Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

It is both interesting and revealing to note that for Rosenberg the 30th of November 1918 marked the “beginning of political activities with a lecture about the ‘Jewish Problem.’” That statement is found at Line 2 of the translation of Document 2886-PS, which is an excerpt from a book entitled, _The Work of Alfred Rosenberg_, a biography, and I offer this book as Exhibit Number USA-591.

From the Document 3557-PS, which has excerpts from an official pamphlet entitled _Dates in the History of the NSDAP_, and which I offer as Exhibit Number USA-592, we learn that Rosenberg was a member of the German Labor Party, afterwards the National Socialist German Workers Party, in January 1919 and that Hitler joined forces with Rosenberg and his colleagues in October of the same year. Thus, Rosenberg was a member of the National Socialist movement even before Hitler himself.

Now I wish to offer Document 3530-PS, which is an extract from _Das Deutsche Führer Lexikon_, the year of 1934-35, and I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-593. In this document we obtain additional biographical data on Rosenberg as follows:

“From 1921 until the present he was editor of the _Völkische
Beobachter_; editor of the _N. S. Monatshefte_; in 1930, he
became member of the Reichstag and representative of the foreign
policies for the Party . . . since April 1933 he was leader of
the foreign political office of the NSDAP, then designated
Reichsleiter; in January 1934, deputized by the Führer for the
supervision of the ideological education of the NSDAP, the
German labor front, and all related organizations.”

The Document 2886-PS, which I have just referred to, offered as Exhibit Number USA-591, adds that in July 1941 Rosenberg was appointed Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

With this general background information in mind the first phase of proof will deal with Rosenberg as official National Socialist ideologist. The proof which I will present will show the nature and scope of the ideological tenets he expounded, and the influence he exerted upon the unification of German thought, a unification which was an essential part of the conspirators’ program for the seizure of power and preparation for aggressive war.

Rosenberg wrote extensively on, and actively participated in, virtually every aspect of the National Socialist program. His first publication was the _Nature, Basic Principles, and Aims of the NSDAP_. This publication appeared in 1922. Rosenberg spoke of this book in a speech which we have seen and heard delivered in the motion picture previously introduced as Exhibit Number USA-167. On Page 2, Part 1, of the transcription of the speech, which is our Document Number 3054-PS, Rosenberg stated as follows:

“During this time”—that is, during the early phase of the
Party—“I wrote a short thesis which nevertheless is significant
in the history of the NSDAP.”—This is Rosenberg speaking.—“It
was always being asked what points of program the NSDAP had and
how they were to be interpreted. Therefore I wrote the _Nature,
Basic Principles, and Aims of the NSDAP_, and this writing made
the first permanent connection for Munich and local
organizations being created and friends within the Reich.”

We thus see that the original draftsman of, and spokesman on, the Party program was the Defendant Rosenberg. Without attempting to survey the entire ideological program advanced by the Defendant Rosenberg in his various writings and speeches, which are very numerous, I wish to offer into evidence certain of his statements as an indication of the nature and broad scope of the ideological program which he championed. It will be seen that there was not a single basic tenet of the Nazi philosophy which was not given authoritative expression by Rosenberg. Rosenberg wrote the book entitled _Myth of the Twentieth Century_, published in 1930. This book has already been offered as Exhibit USA-352. At Page 479, which Your Honor will find on the second page of Document 3553-PS, Rosenberg wrote on the race question as follows:

“The essence of the contemporary world revolution lies in the
awakening of the racial type; not in Europe alone but on the
whole planet. This awakening is the organic counter movement
against the last chaotic remnants of the liberal economic
imperialism, whose objects of exploitation out of desperation
have fallen into the snare of Bolshevik Marxism, in order to
complete what democracy had begun, the extirpation of the racial
and national consciousness.”

Rosenberg expounded the Lebensraum idea, which idea was the chief motivation, the dynamic impulse behind Germany’s waging of aggressive war. In his journal, the _National Socialist Monatshefte_, for May 1932, which I wish to offer as Exhibit Number USA-594, our Document Number 2777-PS, he wrote at Page 199:

“The understanding that the German nation, if it is not to
perish in the truest sense of the word, needs ground and soil
for itself and its future generations; and the second sober
perception that this soil can no more be conquered in Africa,
but in Europe and first of all in the East—these organically
determine the German foreign policy for centuries.”

Rosenberg expressed his theory as to the place of religion in the National Socialist State in his _Myth of the Twentieth Century_, additional excerpts from which are cited in Document 2891-PS. At Page 215 of the “Myth” he wrote as follows:

“We now realize that the central supreme values of the Roman and
the Protestant Churches being a negative Christianity do not
respond to our soul, that they hinder the organic powers of the
people designated as a Nordic race, that they must give way to
them, that they have to be remodelled to conform to a Germanic
Christianity. Therein lies the meaning of the present religious
search.”

In the place of traditional Christianity, Rosenberg sought to implant the neo-pagan myth of the blood.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you want to break off here for a recess?

MR. BRUDNO: Yes, Your Honor.

[_A recess was taken._]

THE PRESIDENT: I have an announcement to make to the defendants’ counsel. In view of the applications which were made to the Tribunal this morning, I immediately ordered on behalf of the Tribunal that an investigation should be made of the complaints made by defendants’ counsel about the delay in the delivery of the transcript of the shorthand notes and such delay will be remedied at once. The investigation shows that transcripts of the sessions up to and including the 20th of December can be completed by this afternoon. The transcripts for the sessions held since the resumption of the Trial will be distributed, up to and including the 8th of January, by tomorrow evening. Hereafter, the German transcripts will be regularly distributed to the Defense Counsel within a period of 48 hours after the session.

MR. BRUDNO: If Your Honors please, when the Court rose I had just read a quotation of Rosenberg, in which he expressed his views on Christianity.

In the place of traditional Christianity, Rosenberg sought to implant the neo-pagan myth of the blood. At Page 114 in the _Myth of the Twentieth Century_ he stated as follows:

“Today, a new faith is awakening; the myth of the blood, the
belief that the divine being of mankind generally is to be
defended with the blood. The faith embodied by the fullest
realization that the Nordic blood constitutes that mystery which
has supplanted and overwhelmed the old sacraments.”

Rosenberg’s attitudes on religion were accepted as the only philosophy compatible with National Socialism. In 1940 the Defendant Bormann wrote to Rosenberg in Document 098-PS, which has been previously introduced as Exhibit Number USA-350; and I quote:

“The churches cannot be conquered by a compromise between
National Socialism and Christian teachings but only through a
new ideology, whose coming you, yourself, have announced in your
writings.”

Rosenberg actively participated in the program for elimination of church influence. The Defendant Bormann frequently wrote Rosenberg in this regard, furnishing him information as to proposed action to be instituted against the churches; and, when necessary, requesting that action be taken by Rosenberg’s department. I refer to documents introduced in connection with the case against the Leadership Corps, such documents as 070-PS, Exhibit Number USA-349, which deals with abolition of religious services in the schools; Document 072-PS, Exhibit Number USA-357, dealing with confiscation of religious property; Document 064-PS, Exhibit Number USA-359, which deals with the inadequacy of anti-religious material being circulated to the soldiers; Document 089-PS, Exhibit Number USA-360, dealing with curtailment of the publication of Protestant periodicals; and Document 122-PS, which is Exhibit Number USA-362, dealing with the closing of theological faculties.

Rosenberg was particularly avid in his pursuit of what he called the “Jewish question.” On the 28th of March 1941, on the occasion of the opening of the Institute for the Exploration of the Jewish Question, he set the keynote for its activities and indicated the direction which the exploration was to take. I would like to quote from Document 2889-PS, which I offer as Exhibit Number USA-595. This is an excerpt from the _Völkischer Beobachter_, 29th of March 1941. This is a statement made by Rosenberg on the occasion of the opening of the institute.

“For Germany the Jewish question is only then solved when the
last Jew has left the Greater German space.

“Since Germany with its blood and its folkdom has now broken for
always this Jewish dictatorship for all Europe and has seen to
it that Europe as a whole will become free from the Jewish
parasitism once more, we may, I believe, also say for all
Europeans: For Europe the Jewish question is only then solved
when the last Jew has left the European continent.”

It has already been seen that Rosenberg did not overlook any opportunity to put these anti-Semitic beliefs into practice. Your Honors will recall that in Document 001-PS, which was introduced as Exhibit Number USA-282 in connection with the case on persecution of the Jews, Rosenberg recommended that instead of executing 100 Frenchmen as retaliation for attempts on lives of members of the Wehrmacht, there be executed 100 Jewish bankers, lawyers, et cetera. The recommendation was made with the avowed purpose of awakening the anti-Jewish sentiment.

Document 752-PS, which was introduced this morning by Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe as Exhibit GB-159, discloses that Rosenberg had called an anti-Semitic congress in June 1944, although this congress was cancelled due to military events.

In the realm of foreign policy, in addition to demanding Lebensraum, Rosenberg called for elimination of the Versailles Treaty and cast aside any thought of revision of that treaty. In his book _The Nature, Basic Principles, and Aims of the NSDAP_, written by Rosenberg in 1922, he expressed his opinions regarding the Treaty of Versailles. Excerpts from this book are translated in Document 2433-PS, and I offer the book as Exhibit Number USA-596. He stated as follows:

“The National Socialists reject the popular phrase of the
‘Revision of the Peace of Versailles’ as such a revision might
perhaps bring a few numerical reductions in the so-called
‘obligations’; but the entire German people would still be, just
as before, the slave of other nations.”

Then he goes on to expound the second point of the Party:

“We demand equality for the German people with other nations,
the cancellation of the peace treaties of Versailles and St.
Germain.”

Rosenberg conceived of the spread of National Socialism throughout the world and, as will be subsequently shown, took an active part in promoting the infection of other nations with his creed. In the _Nature, Basic Principles, and Aims of the NSDAP_ he states:

“But National Socialism still believes that its principles and
ideology—though in individual methods of fight according to
various racial conditions—will be directives far beyond the
borders of Germany for the inevitable fights for power in other
countries of Europe and America. There too a clear line of
thought must be drawn, and the racial-nationalistic fight
against the everywhere-similar loan-capitalistic and
Marxist-internationalism must be taken up. National Socialism
believes that once the great world battle is concluded, after
the defeat of the present epoch, there will be a time when the
swastika will be woven into the different banners of the
Germanic peoples as the Aryan symbol of rejuvenation.”

This statement was made in 1922. It is thus seen that the Defendant Rosenberg gave authoritative expression to the basic tenets upon which National Socialism was founded and through the exploitation of which the conspiracy was crystallized in action.

Rosenberg’s value to the conspiratorial program found official recognition with his appointment in 1934 as the Führer’s delegate for the entire spiritual and philosophical education and supervision of the NSDAP. His activities in this capacity were vast and varied.

I now offer in evidence the _National Socialist Year Book_ for the year 1938 as Exhibit Number USA-597. At Page 180 of this book, which is our Document Number 3531-PS, the functions of Rosenberg’s office as the Führer’s delegate are described as follows:

“The sphere of activity of the Führer’s delegate for the entire
spiritual and ideological instruction and education of the
movement, its organizations, including the ‘Strength through
Joy,’ extends to the uniform execution of all the educational
work of the Party and of the affiliated organizations. The
office set up by Reichsleiter Rosenberg has the task of
preparing the ideological education material, of carrying out
the teaching program, and is responsible for the education of
those teachers suited to this educational and instructional
work.”

As the Führer’s delegate, Rosenberg thus supervised all ideological education and training within the Party.

It was Rosenberg’s personal belief that upon the performance of his new functions as ideological delegate depended the future of National Socialism. I offer Document 3532-PS as Exhibit Number USA-598. This is an excerpt from an article by Rosenberg appearing in the March 1934 issue of _The Educational Letter_. At Page 9 of this publication Rosenberg states:

“The focus of all our educational work from now on is the
service for this ideology; and it depends on the result of these
efforts, whether National Socialism will die with our fighting
generation or whether, as we believe, it really represents the
beginning of a new era.”

In his capacity as the Führer’s delegate for the spiritual and ideological training, Rosenberg assisted in the preparation of the curriculum for the Adolf Hitler schools. These schools, it will be recalled, selected the most suitable candidates from the Hitler Jugend and trained them for leadership within the Party. They were the elite schools of National Socialism. The next document, entitled “Documents of German Politics” is already in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-365. Translations of excerpts from this document are found in 3529-PS, Page 389, and read as follows:

“As stated by Dr. Ley, Reich Organization Leader, on 23 November
1937 at Ordensburg Sonthofen, these Adolf Hitler Schools, as the
first step of the principle of selecting a special elite, form
an important branch in the educational system of the National
Socialist training of future leaders. . . .

“‘The curriculum has been laid down by Reichsleiter Rosenberg,
together with the Reich Organization Leader and the Reich Youth
Leader.’”

Rosenberg exercised further influence in the education of Party members in the establishment of community schools for all organizations of the Party. Document 3528-PS is a translation of Page 297 of the 1934 edition of _Das Dritte Reich_, which I offer as Exhibit Number USA-599. It reads as follows:

“We support the request of the Führer’s delegate for the
supervision of the entire spiritual and ideological education
and instruction of the NSDAP, Party member Alfred Rosenberg, to
organize community schools of all organizations of the NSDAP
twice a year, in order to show by this common effort the
ideological and political unity of the NSDAP and the
steadfastness of the National Socialist will.”

This program was endorsed by the Defendant Schirach as well as by Himmler, Ley, and others.

THE PRESIDENT: Aren’t you dealing with this rather in a cumulative way? Isn’t it possible to summarize this evidence against Rosenberg more than you are doing?

MR. BRUDNO: I will try to, Your Honor. However, although the Indictment charges, and there is already substantial proof to show that the defendant conspirators used ideological training as an implement in achieving their rise to power and in consolidating their control, there seems to be little evidence as to Rosenberg’s position; and I am introducing this evidence in order to show that he played a dominant role in this connection. However, I will try to summarize these documents if I can.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’ve taken down about 20 documents that you have alluded to, all of which deal with Rosenberg’s ideological theories.

MR. BRUDNO: Yes, Your Honor. I was merely trying to show the scope of his activities.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. BRUDNO: Your Honors will recall that it was in his capacity as Führer’s delegate that Rosenberg established the Institute for the Exploration of the Jewish Question in Frankfurt. This institute, commonly known as the “Hohe Schule,” has been referred to in connection with the exposition of art plunders. Into its library there flowed books, documents, and manuscripts which were looted from virtually every country of occupied Europe. Further evidence on this score will be introduced by the prosecutor of the Republic of France.

Your Honors will also recall, and the Record shows at Pages 1671 to 1687 (Volume IV, Pages 81 to 92), that it was as ideological delegate that Rosenberg conducted the fabulous art looting activities of the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, activities which extended to virtually every country occupied by the Germans. I will not attempt to summarize the extent of the plunder and merely refer the Tribunal to Document 1015(b)-PS, which has already been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-385, and Document L-188, which has been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-386. Document 1015(b)-PS details the looting of 21,000 objects of art; Document L-188, the looting of the contents of over 71,000 Jewish homes in the West. This subject, too, will be further developed by the French Prosecutor.

The importance of Rosenberg’s activities as official ideologist of the Nazi Party was not overlooked. In Document 3559-PS, which I wish to introduce as Exhibit Number USA-600—this document, incidentally, is the Hart biography of Rosenberg, entitled _Alfred Rosenberg, The Man and His Work_—it is stated that Rosenberg won the German National Prize in 1937. The creation of this prize, Your Honors will recall, was the Nazis’ petulant reply to the award of the Nobel Prize to Karl von Ossietzki, an inmate of a German concentration camp. The citation which accompanied the award to Rosenberg reads as follows:

“Alfred Rosenberg has helped with his publications to lay the
scientific and intuitive foundation and to strengthen the
ideology of National Socialism in the most excellent way. . . .
The National Socialist movement, and beyond that, the entire
German people will be deeply gratified that the Führer has
distinguished Alfred Rosenberg as one of his oldest and most
faithful fighting comrades by awarding him the German National
Prize.”

The contribution which Rosenberg’s book, the _Myth of the Twentieth Century_, the foundation of all his ideological propaganda, made in the development of National Socialism, was appraised in a publication Bücher Kunde in 1942. This publication is our Document Number 3554-PS, dated November 1942. I offer it as Exhibit Number USA-601. The first page sets forth an appraisal of the _Myth of the Twentieth Century_.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Brudno, you referred us to the _Myth of the Twentieth Century_ on several occasions.

MR. BRUDNO: Yes, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: We really don’t want to hear any more about it.

MR. BRUDNO: I wish to show that this book is regarded as being one of the pillars of the movement and I wish to show also, Sir, that it had a circulation of over a million copies.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it is absolutely clear from the evidence which has already been given that Rosenberg was enunciating doctrines of the ideology of the Nazi Party; and I don’t think that it is necessary to go any further into details about it.

MR. BRUDNO: Very well. If the Tribunal is satisfied that Rosenberg’s ideas formed the foundation for the National Socialist ideological movement, I will pass on.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you have already brought out the fact that he was appointed the Führer’s deputy for that purpose; wasn’t he?

MR. BRUDNO: Yes, Your Honor. I shall pass on from that point. I would merely like to make reference, however, to Document 789-PS, which has already been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-23. This document records a meeting between Hitler and his supreme commanders, on which occasion Hitler said, “The building up of our Armed Forces was possible only in connection with the ideological education of the German people by the Party.”

We submit that the contribution which Rosenberg made through formulation and dissemination of National Socialist ideology was fundamental to the conspiracy. As the apostle of neo-paganism, the exponent of the drive for Lebensraum, and the glorifier of the myth of Nordic superiority and as one of the oldest and most energetic Nazi proponents of anti-Semitism, he contributed materially to the unification of the German people behind the swastika. He provided the impetus and the inspiration for the National Socialist movement. His doctrines were responsible for the sublimation of morality and the crystallization of the Nordic dream in the minds of the German people, thereby making them useful tools in the hands of the conspirators and willing collaborators in the prosecution of their criminal plan.

I now pass to the second phase of Rosenberg’s criminal activities—his active contribution toward the preparation for aggressive war through the international activities of the APA, the Foreign Policy Office of the Party.

As previously indicated in my quotation from _Das Führer Lexikon_, which is Exhibit Number USA-593, Rosenberg became a Reichsleiter, the highest level of rank in the Leadership Corps, and was made chief of the foreign policy office of the Party in April 1933. The organization manual of the Party, Document 2319-PS, which I offer as Exhibit Number USA-602, describes the functions of the APA as including the influencing of public opinion abroad so as to convince foreign nations that Germany desired peace. The far-flung activities of the APA are indicated at Page 14 of the translation of this document and are stated as follows:

“1. The APA is divided into three main offices:

“A. Office for Foreign Areas with its main sections: a) England
and Far East; b) Near East; c) southeast; d) north; e) old
Orient; f) controls, personnel questions, _et cetera_.

“B. Office of the German Academic Exchange Service. . . .

“C. Office of Foreign Commerce.

“2. Moreover, there is in the APA a main office for the press
service and an educational office.”

The press activities of the APA were designed to influence world opinion in such a manner as to conceal the conspirators’ true purposes and thus facilitate the preparation for waging aggressive war. The activities were carried on, on an ambitious scale. I offer into evidence Document 003-PS, which is entitled _A Short Report on the Activities of the APA of the NSDAP_. It is Exhibit Number USA-603. The last paragraph on Page 5 of the translation describes the press activities as follows:

“The Press Division of the APA is staffed by persons conversant
with all languages to be considered. They examine approximately
300 newspapers daily and deliver to the Führer, the Führer’s
deputy, and all other interested offices the condensations of
the important trends of the entire world press. . . . The Press
Division furthermore maintains an exact record on the prestige
of the most important papers and journalists of the world. Many
embarrassments during conferences in Germany could have been
avoided had one consulted these archives. . . . Further, the
Press Division was able to arrange a host of interviews with me
as well as conducting a great number of unobjectionable foreign
journalists to the various official representatives of Germany.”

And then:

“Hearst then personally asked me to write often about the
position of German foreign policy in his papers. This year five
detailed articles have appeared under my name in Hearst papers
all over the world. Since these articles, as Hearst personally
let me know, presented well-founded arguments, he asked me to
write further articles for his paper.”

Thus, Rosenberg used his foreign policy office to influence world opinion on behalf of National Socialism.

It is interesting to note in passing that Rosenberg states, at Page 4 of this document, that the Romanian anti-Semitic leader, Cuza, followed his suggestions as—in Rosenberg’s words—“he had recognized in me an unyielding anti-Semite.” We will hear more of this affair shortly.

The nature and extent of the activities of the APA are amply disclosed in a single document. This is the principal document to which I will refer in this phase of the case against Rosenberg. This document bears our Number 007-PS and is entitled, “Report on the Activities of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Party from 1933 to 1943.” It is signed by Rosenberg. Portions of Annex 1, attached to the report, have already been read into evidence as Exhibit GB-84. The body of the report and Annex 2 have not been referred to heretofore. As will be seen the document contains a recital of widespread activities in foreign countries. These activities range from the promotion of economic penetration to fomentation of anti-Semitism; from cultural and political infiltration to the instigation of treason. Activities were carried on throughout the world and extended to such widely separated points as the Middle East and Brazil.

Many of the APA’s achievements were brought about through the subtle exploitation of personal relationships. Reading from the middle of the first paragraph on Page 2 of the translation, which refers to activities in Hungary, we learn that:

“The first foreign state visit after the seizure of power took
place through the mediation of the foreign policy office. Julius
Gömbös, who in former years had himself pursued anti-Semitic and
racial tendencies and with whom the office maintained a personal
connection, had reached the Hungarian Premier’s chair. . . .”

The APA endeavored to strengthen the war economy by shifting the source of food imports to the Balkans, as stated in Paragraph 3 on Page 2 of the translation:

“Motivated by reasons of war economy, the office advocated the
transfer of raw material purchases from overseas to the areas
accessible by overland traffic routes.”

Then he goes on to point out that they had successfully shifted the source of food imports, particularly fruit and vegetable imports, to the Balkans as a result of the activities of the offices.

Activities in Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg were confined, according to the report, to “observation of existing conditions”—a phrase which may have broad connotations—and “to the establishment of relations, especially of a commercial nature.”

In Iran the APA achieved a high degree of economic penetration, in addition to promoting cultural relations. I quote from the middle of the third paragraph on Page 3:

“The office’s initiative in developing, with the help of
commercial circles, entirely new methods for the economic
penetration of Iran found expression, in an extraordinarily
favorable way, in reciprocal trade relations. Naturally, in
Germany, too, this initiative encountered a completely negative
attitude and resistance on the part of the competent State
authorities, an attitude that at first had to be overcome. In
the course of a few years, the volume of trade with Iran was
multiplied five-fold and in 1939 Iran’s trade turnover with
Germany had attained first place.”

In the last sentence on Page 3. . .

THE PRESIDENT: Well, now, Mr. Brudno, will you kindly explain to the Tribunal how the paragraph that you just read bears upon the guilt of Rosenberg in this Trial?

MR. BRUDNO: If Your Honor pleases, we submit that the conspirators used, as one of the tools of conspiracy, the economic penetration of those countries which they deemed strategically necessary to have within the Axis orbit. The activities of Rosenberg in the field of foreign trade contributed materially, we submit, to the advancement of the conspiracy, as charged in the Indictment.

THE PRESIDENT: Are you suggesting that it is a crime to try and stimulate trade in foreign countries?

MR. BRUDNO: If Your Honor pleases, the expression of ideological opinions or the advancement of foreign trade do not, in themselves, constitute a crime, we agree.

THE PRESIDENT: There is nothing here about ideological considerations. It is simply a question of trade.

MR. BRUDNO: Further on, Your Honor, he mentions the cultural activities.

THE PRESIDENT: I was confining myself, in order to try to get on, to the particular paragraph that you had just cited.

MR. BRUDNO: I see, Your Honor; we are merely trying to show, Sir, that the Germans used the foreign trade weapon as a material part of the conspiratorial program.

THE PRESIDENT: As I have said before, it is not possible for me or for any member of this Tribunal to conduct the case of the Prosecution for them. We can only tell them when we think they are being irrelevant and cumulative and ask them to try to cut down their presentation. It is for you to cut it down.

MR. BRUDNO: Rosenberg goes on to state, if Your Honor please, at Page 3 of the translation, that “Afghanistan’s neutral position today is largely due to the office’s activity.”

In connection with Arabia, he says:

“The Arab question, too, became part of the work of the office.
In spite of England’s tutelage of Iraq, the office established a
series of connections to a number of leading personalities of
the Arab world, smoothing the way for strong bonds to Germany.
In this connection, the growing influence of the Reich in Iran
and Afghanistan did not fail to have repercussions in Arabia.”

Rosenberg concluded his report with the statement that, with the outbreak of war, he was entitled to consider his task as terminated, and then he says, “The exploitation of the many personal connections in many lands can be resumed under a different guise.”

I now turn to Annex 2 of the report, which is found at Page 9 of the translation. This annex deals with activities in Romania. Here the APA’s intrigue was more insidious, its interference in the internal affairs of a foreign nation more pronounced. After describing the failure of what Rosenberg terms a “basically sound anti-Semitic tendency,” due to dynastic squabbles and Party fights, Rosenberg describes the APA’s influence in the unification of conflicting elements. I quote, beginning with the ninth line of the translation:

“What was lacking was the guiding leadership of a political
personality. After manifold groping trials the office believed
such a personality to have been found in the former Minister and
poet, Octavian Goga. It was not difficult to convince this poet,
pervaded by instinctive inspiration, that a greater Romania,
though it had to be created in opposition to Vienna, could be
maintained only together with Berlin. Nor was it difficult to
create in him the desire to link the fate of Romania with the
future of the National Socialist German Reich in good time. By
bringing continuing influence to bear, the office succeeded in
inducing Octavian Goga as well as Professor Cuza to amalgamate
the parties under their leadership on an anti-Semitic basis.
Thus they could carry on with united strength the struggle for
Romania’s renascence internally and her Anschluss with Germany
externally. Through the office’s initiative both parties, which
had heretofore been known by distinct names, were merged as the
National Christian Party, under Goga’s leadership and with Cuza
as Honorary President.”

Rosenberg’s man, Goga, was supported by two splinter parties, which had not joined the anti-Semitic trend, and Rosenberg states: “Through intermediaries, the office maintained constant contact with both tendencies.”

Goga, the man supported by Rosenberg, was appointed Prime Minister by the King in December 1937. The pernicious influence of Rosenberg’s ideology had achieved a major triumph, for he states:

“Thus a second government on racial and anti-Semitic foundations
had appeared in Europe, in a country in which such an event had
been considered completely impossible.”

I will not deal at any length with the details of the political turmoil that plagued Romania during the ensuing period.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Brudno, I think the Tribunal are satisfied that Rosenberg—I mean satisfied, subject to what Rosenberg himself or his counsel may say—that Rosenberg tried to spread his ideology abroad, and we don’t require any further detailed proof of that, and we are also satisfied that we have heard enough of the activities of the APA.

MR. BRUDNO: Certainly, Your Honor. We feel that if the Tribunal is satisfied, we can pass on.

THE PRESIDENT: Subject, as I said, to anything that Rosenberg may prove.

MR. BRUDNO: Surely. I would merely like to conclude with the statement that the activities of the APA were, as indicated in this Document 007-PS, primarily responsible for Romania’s joining the Axis. It was a vital link in Germany’s chain of military strategy.

I would further like to call to Your Honor’s attention the evidence which has already been submitted on the activities of the APA in Norway, activities which led to the treason of Quisling and Hagelin, for which they have been condemned.

I come now to the final phase of the case against the Defendant Rosenberg. We have seen how he aided the Nazi rise to power and directed the psychological preparation of the German people for waging of aggressive war. I will now offer proof of his responsibility for the planning and execution of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity committed in the vast areas of the occupied East, which he administered for over 3 years. These areas included the Baltic States, White Ruthenia, the Ukraine, and the eastern portion of Poland.

I will not endeavor here to chronicle again the tale of mass murder, spoliation, and brutality. We feel that that has already been sufficiently evidenced, and further evidence on this point will be presented by the Prosecution for the U.S.S.R. and for the Republic of France.

We anticipate, however, that Rosenberg will contend that some of these crimes were committed against his wishes, and, indeed, there is some evidence that he protested on occasion—not out of humanitarian reasons but on grounds of political expediency.

We also anticipate that Rosenberg will attempt to place the blame for these crimes on other agencies and on other defendants. The evidence will prove, however, that he himself formulated the harsh policies, in the execution of which the crimes were committed; that the crimes were committed for the most part by persons and agencies within his jurisdiction and control; that any other agencies which participated in the commission of these crimes were invited by Rosenberg to co-operate in the administration of the East, although the brutal methods customarily employed by them were common knowledge; and, finally, his Ministry lent full co-operation to their activities, despite the criminal methods that were employed.

Rosenberg was actively participating in the affairs of the East as early as 20 April 1941, 2 months prior to the German attack upon the Soviet Union. On that date he was designated by Hitler as commissioner for the central control of questions connected with the East European region.

The Hitler order by virtue of which he received this appointment has been read into the record in its entirety as Exhibit Number USA-143, our Document Number 865-PS.

The initial preparations undertaken by Rosenberg for fulfillment of his task indicated the extent to which he co-operated in promoting the military plans for aggression. They also show that he understood his task at the inception as requiring the assistance of a multitude of Reich agencies and that he invited their co-operation.

Shortly after his appointment by Hitler, Rosenberg conducted a series of conferences with representatives of various Reich agencies, conferences which are summarized in Document 1039-PS, previously offered as Exhibit Number USA-146. This document indicated the co-operation of the following agencies. It indicated that the co-operation of these agencies was both contemplated and solicited by Rosenberg. The agencies are as follows: OKW, OKH, OKM, Ministry of Economics, Commissioner for the Four Year Plan, the Ministry of the Interior, Reich Youth Leadership, the German Labor Front, Ministry of Labor, the SS, the SA, and several others.

These arrangements, it should be noted, were made by Rosenberg in his capacity as commissioner on Eastern questions, before the attack on the Soviet Union, before he was appointed as Reich Minister for the occupied East, in fact, before there was any occupied East for Germany to administer.

I would like to refer briefly to some of Rosenberg’s basic attitudes regarding his new task and the directives which he knew he would be expected to follow.

Your Honor will recall that on 29 April 1941, in Document 1024-PS, previously introduced as Exhibit Number USA-278, Rosenberg stated that:

“A general treatment is required for the Jewish problem for
which a temporary solution will have to be determined (forced
labor for the Jews, creation of ghettos, _et cetera_).”

On May 8, 1941 he prepared instructions for all Reich commissioners in the Occupied Eastern Territories. These instructions are found in Document 1030-PS, previously introduced as Exhibit Number USA-144. The last paragraph, which has not been called to Your Honors’ attention, reads as follows:

“From the point of view of cultural policy, the German Reich is
in a position to promote and direct national culture and science
in many fields. It will be necessary that in some territories an
uprooting and resettlement of various racial stocks will have to
be effected.”

In Document 1029-PS, which has been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-145, Rosenberg directs that the Ostland be transformed into a part of the Greater German Reich by germanizing racially possible elements, colonizing Germanic races, and banishing undesirable elements.

In a speech which Rosenberg made on 20 June 1941, Your Honors will recall, he stated the job of feeding Germans was the top of Germany’s claim on the East; that there was no obligation to feed the Russian peoples; that this was a harsh necessity bare of any feelings; that a very extensive evacuation will be necessary; and that the future will hold many hard years in store for the Russians. This speech, Your Honors, is in the record as Document 1058-PS, Exhibit Number USA-147.

On July 4, 1941, still prior to Rosenberg’s appointment as Reich Minister for the occupied East, a representative of Rosenberg’s office attended a conference on the subject of utilization of labor, and especially of the labor of Soviet prisoners of war. Document 1199-PS is a memorandum of this conference, and I offer it into evidence as Exhibit Number USA-604. It states that the participants were, among others, representatives of the Commissioner for the Four Year Plan, of the Reich Labor Ministry, of the Reich Food Ministry, and of the Rosenberg office. The first sentence states, and I quote:

“After an introduction by Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Krull,
Lieutenant Colonel Breyer of the PW Department explained that
actually there was a prohibition in effect by the Führer against
bringing Russian PW’s into the Reich for employment, but that
one might count on this prohibition being relaxed a little.”

The last paragraph records that, and I quote:

“The chairman summarized the results of the discussion as
indicating that all the bureaus concerned unqualifiedly
advocated and supported the demand for utilization of PW’s
because of manpower needs in the Reich.”

On 16 July 1941, the day before Rosenberg’s appointment as Minister of the occupied East, he attended a conference at the Führer’s headquarters, the minutes of which have been introduced as Document L-221, Exhibit Number USA-317. At that time Hitler stated, “The Crimea has to be evacuated by all foreigners and to be settled by Germans alone.”

He further stated that Germany’s objectives in the East were three-fold: first, to dominate it; second, to administer it; third, to exploit it.

Thus, the character of the administration which was contemplated for the occupied East was well established before Rosenberg took office as Minister. He knew of these plans and was in accord with them. Persecution of the Jews, forced labor of prisoners of war, Germanization and exploitation, were all basic points of policy which Rosenberg knew of at the time he assumed office.

On July 17, 1941, Rosenberg was appointed Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. The decree by which he was appointed is in evidence as Document 1997-PS, Exhibit Number USA-319.

I would like now to examine the organizational structure and the chain of responsibility which existed within the Ministry for the occupied East.

The organizational structure of the East was such as we will show that Rosenberg was not merely a straw man. He was the supreme authority with full control.

Document 1056-PS is a mimeographed treatise entitled, “The Organization of the Administration of the Occupied Eastern Territories.” It is undated and unsigned, but we can obtain further information regarding it by reference to EC-347, which is Göring’s Green Folder, already in evidence as Exhibit Number USA-320.

It is noted that Part II, Subsection A, of Document EC-347 is entitled, and I quote: “Excerpts from the Directives of the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories and for the Civil Administration,” and then in parenthesis, “Brown Folder, Part I, Pages 25 to 30.”

The two paragraphs which follow are identical to two paragraphs found at the top of Page 9 of the translation of Document 1056-PS. Thus Document 1056-PS is identified as being a mimeograph of Part I of the Brown Folder which was mentioned in the Green Folder, and was issued by the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.

I now offer Document 1056-PS as Exhibit Number USA-605. I offer this document for the purpose of proving, from the directives issued by the Rosenberg Ministry itself, the extent of Rosenberg’s authority; that he was the supreme civilian authority in the Eastern territories. The document will show that there was a continuous chain of command from Rosenberg down to the regional administrative officials, a chain of command which extended even to the local prison warden.

The document also will show the relationship which existed between the Rosenberg Ministry and other German agencies, a relationship which varied from full control by Rosenberg to full co-operation with them, made mandatory by his directives and by Hitler’s orders.

Finally, the document will show that the various subdivisions of the Ministry were required to submit periodic reports of the situation within their jurisdiction, so that the numerous reports of unspeakable brutality which Rosenberg received, and which are already in the record, were submitted to him pursuant to his orders.

The first paragraph of this significant document states as follows:

“The newly occupied Eastern territories are subordinated to the
Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. By
direction of the Führer he establishes a civil administration
there, upon withdrawal of the military administration. He heads
and supervises the entire administration of this area and
represents the sovereignty of the Reich in the Occupied Eastern
Territories.”

At the top of Page 2 of the translation is stated, and I quote:

“To the Reich Ministry is assigned a deputy of the Reich Leader
SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the
Interior.”

Roman numeral III on Page 2 of the translation defines the responsibility of the Reich commissioners as, and I quote:

“In the Reich commissariats, Reich commissioners are responsible
for the entire civil administration under the supreme authority
of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.
According to the instructions of the Reich Minister for the
Occupied Eastern Territories, the Reich Commissioner, as a
functionary of the Reich, heads and supervises, within his
precincts, the entire civil administration. Within the scope of
these instructions he acts on his own responsibility.”

And then the chain of command is outlined: Subordinate offices, general commissariats, main commissariats, district commissariats, _et cetera_.

In the second last paragraph on Page 3 of the translation it is stated again:

“The Higher SS and Police Leader is directly subordinated to the
Reich Commissioner. However, the Chief of Staff has the general
right to secure information from him also. . . .

“Great stress is to be placed on close co-operation between him,
the Chief of Staff, and the other main department heads of the
office of the Reich Commissioner, particularly with the one for
policies.”

To digress from this document a moment, I ask that the Court take judicial notice of the decree signed by Rosenberg, dated July 17, 1941, and found in the _Verordnungsblatt_ of the Reich Minister for the occupied East, 1942, Number 2, Pages 7 and 8.

This decree provides for the creation of summary courts for decisions on crimes committed by non-Germans in the East. The courts are to be presided over by a police officer or an SS leader, who have authority to order the death sentence or confiscation of property, and those decisions are not subject to appeal. The general commissar is given the right to reject a decision. Thus, the determination of the SS, of these summary courts, is made subordinate to the authority of a representative of the Rosenberg Ministry.

At Page 4 of the translation of Document 1056-PS, the position of the Commissioner General is defined. It is stated here that: “The Commissioner General forms the administrative office of intermediate appeal.”

Three paragraphs down it is stated, and I quote:

“The SS and Police Leader assigned to the Commissioner General
is directly subordinated to him. However, the Chief of Staff has
the general right of requiring information from him.”

The document goes on to describe the function of the various subdivisions of the Ministry, concluding with regional commissioners who preside over the local administrative districts. They, too, have police units assigned to them and directly subordinated to them.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Mr. Brudno, surely that could have been stated in a sentence without referring us to all these passages in this document. I mean, Rosenberg was the Minister for the Eastern Territories. He had under him Reich commissioners and SS units, who had the full administration—civil administration—of the Eastern Territories. If you had stated that, surely that would have been sufficient.

MR. BRUDNO: Very well, Your Honor.

I will proceed from that point, then, merely to point out that the economic exploitation of the territory was undertaken in the fullest co-operation with the Commissioner of the Four Year Plan, as shown by Paragraph 2 of Page 7 of the translation. It is stated there that the economic inspectorates of the Commissioner of the Four Year Plan will be substantially absorbed in the agencies of the civil administration after the establishment of the civil administration.

I also wish to call Your Honors’ attention to the first paragraph on Page 6, which reads as follows:

The various commissioners, it says, “are, aside from the
military agencies, the only Reich authorities in the Occupied
Eastern Territories. Other Reich authorities may not be
established alongside them. They handle all questions of
administration of the area which is subordinate to their
sovereignty and all affairs which concern the organization and
activity of the administration, including those of the police,
in the supervision of the autonomous agencies and organizations
and of the population.”

I now turn briefly to the second section of the document which is entitled, “Working Directives for the Civil Administration.” The first two paragraphs on Page 9 have been read into the record as part of Document EC-347, Exhibit Number USA-320. I call particular attention to the statement that the “Hague Rules of Land Warfare, which deal with the administration of a country occupied by a foreign armed power, are not valid.”

I continue quoting at the last paragraph on Page 9:

“The handling of cases of sabotage is a concern of the Higher SS
and Police Leader, of the SS and Police Leader, or of the Police
leaders of the lower echelon. Insofar as collective measures
against the population appear appropriate, the decision about
them rests with the competent commissar.

“To inflict penalties in cash or kind, as well as to order the
seizure of hostages and the shooting of inhabitants of the
territory in which the acts of sabotage have taken place, rests
only with the Commissioner General, unless the Reich
Commissioner himself intervenes.”

I conclude with this document by quoting the first sentence at the top of Page 13:

“The district commissioners are responsible for the supervision
of all prisons, unless the Reich commissioners intervene.”

I will not take the time of the Tribunal, nor burden the Record, with a detailed account of the manner in which Rosenberg’s plenary authority and power were wielded. There is evidence in the Record, and there will be additional evidence presented by the Soviet prosecutor, as to the magnitude of the War Crimes and the Crimes against Humanity perpetrated against the peoples of the occupied East.

However, merely to illustrate the manner in which Rosenberg participated in the criminal activities conducted within his jurisdiction, I would like to refer briefly to a few examples.

I call your attention to the document numbered R-135, which was previously introduced as Exhibit Number USA-289. In this document the prison warden of Minsk reports that 516 German and Russian Jews had been killed, and called attention to the fact that valuable gold had been lost due to the failure to knock out the fillings of the victims’ teeth before they were done away with.

These activities took place in the prison at Minsk, a prison which, Your Honors will recall from Document 1056-PS, was directly under the supervision of the Ministry for the occupied East.

For my next illustration I wish to offer Document 018-PS. This document has already been introduced as Exhibit Number USA-186. I would like to read to the Tribunal the first paragraph of Document 018-PS, which has not yet been read into the Record. The document reveals that Rosenberg wrote Sauckel on 21 November 1942, in the following terms:

“I thank you very much for your report on the execution of the
great task given to you; and I am glad to hear that in carrying
out your mission you have always found the necessary support,
even on the part of the civilian authorities in the Occupied
Eastern Territories. For myself and the officials under my
command, this collaboration was and is self-evident, especially
since both you and I have, with regard to the solution of the
labor problem in the East, represented the same points of view
from the beginning.”

As late as 11 July 1944 the Rosenberg Ministry was actively concerned with the continuation of the forced labor program, in spite of the retreat from the East.

THE TRIBUNAL (Mr. Biddle): After making this generality, Rosenberg goes on to object, at the last here, to the methods used. You haven’t mentioned that.

MR. BRUDNO: Quite right, Your Honor. Those objections are already in the record, Sir, and I was merely referring to this document to show that Rosenberg favored recruitment from the East, that his civilian administrators co-operated with the recruitment in spite of the methods used, the methods which were known to Rosenberg as he reports in the letter himself.

DR. ALFRED THOMA (Counsel for Defendant Rosenberg): High Tribunal, in this connection I must protest that the Prosecutor did not finish reading this Paragraph 1 he has just quoted. For then comes the sentence in which he states that an agreement existed between Sauckel and Rosenberg regarding. . .

THE PRESIDENT: I don’t think you can have heard that the United States Member of the Tribunal has just made this very point, which you are now making to Counsel for the United States, and has pointed out to him that he ought to have read there, or drawn attention at any rate, to the other paragraphs in this document which showed that Rosenberg was objecting to the methods used.

DR. THOMA: High Tribunal, I would like to point out that the prosecutor quoted just the first two sentences of a specific paragraph. The same paragraph ends, however, where it is stated that “there was an agreement between Sauckel and me according to which workers were to be treated well in Germany, and for this purpose welfare organizations were to be created”. The presentation of the prosecutor creates the impression that the Defendants Sauckel and Rosenberg had agreed only on the use of forced labor without restraint and on the deportation of the workers from the East.

THE PRESIDENT: As Counsel for the United States pointed out, the other passages in the document have already been read. And, naturally, the whole document will be treated as being in evidence.

The Tribunal fully realizes the point you are making, that it is not fair to read one passage of a document when there are other passages in the document which show that the passage read is not a full or proper statement of the document.

MR. BRUDNO: If Your Honor pleases, I was not attempting to delude the Tribunal; it was merely in the interest of time that I did not read the balance. The rest is in the Record.

THE PRESIDENT: I realize that.

We will adjourn now.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 10 January 1946 at 1000 hours._]

THIRTY-FIRST DAY
Thursday, 10 January 1946

_Morning Session_