Führer’s Representative for the Supervision of Spiritual and Ideological Schooling and Education of the NSDAP. This letter is dated 17 April 1939 and transmits to Rosenberg an enclosed photostatic copy of a plan suggested by the Reich Minister for Science, Education, and Popular Culture for the combining and closing of certain specially listed theological faculties. In his letter of transmittal the Defendant Bormann requested Reichsleiter Rosenberg to take cognizance and prompt action with respect to proposed suppression of religious institutions. I now quote from the next to the last paragraph on Page 2 of the English translation, in which the plan to suppress the religious institutions is summarized, and which reads:

“To recapitulate, this plan would mean, in addition to the
closing of the theological faculties at Innsbruck, Salzburg, and
Munich, which has already taken place, and the contemplated
transfer of the faculty of Graz to Vienna, the elimination of
four Catholic theological faculties:

“a) The abolition of three more Catholic theological faculties
or higher schools and of four evangelical theological faculties
in the winter semester 1939-1940;

“b) the abolition of one more Catholic and of three more
evangelical theological faculties in the near future.”

From the foregoing evidence the inference is irresistible that the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party shares a responsibility for the measures taken to subvert the Christian Churches and persecute the Christian clergy, both in Germany and in German-occupied territories of Europe. The evidence just offered, together with that previously presented by the Prosecution, demonstrates that there was a general participation by the Leadership Corps, ranging from the Reichsleiter to the Gauleiter, adhered to by the rank and file, in the deliberate program undertaken to undermine Christian religion. We stress the significance of the appointment of the Defendant Rosenberg, whose anti-Christian views are open and notorious, as the Führer’s “delegate” or “representative” for the whole spiritual and philosophical education of the Nazi Party. It was precisely this position which gave Rosenberg his seat in the Reichsleitung (the general staff of the Party), comprising all the Reichsleiter. But emphasis is placed, not merely upon the fact that anti-Christs such as the Defendants Bormann and Rosenberg held directive positions within the Leadership Corps, but upon the further fact that their directives and orders were passed down the chain of command of the Leadership Corps and caused the participation of its membership in acts subversive to the Christian Church.

In Document Number D-75, which I believe has been introduced previously—and I am just going to quote one line from it—the Defendant Bormann stated, “Nazism and Christianity are irreconcilable concepts.” The defendant was never more right, but he erred grievously by his prophecy as to which of the two would first pass away.

I next turn to the responsibility of the Leadership Corps for the destruction of free trade unions and the imposition of the conspiratorial control over the productive labor capacity of the German nation.

The evidence relating to the responsibility of the Nazi conspirators for the destruction of the independent trade unions has been previously introduced in evidence in the U.S. Exhibit G, which was the document book containing the evidentiary materials relating to the destruction of the trade unions. The brief evidence which I shall now present is offered to prove the responsibility of the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party for the smashing of the independent unions and the imposition of conspiratorial control over the productive labor capacity of the German nation.

Soon after the seizure of power, prominent members of the Leadership Corps participated in the smashing and dissolution of the independent trade unions of Germany. The Defendant Robert Ley, precisely by virtue of his office as Reich Organization Leader and Reichsleiter in the Leadership Corps, was directed by Hitler, in mid-April 1939, to smash the independent unions.

I will pass on now to Document 392-PS, Exhibit Number USA-326; and I quote, beginning at the top of Page 1 of the English translation:

“On Tuesday, 2 May 1933 . . . the co-ordination action against
the free trade unions begins. . . .

“The essential part of the action is to be directed against the
General German Trade Union League (ADGB) and the General
Independent Employees’ Federation (AFA-Bund). Anything beyond
that which is dependent upon the free trade unions is left to
the Gauleiter’s judgment.

“The Gauleiter are responsible for the execution of the
co-ordination action in their individual areas. The action will
be carried out by the National Socialist Factory Cell
Organization. . . .

“The Gauleiter is to proceed with his measures on the basis of
the closest agreement with competent Gau or regional factory
cell directors. . . .

“In the Reich, the following will be occupied:

“The headquarters of the unions. . . .”

Then it lists a number of offices, and I previously quoted who was to be taken into protective custody.

The next provision:

“Exceptions are granted only with the permission of the
Gauleiter. . . .

“It is understood that this action is to proceed in a strongly
disciplined fashion. The Gauleiter are responsible for holding
the direction of the action firmly in hand. Heil
Hitler!”—signed—“Dr. Robert Ley.”

The Defendant Ley’s order for the dissolution of the independent trade unions was carried out as planned and directed. Trade union premises all over Germany were occupied by the SA and the unions dissolved. On the 2d of May 1933 the official NSDAP press service reported that the National Socialist Factory Cell Organization (NSBO) had “eliminated the old leadership of free trade unions” and taken over their leadership.

I now offer in evidence Document 2224-PS, Exhibit Number USA-364, which is Pages 1 and 2 of the 2d of May 1933 issues of the National Socialist Party Press Agency. I quote from Paragraph 5 of Page 1 of the English translation:

“National Socialism, which today has assumed leadership of
German labor, can no longer bear the responsibility for leaving
the men and women of the German working class, the members of
the largest trade organization in the world, the German trade
union movement, in the hands of people who do not know a
fatherland called Germany. Because of that, the National
Socialist Factory Cell Organization has taken over the
leadership of the trade unions. The NSBO has eliminated the
former leadership of the free trade unions of the General German
Trade Unions League, and of the General Independent Employees’
Federation. . . .

“On 2 May 1933 the NSBO took over the leadership of all trade
unions; all trade-union buildings were occupied and most
stringent control of financial and personnel matters of the
organizations has been set up.”

As shown by this evidence, the assault on the independent unions was directed by the Defendant Ley, in his capacity as Reichsleiter in charge of Party organization, assisted by the Gauleiter and Party formations, and included the seizure of trade-union funds and property. In this connection I offer in evidence Document 1678-PS, Exhibit Number USA-365. This document is a report of a speech by Reichsleiter Ley on the 11th of September 1937 to the fifth annual session of the German Labor Front. In this speech Ley shamelessly corroborates the confiscation of the trade-union funds. I quote from Paragraph 4 of Page 1 of the English translation:

“Once I said to the Führer: ‘My Führer, actually I am standing
with one foot in jail, for today I am still the trustee of the
comrades Leipart and Imbusch; and should they some day ask me to
return their money, then it will be found that I have put it
into buildings or otherwise spent it. But they shall never again
find their property in the condition in which they handed it
over to me. Therefore I should have to be convicted.’

“The Führer laughed then and remarked that apparently I felt
extremely well in this condition.

“It was very difficult for us all. Today we laugh about it
. . .”

The plan of the Nazi conspirators to eliminate the free trade unions was advanced by the enactment, on 19th May 1933, of a law which abolished collective bargaining between workers and employers and replaced it with a regulation of working conditions by labor trustees appointed by Hitler. I refer to Document 405-PS, which is the text of the law, 1933 _Reichsgesetzblatt_ I, Page 285. After providing in Section 1 for the appointment by Hitler of trustees of labor, this law provides, and I quote from Section 2 of the English translation of Document 405-PS:

“Until a new revision of the social constitution, the labor
trustees are to regulate the conditions for the conclusion of
labor contracts. This practice is to be legally binding for all
persons and replaces the system founded on combinations of
workers, of individual employers, or of combinations of
employers. . . .”

Having destroyed the independent unions and collective bargaining, the next step of the Nazi conspirators was to secure the Nazification in the field of industrial relations. I refer to Document Number 1861-PS, which is the text of the law of 20 January 1934, 1934 _Reichsgesetzblatt_ I, Page 45. This law was entitled the “Law Regulating National Labor”; and it imposed the leadership principle upon industrial enterprisers and provided, in Section I, Paragraph 1, that the enterpriser should be the leader of the plant and the workers would constitute his followers. I now quote from Section I, Paragraph 2, of the first page of Document Number 1861-PS:

“The leader of the plant has full authority over the employees
in all matters concerning the enterprise, as far as they are
covered by this law.

“He is responsible for the well-being of the employees. The
employees owe him loyalty in keeping with the principles of
factory solidarity.”

The trade unions having been dissolved and the leadership principle superimposed upon the relationship of management and labor, the members of the Leadership Corps joined in and directed measures designed to replace the independent unions by the German Labor Front, the DAF, an affiliated Party organization. On the very day the Nazi conspirators seized and dissolved the free trade unions, the 2d of May 1933, they publicly proclaimed that a “United Front of German Workers” would be formed with Hitler as honorary patron at a workers’ congress on the 10th of May 1933. I quote from the next to the last paragraph of Page 2 of Document 2224-PS, which was a release of the Nazi Party Press Agency:

“The National Socialist Party Press Agency is informed that a
great Workers’ Congress will take place on Wednesday, 10 May, in
the Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. The United Front of
German Workers will be formed there. Adolf Hitler will be asked
to assume the position of honorary patron.”

The Nazi conspirators employed the German Labor Front, the DAF, as an instrument for propagandizing its millions of compulsory members with Nazi ideology. The control of the Leadership Corps over the German Labor Front was assured not only by the designation of Reichsleiter of the Party Organization Ley as head of the DAF, but by the employment of a large number of Politische Leiter, or political leaders, charged with disseminating and imposing Nazi ideology upon the large membership of the DAF. I now cite Document 2271-PS, Exhibit Number USA-328, which is the Party _Organization Book_ referred to yesterday, Pages 185-187; and I quote from the first page of the English translation, the first paragraph:

“The NSBO is a union of the political leaders of the NSDAP in
the German Labor Front.

“The NSBO is to undertake the organization of the German Labor
Front.

“The duties and responsibilities of the NSBO have passed over to
the German Labor Front.

“The political leaders who have been transferred from the NSBO
to the German Labor Front guarantee the ideological education of
the DAF in the spirit of the National Socialistic idea.”

Now, if Your Honors please, in addition to the evidence heretofore presented, the Prosecution submits that it is another evidence of crime that the Leadership Corps of the NSDAP was responsible for the plundering of art treasures by the Defendant Reichsleiter Rosenberg’s “Einsatzstab Rosenberg.” The definition of “Einsatzstab” is a “special staff,” and I am told that the word “Einsatz” means “to give action to.” In other words, it was a task force, a special staff.

This subject, diverting from the text, had been prepared in connection with the general subject of “Plundering of Art Treasures”; and I shall now turn to the document books of the “Plundering of Art Treasures,” because the citations now will be in this small book.

I now pass to Your Honors Document Book W; and, may I say, diverting from the text, that the trial address, which is very brief, has, as I have been told by the Translating Division, been translated into all four languages; and, as I understand, Colonel Dostert will distribute it to all parties in their native languages.

Also by way of explanation, in the beginning there is one reference here to the plundering of art treasures in the occupied portion of Poland which does not bear directly upon this subject but does on the general conspiracy; and I thought, in the interest of time, that we might follow the presentation, because it is very brief.

May it please the Tribunal, the sections of the Indictment which are to be proved at this point are those dealing with the plunder of public and private property under Count One, the Common Plan or Conspiracy. It is not my purpose to explore all phases of the ordinary plunder in which the Germans engaged. However, I would bring to the attention of the Tribunal and of the world the defendants’ vast, organized, systematic program for the cultural impoverishment of virtually every community of Europe and for the enrichment of Germany thereby.

Special emphasis will be placed on the activities of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg; and the responsibility of the Leadership Corps in this regard is a responsibility that is shared by the Defendants Rosenberg, Göring, and Keitel, and by the defendant organizations; the General Staff, High Command, Gestapo, the Security Service, and the SS.

Before I deal with the plunder of the cultural treasures by the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, I wish to reveal briefly the independent plundering operations conducted in the Government General of Occupied Poland by authority of the Defendant Göring and under the supervision of the Defendant Frank, the Governor General.

In October 1939 Göring issued a verbal order to a Dr. Mühlmann asking him to undertake the immediate securing of all Polish art treasures. Dr. Mühlmann himself gives evidence of this order in Document Number 3042-PS found in the document book last introduced as Exhibit USA-375.

THE PRESIDENT: Are the documents in Book W?

COL. STOREY: Book W; yes, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: I was asking whether the documents in Book W are placed in order of number in PS?

COL. STOREY: They are; yes, Sir; and the first one is found on the first page. I beg your pardon; 3042 would be in numerical order toward the end, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: I have it. I was merely asking for general information.

COL. STOREY: These are consecutive. I would like to offer this affidavit and to read it in full. In short, it was obtained in Austria. Kajetan Mühlmann states under oath:

“I have been a member of the NSDAP since 1 April 1938. I was
Brigadier General”—Oberführer—“in the SS.

“I was never an illegal Nazi.

“I was the special deputy of the Governor General of Poland,
Hans Frank, for the safeguarding of art treasures in the
Government General, October 1939 to September 1943.

“Göring, in his function as chairman of the Reich Defense
Committee, had commissioned me with this duty.

“I confirm that it was the official policy of the Governor
General, Hans Frank, to take into custody all important art
treasures which belonged to Polish public institutions, private
collections, and the Church. I confirm that the art treasures
mentioned were actually confiscated; and it is clear to me that
they would not have remained in Poland in case of a German
victory, but they would have been used to complement German
artistic property.”—Signed and sworn to by Dr. Mühlmann.

On the 15th of November 1939 Frank issued a decree, which is published officially in _The Law of the Government General_, (1773-PS, Exhibit USA-376). It is E 800, Article 1, Section 1. It is not in the document book. It is just a short quotation of which we ask the Tribunal to take judicial knowledge. Quoting:

“All movable and stationary property of the former Polish State
. . . will be sequestered for the purpose of securing all manner
of public valuables.”

In a further decree of 16 December 1939, appearing as E 845 of the same publication, Frank provided that all art objects in public possession in the Government General were to be seized for the fulfillment of public tasks of common interest, insofar as they had not already been seized under the decree of 15 November. The decree provided that, in addition to art collections and art objects belonging to the Polish State, there would be considered as owned by the public, those private collections which have not already been taken under protection by the Special Commissioner, as well as all ecclesiastical art property.

On the 24th of September 1940 Frank decreed that all property seized on the basis of the decree of 15 November 1939 would be transferred to the ownership of the Government General; and this decree is found as E 810 of the same publication.

It is impossible for me to furnish this Tribunal a complete picture of the vastness of the program for the cultural impoverishment of Poland carried out pursuant to the directives, as I cannot read into the record the 500-odd masterpieces catalogued in Document 1233-PS (Exhibit USA-377) or the many hundreds of additional items catalogued in Document 1709-PS (Exhibit USA-378). Now Document 1233-PS, which I hold in my hand, is a finely bound, beautifully printed catalogue, in which Defendant Frank proudly lists and describes the major works of art which he had plundered for the benefit of the Reich. This volume was captured by the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Division of the 3rd United States Army and was found in Frank’s home near Munich. The introductory page describes the thoroughness with which the Government General stripped Poland of its cultural possessions. That is quoted in Document 1233-PS.

THE PRESIDENT: Will you hand that up?

COL. STOREY: I am quoting now from the introductory page, the English translation, the first paragraph. I might say by way of explanation, that this book lists the valuable art treasures by titles. I now quote from the introductory page:

“By reason of a decree of 16 December 1939 by the Governor
General of the occupied Polish territories, the Special
Commissioner for collecting objects of art and culture was able
to collect within 6 months almost all of the art objects of the
country, with one exception: a series of Flemish tapestries of
the Castle of Kraków. According to the latest information these
are now in France, so that it may be possible to secure these
later.”

Leafing through this catalogue, we find that it included references to paintings by German, Italian, Dutch, French, and Spanish masters; rare illustrated books; Indian and Persian miniatures; woodcuts; the famous Veit Stoss hand-carved altar (created here in Nuremberg and purchased for use in Poland); handicraft articles of gold and silver; antique articles of crystal, glass, and porcelain; tapestries; antique weapons; rare coins and medals. These articles were seized, as indicated in the catalogue, from public and private sources, including the national museums in Kraków and Warsaw, the cathedrals of Warsaw and Lublin, a number of churches and monasteries, university libraries, and a great many private collections of Polish nobility.

I wish now to offer in evidence the catalogue bearing our Number 1233-PS—it is the one just introduced in evidence—and the document bearing our Number 1709-PS. This latter report, in addition to listing the 521 major items described in the catalogue, lists many other items which, though generally no less important from an artistic standpoint, were considered by the Germans to be of secondary importance from the point of view of the Reich.

It is interesting to note with what pains the Defendant Frank attempted to conceal his real purpose in seizing these works of art. The cover of the catalogue itself states that the objects listed were secured and safeguarded. Strangely enough, it was found necessary to safeguard some of the objects by transporting them to Berlin and depositing them in the depot of the Special Deputy or in the safe of the Deutsche Bank, as is indicated on Page 80 of Document 1709-PS, Exhibit USA-378. The items referred to as having been transported to Berlin are listed in the catalogue of objects safeguarded and their numbers are 4, 17, 27, 35, and so on. Thirty-one extremely valuable and world-renowned sketches of Albrecht Dürer, taken from the collection of Lubomirski in Lemberg (Lvov), were likewise safeguarded. At Page 69 of this report, Dr. Mühlmann states that he personally handed these sketches to Göring, who took them to the Führer at his headquarters.

Numerous objects of art: paintings, tapestries, plates, dishes, as well as other dinnerware, were also safeguarded by Frank, who had the Special Deputy deliver these objects to an architect for the purpose of furnishing the castle at Kraków and the Schloss Kressendorf, which were the residences of the Governor General Frank. It was apparently Frank’s belief that these items would be safer in his possession, used to grace his table and dazzle his guests, than they would be in the possession of the rightful owners.

There is no doubt whatever that virtually the entire art possession of Poland was seized for the use of Germany and would never have been returned in the event of German victory. Dr. Mühlmann, a noted German art authority, who directed the seizure program for the period of 4 years and was endowed by Frank with sufficient authority to promulgate decrees generally applicable throughout the territory, has stated the objectives of the program in no uncertain terms in the affidavit to which I have just referred.

So much for Poland.

I now direct the attention of the Tribunal to the activities of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, an organization which planned and directed the looting of the cultural treasures of nearly all Europe. To obtain a full conception of the vastness of this looting program, it will be necessary to envision Europe as a treasure-house in which is stored the major portion of the artistic and literary product of two thousand years of Western civilization. It will further be necessary to envision the forcing of this treasure-house by a horde of vandals bent on systematically removing to the Reich these treasures, which are, in a sense, the heritage of all of us, to keep them there for the enjoyment and enlightenment of Germans alone. Unique in history, this art-seizure program staggers one’s imagination and challenges one’s credulity. The documents which I am about to offer in evidence will present undeniable proof of the execution of the policy to strip the occupied countries of the accumulated product of centuries of devotion to art and the pursuit of learning.

May I digress here a moment and state that we are not going to offer all the documents and all the details because our Soviet and French colleagues will offer a great many of the detailed documents in support of their case on War Crimes.

I now offer in evidence Document 136-PS as Exhibit USA-367. And that is an order of Hitler dated the 29th of January 1940 which set into motion the art-seizure program that was to envelop the continent. I now offer the original. I call Your Honors’ attention to this original, being signed by Adolf Hitler, and I believe it is in the famous Jumbo type. I quote the order in its entirety. It is very short:

“The ‘Hohe Schule’ is to become the center for National
Socialistic research, indoctrination, and education. It will be
established after the conclusion of the war. I order that the
already initiated preparations be continued by Reichsleiter
Alfred Rosenberg—especially in the way of research and setting
up of the library.

“All sections of the Party and State are required to co-operate
with him in this task.”

Although the above order makes no specific mention of the seizure of art properties, by the 5th of November 1940 the program had extended beyond its original scope to include the seizure of Jewish art collections.

I now offer in evidence Document Number 141-PS (Exhibit USA-368), which is a certified copy of an order signed by Göring, dated 5 November 1940, in which the Defendant Göring states; and I quote:

“In conveying the measures taken until now for the securing of
Jewish art property by the Chief of the Military Administration,
Paris, and the Einsatzstab Rosenberg . . . the art objects
brought to the Louvre will be disposed of in the following way:

“1. Those art objects the decision as to the use of which the
Führer will reserve for himself;

“2. Those art objects which serve the completion of the Reich
Marshal’s collection;

“3. Those art objects and library materials which seem useful
for the establishment of the Hohe Schule and for the program of
Reichsleiter Rosenberg;

“4. Those art objects which are suitable for sending to the
German museums. . . .”

Thus, early in 1940, 11 months after the initiation of the program for establishment of the library for ideological research, the original purpose had been expanded so as to include the seizure of art works not only for the benefit of research but for the delectation of the Führer and Göring and the enhancement of the collections of German museums.

Impelled as they were by the perfidious dream of subjugating a continent, the Nazi conspirators could not content themselves merely with the exploitation of the cultural riches of France and rapidly extended their activities to the other occupied countries. I now offer in evidence Document Number 137-PS as Exhibit USA-379. That is a copy of an order signed by the Defendant Keitel, dated 5th of July 1940, and I should like to read that brief order in full:

“To: The Chief of Army High Command, Chief of the Armed Forces
in the Netherlands.

“Reichsleiter Rosenberg has suggested to the Führer that:

“1. The state libraries and archives be searched for documents
valuable to Germany.

“2. The Chancelleries of the high Church authorities and the
lodges be searched for political maneuvers directed against us
and that the material in question be seized.

“The Führer has ordered that this suggestion be followed and
that the Gestapo, supported by the archivists of Reichsleiter
Rosenberg, be put in charge of the searches. The Chief of
Security Police, SS-Gruppenführer Heydrich, has been informed.
He will communicate with the competent military commanders in
order to execute this order.

“These measures will be executed in all regions of the
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France occupied by us.

“It is requested that subordinate services be informed.

“Chief of High Command of the Armed Forces,”—signed—“Keitel.”

From the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France the Einsatzstab’s activities ultimately were expanded still further to Norway and Denmark. I now offer in evidence Document 159-PS, Exhibit USA-380, which is the copy of an order signed by Utikal, Chief of the Einsatzstab, dated the 6th of June 1944, from which it is seen that a special mission of the Einsatzstab was sent to Norway and Denmark.

As the German Army penetrated to the East, the fingers of the Einsatzstab reached out to seize the cultural riches thus made available to them; and their activities were extended to the Occupied Eastern Territories, including the Baltic States and the Ukraine, as well as to Hungary and Greece. I now offer in evidence Document 153-PS, Exhibit USA-381, being a certified copy of a letter from Rosenberg to the Reich Commissioner for the East and Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine, dated 27 April 1942. The subject of the letter is stated to be as follows: “Formation of a Central Unit for the Seizure and Securing of Objects of Cultural Value in the Occupied Eastern Territories.” In the last paragraph of that document, I quote:

“With the Commissioners of the Reich a special department within
Department II (political) will be set up for a limited time for
the seizure and securing of objects of cultural value. This
department is under the direction of the appropriate head of the
main group of the ‘Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the
Occupied Territories.’”

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a good time to break off for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

COL. STOREY: Activities were initiated in Hungary as indicated by Document Number 158-PS, Exhibit USA-382, which I now offer in evidence. This was a copy of a message initialed by Utikal, Rosenberg’s Chief of Staff. The first paragraph of this document states:

“The Einsatzstab of Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the Occupied
Territories has dispatched a Sonderkommando under the direction
of Einsatzstabsführer Dr. Zeiss, who is identified by means of
his Service Book Number 187, for the accomplishment of the
missions of the Einsatzstab in Hungary outlined in the Führer’s
Decree of 1 March 1942.”

I now offer into evidence Document Number 171-PS, Exhibit USA-383, which is an undated report on the “Library for Exploration of the Jewish Question.” The fifth paragraph states:

“The most significant book collections today belonging to the
Library for Research on the Jewish Question are the
following. . . .”

The ninth item of the list which follows refers to “Book collections from Jewish Communities in Greece (about 10,000 volumes).”

It was only natural that an operation conducted on so vast a scale, extending as it did to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, the Occupied Eastern Territories, the Baltic States, the Ukraine, Hungary, and Greece, should call upon a multitude of other agencies for assistance. Among the other agencies co-operating in the plunder program were several of those which stand indicted here as criminal organizations. The co-operation of the Wehrmacht High Command was demanded by the Hitler order of 1 March 1942, which I now offer in evidence as our Document 149-PS, Exhibit USA-369, which is signed personally by Adolf Hitler and is also in the Jumbo type. The order decrees the ideological fight against the enemies of National Socialism to be a military necessity and reaffirms the authority of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg to conduct searches and seizures of suitable material for the Hohe Schule. The fifth paragraph states:

“The directives concerning co-operation with the Wehrmacht were
given to the Chief of the OKW with the approval of Reichsleiter
Rosenberg.”

While I am on that document, which is referred to later, I should like to read the other portions. I call attention of Your Honors to the distribution. It is distributed to all duty stations of the Armed Forces, the Party, and the State. It says:

“Jews, Freemasons, and related ideological enemies of National
Socialism are responsible for the war which is now being waged
against the Reich. The co-ordinated ideological fight against
those powers is a military necessity. I have therefore charged
Reichsleiter Rosenberg to carry out this task in co-operation
with the chief of the OKW. His Einsatzstab in the Occupied
Territories is authorized to search libraries, record offices,
lodges, and other ideological and cultural institutions of all
kinds for suitable material, and to confiscate the said material
for the ideological task of the NSDAP and the later scientific
research work of the Hohe Schule. The same regulation applies to
cultural assets which are in possession of or the property of
Jews, or ownerless, or not clearly of unobjectionable origin.”

The final passage is:

“The necessary measures within the Eastern territories under the
German Administration are determined by Reichsleiter Rosenberg
in his capacity as Reichsminister for the Occupied Eastern
Territories.”—Signed—“Adolf Hitler.”

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Storey, I think the Tribunal would find it convenient, and it would save time, if the documents, when they are referred to, were read in full insofar as you want to read them, rather than returning to read one passage and then returning to a document later on.

COL. STOREY: Yes, Sir. May I explain why that was, Sir? I was trying to fit in this presentation with the Leadership Corps. It was quoted in two places and I didn’t notice it until I started.

THE PRESIDENT: What I am saying is that I think it is much easier to follow the documents if all the parts of the document which you wish to read are read at one time, rather than to read one sentence, then come back to another sentence, and then possibly come back to a document for a third sentence. I don’t know whether that will be possible for you to do.

COL. STOREY: We will try to work it out that way, Sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

COL. STOREY: Co-operation of the SS and the SD is indicated in a letter from Rosenberg to Bormann dated 23rd of April 1941, Document Number 071-PS, Exhibit USA-371, which I now offer in evidence. This letter states in the fifth sentence of the first numbered paragraph:

“It is self-evident that the confiscations are not executed by
the Gauleitung, but that they are conducted by the Security
Service as well as by the police.”

Farther down in the same paragraph it is stated:

“It has been communicated to me in writing by a Gauleiter that
the Reich Security Main Office of the SS has requested the
following from the library of a confiscated monastery: _The
Catholic Handbook_, _Albertus Magnus_, _Edition of the Church
Fathers_, _History of the Popes_ by L. von Pastor, and other
works.”

The second and last paragraph stated that:

“I should like to remark in this connection that this affair has
already been settled on our side with the Security Service (SD)
in the most co-operative fashion.”

The Defendant Göring was especially diligent in furthering the purposes of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, a diligence which will be readily understood in view of the fact that he himself directed that second in priority only to the demands of the Führer were to be “those art objects which served the completion of the Reich Marshal’s collection.” That is Göring.

On May 1, 1941 Göring issued an order to all Party, State, and Wehrmacht services, which I am now offering into evidence as 1117-PS, Exhibit USA-384. That is an original bearing Göring’s signature. This order requested all Party, State, and Wehrmacht services—and I now quote:

“. . . to give all possible support and assistance to the Chief
of Staff of Reichsleiter Rosenberg’s Einsatzstab. . . . The
above-mentioned persons are requested to report to me on their
work, particularly on any difficulties which might arise.”

On 30th of May 1942 Göring claimed credit for a large degree of the success of the Einsatzstab. I offer in evidence a captured photostatic copy of a letter from Göring to Rosenberg, showing Göring’s signature, which bears our Number 1015(i)-PS, which I offer in evidence as Exhibit USA-385. The last paragraph of this letter states as follows:

“. . . On the other hand I also support personally the work of
your Einsatzstab wherever I can do so, and a great part of the
seized cultural objects can be accounted for by the fact that I
was able to assist the Einsatzstab with my organizations.”

If I have tried the patience of the Tribunal with numerous details as to the origin, the growth, and the operation of the art-looting organization, it is because I feel that it will be impossible for me to convey to you a full conception as to the magnitude of the plunder without conveying to you first, information as to the vast organizational work that was necessary in order to enable the defendants to collect in Germany cultural treasures of staggering proportions.

Nothing of value was safe from the grasp of the Einsatzstab. In view of the great experience of the Einsatzstab in the complex business of the organized plunder of a continent, its facilities were well suited to the looting of material other than cultural objects. Thus, when Rosenberg required equipment for the furnishing of the offices of the administration in the East, his Einsatzstab was pressed into action to confiscate Jewish homes in the West. Document Number L-188, which is Exhibit USA-386 and which I now offer in evidence, is a copy of a report submitted by the director of Rosenberg’s Office West, operating under the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories. I wish to quote at some length from this document and I call the Tribunal’s attention to the third paragraph on Page 3 of the translation:

“The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg was charged with the
carrying out of this task”—that is, the seizure of art
properties—“in the course of this seizure of property. At the
suggestion of the Director West of the Special Section of the
Einsatzstab, it was proposed to the Reichsleiter that the
furniture and other contents of the unguarded Jewish homes
should also be secured and dispatched to the Minister for the
Occupied Eastern Territories for use in the Eastern
Territories.”

The last paragraph on the same page states:

“At first all the confiscated furniture and goods were
dispatched to the administrations of the Occupied Eastern
Territories. Owing to the terror attacks on German cities which
then began and in the knowledge that the bombed-out persons in
Germany ought to have preference over the Eastern people, Reich
Minister and Reichsleiter Rosenberg obtained a new order from
the Führer according to which the furniture, _et cetera_,
obtained through the ‘M Action’ was to be put at the disposal of
bombed-out persons within Germany.”

The report continues with a description of the efficient methods employed in looting the Jewish homes in the West (top of Page 4 of translation):