Chapter XII: Section 3 (9)

“The Government General represents a Polish reserve of
manpower—a vast Polish labor camp. The Poles will also benefit
from this, as we look after their health and see to it that they
do not starve, _et cetera_, but they must never be raised to a
higher level, for they will then become anarchists and
Communists. It will therefore be proper for the Poles to remain
Roman Catholics; Polish priests will receive food from us and
will, for that very reason, direct their little sheep along the
path we favor. The priests will be paid by us and will, in
return, preach what we wish them to preach. If any priest acts
differently, we shall make short work of him. The task of the
priest is to keep the Poles quiet, stupid, and dull-witted. This
is entirely in our interests. Should the Poles rise to a higher
level of development, they will cease to be that manpower of
which we are in need. In other respects it will suffice for a
Pole to possess a small holding in the Government General—a
large farm is not at all necessary; he will have to earn the
money he requires in Germany. It is precisely this cheap labor
we need; every German and every German worker will benefit by
this cheap labor.

“A strict German administration must exist in the Government
General to keep order in the labor reservations. These
reservations mean for us the maintenance of agriculture,
particularly of our large estates, and they are, besides, a
source of supply of labor.”

I see no necessity to read into the record the exchange of views between those present, although it is mentioned in the document, and I shall go on directly to Hitler’s final statements:

“To sum up, the Führer wants to state once more:

“1. The lowest German workman and the lowest German peasant must
always stand economically 10 percent above any Pole.”

I omit the second paragraph and pass to the third which is of great interest:

“3. I do not wish”—the Führer stressed—“that a German workman
should, as a rule work more than 8 hours when we return to
normal conditions; if a Pole, however, works 14 hours, he is
still, in spite of that, to earn less than a German workman.

“4. The ideal picture is this: A Pole must possess a small
holding in the Government General which will, to a certain
extent, provide him and his family with food. The money required
by him for clothes, supplementary foods, _et cetera_, _et
cetera_, he must earn by working in Germany. The Government
General must become a center for supplying seasonal unskilled
labor, particularly agricultural laborers. The existence of
these workmen will be fully guaranteed, because they will always
be used as cheap labor.”

This document deals with the question of Hitler’s attitude towards Poland and the Polish people with such exhaustive clarity that it calls for no further comment.

I wish only to draw Your Honors’ attention to three points.

Firstly, Hitler definitely states and develops in detail the idea that in the new fascist order in Europe the Polish people and the Polish State must be nothing but a Polish labor camp for fascist Germany.

Secondly, Hitler is convinced that the Poles will benefit from such a state of affairs, since the fascist conspirators intend to care for the health and adequate nourishment of the Poles whom they have reduced to slavery. I beg Your Honors to consider the fact that by “adequate nourishment” Hitler understands a state of affairs according to which every Pole should be maintained at an economic level considerably below that of the most wretched German. By “care” he means that the standard of living in Poland should be low and that it should not improve, so that no Pole be engaged otherwise than in heavy unskilled labor, 14 hours a day.

Finally, Hitler sets the task for the extermination of the entire intelligentsia, stating arrogantly that there should exist only one master for the Poles—the German.

In the course of further presentation of documents to the Tribunal we shall prove that Hitler and his followers, in the persons of the participants in the fascist conspiracy, strove to exterminate the Polish people and to reduce the standard of living of the Poles to the most pitiable and beggarly level. Their very existence depended solely on the fact that it assured cheap manpower for the fascist masters.

THE PRESIDENT: Would that be a convenient time to break off?

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 11 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]

FIFTY-SIXTH DAY
Monday, 11 February 1946

_Morning Session_

COL. POKROVSKY: The Tribunal has at its disposal the diaries of the Defendant Frank.

In the one marked “Diary of the Year 1943, V,” we find on Pages 1070-1072 an important entry; in the Russian translation this passage is on Page 5 of the addenda to the “Excerpts from Frank’s Diaries,” and on Page 321 of your document book, marked in pencil. I quote this passage:

“Kraków, 23 October 1943.

“The Governor General makes a report at the Administrative
Academy on ‘The Leadership Principle in Government.’ From the
point of view of constitutional and international law, the
Government General, as an appendage to Greater Germany,
constitutes a part of the territory over which the power of
Greater Germany in Europe extends. The sovereignty over this
territory belongs to the Führer of Greater Germany and on his
behalf it is exercised by the Governor General who, as the
deputy of the Führer, possesses all his powers.”

I would like to inform you, Your Honors, of two more documents of a strictly official nature.

In the _Reichsgesetzblatt_ for 1939, Part I, Page 2077—Page 333 of your document book presented by us as Exhibit Number USSR-296 (Document Number USSR-296)—is published the “Führer’s and Reich Chancellor’s Decree on the Administration of the Occupied Polish Territory,” dated 12 October 1939.

I shall read into the record Paragraph 2 of this decree. It consists of two subparagraphs:

“Paragraph 2:

“1. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Frank as Governor General of
the occupied Polish territories.

“2. I appoint Reich Minister Dr. Seyss-Inquart as Deputy
Governor General.”

In the same _Reichsgesetzblatt_, but this time for 1940, Part I, Page 399, is published a decree regarding the power to grant pardons in the occupied Polish territories. It is registered with the Tribunal as Document USSR-289 (Exhibit Number USSR-289) and is on Page 336 of the document book. It reads:

“In the occupied Polish territories I delegate to the Governor
General of occupied Polish territories the power to confirm
death sentences as well as pardons or to reject applications for
pardons, with the right further to delegate his powers.”

The power of life and death, the sovereign prerogative, was entrusted in a Poland occupied by the Hitlerites, to the Defendant Frank.

It would not be misplaced to recall that it was this same Hitler who had said that he would show, by the concrete example of a mutual relationship between the Polish and the German peoples, that such a form of intercourse had been found “which would usefully serve the cause of peace as well as the welfare of both nations.”

I have spoken of the kind of example that was intended, and what the welfare was to which reference had been made.

The 6 April 1941 was marked by a new crime planned and carefully prepared beforehand by the Hitlerite conspirators. Without any warning or declaration of war, they attacked Yugoslavia.

The attack on Yugoslavia was a gross breach of Article 3 of the Hague Convention of 18 October 1907, and of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 27 August 1928. The Delegations of Great Britain and of the United States have already submitted to the Tribunal a considerable number of documents referring to the subject of the treacherous attack on Yugoslavia. I have only to submit a few new proofs and to establish a connection between these new documents and those already read into the record. Official German documents enable us to reconstitute events with exceptional vividness. In this case German pedantry turns against the authors of the criminal plan.

On 27 March 1941 Adolf Hitler held a special conference regarding the situation in Yugoslavia. On the same day he signed a top-secret Directive 025, for the High Command (Oberbefehlshaber) only. Both documents, filed under Document Number 1746-PS, are among the evidence already accepted by the Tribunal.

Subparagraph 2 of Directive 025 has already been quoted in full in the speech of the Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R. The first subparagraph of this document was also read into the record on 7 December 1945. I should like to add a few more lines and read Paragraph 3 into the record. This passage is on Page 337 of the document book. It states as follows:

“In detail I order the following:

“a) As soon as the concentration of sufficient forces is
concluded and meteorological conditions permit, all Yugoslav
antiaircraft and Belgrade must be destroyed by continuous day
and night air attacks.

“b) If possible, simultaneously, but under no circumstances
sooner, Operation Marita must be started, with the primary
limited objective to seize the harbor of Salonika.”

I believe that three points should be stressed here:

1) The intention of carrying out the total destruction of the capital of the state;

2) The correlation between the aggression against Yugoslavia and the aggression against another country, Greece—the aggression against Greece was coded, as the Tribunal knows, under the name of Operation Marita;

3) The necessity to complete the concentration of German forces as well as meteorological conditions were the factors that determined the time limits for the attack.

As in all previous cases of criminal fascist aggression, we see one and the same thing—the criminal intent of the predatory invader, treachery, and cold calculation.

Preparations for the successive acts which had been carried on over a very long period followed the customary Hitler routine, already disclosed by the prosecutors: Fifth Column activities, the use of the protection of the German minority as a slogan and the lying practice of peaceable declarations combined with unceasing preparations for invasion. As I have already stated, the preparation of the crime was carried on over a very long period and followed the customary Hitler routine already disclosed by the prosecutors.

On 27 March 1941, on the very day when Hitler signed Directive 025, he personally conducted, in Berlin, a special conference on the situation in Yugoslavia. The minutes of this conference were presented by the United States Prosecution on 4 December 1945 as Document Number 1746-PS.

Other documents relating to this conference have also been registered under the same number. At the conference, the objective was determined with absolute precision and a plan of action was presented. You will, Your Honors, find the passage I have quoted on Page 349.

Hitler declared:

“. . . we are not going to wait for any declarations of loyalty
by the new government, but to carry out all preparations for the
destruction of the Yugoslav armed forces and of Yugoslavia
itself as a national unit.

“. . . it is especially important from the political point of
view that the blow against Yugoslavia should be carried out with
the utmost violence and that its military destruction should be
effected with lightning speed.”

And a little further back in the document is stated:

“No diplomatic inquiries will be made and no ultimatum
presented. . . . The attack will start as soon as the necessary
supplies and troops are ready.”

Thus, Hitler was not in the least interested in the factual attitude of one or the other Yugoslav Government toward Germany, but in the factual destruction of Yugoslavia as a state; and he strove to accomplish this destruction with cruelty and lightning speed.

The operational staff of the OKW, meticulously following Hitler’s directive regarding a cruel and rapid destruction of Yugoslavia, speedily worked out a detailed plan for co-ordinated operations of the German and Italian Armies. It was issued as an official operational directive dated 28 March 1941. I consider it essential to reread three lines of this document, already submitted to the Tribunal under the same Document Number 1746-PS. You will find it on Page 352 of the document book. I read Paragraph 4 of this document into the record.

“. . . The German task is to attack Yugoslavia with the greatest
possible concentration of forces, to smash its armed forces and
destroy it as a state.”

I cannot but remind the Tribunal of the terminology used by Hitler and the other fascist conspirators. Hitler said, “There can be no question of sparing Poland.” He demanded, “Yugoslavia is to be eliminated as a state, ruthlessly and with lightning speed.” Mercilessness, ruthlessness, extermination of peoples and states: such was the style and meaning of the actions of the fascist conspirators.

The aggression against Czechoslovakia, the attack on Poland, the desire to destroy Yugoslavia, all these were links in the same chain. But the chain does not end with these links.

The task of the next representative of the U.S.S.R. Prosecution will be to show Your Honors that the fundamental purpose of these criminals, the main link in the center of all of the Hitlerite conspiracies, was the attack on the U.S.S.R.

The documents relating to the crimes against Yugoslavia will prove that, in attacking that country, the fascist conspirators strictly followed their customary methods. Even in detail they repeated their earlier crimes perpetrated against Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia. Even in case we did not know who actually organized the attack on Yugoslavia, the very nature of the facts, the sequence of events, the manner in which the crimes were perpetrated, would unmistakably indicate the culprits.

I turn to Document USSR-36, (Exhibit Number USSR-36) under which number I offer in evidence the Official Report of the Yugoslav Government.

The first section, entitled “The Systematic Preparation of the Conspiracy for the Enslavement and the Destruction of Yugoslavia,” contains a series of valuable information. I wish to cite that excerpt from this document which you will find on Page 355 of the document book, Paragraph 4 on Page 3 of the Russian text, 3rd paragraph from the top reads:

“The Government of the Third Reich and the Hitlerite Party
secretly organized the German minority. Settled in Yugoslavia by
the Austrian emperors over a century ago, the Germans enjoyed as
brothers full rights and a cultural autonomy. They had their own
schools and their representatives in parliaments as well as in
the local government. They numbered half a million (that is
about three percent of the total population). From 1920 they had
their mass organization—the Swabian-German Cultural
Union—‘Kulturbund’ for short. And out of this very organization
and through it, as well as out of all the Germans in Yugoslavia,
the Nazi Party created a political and military organ for the
destruction of Yugoslavia.”

I believe I can skip several lines without loss and quote further:

“In Yugoslavia, the Nazi Gaue were secretly formed and Gauleiter
appointed. Under the guise of various physical training and
sport associations, Hitlerite units were organized half a
million strong. Numerous ‘tourists,’ ‘travellers,’
‘businessmen,’ and ‘relatives’ came from the Reich—in reality
they were Nazi instructors and organizers.”

I skip a number of details which can be disregarded, and pass to the second paragraph of the same section on Page 4—that would be Page 356 in your document book—where the manner is described in which the Fifth Column was further strengthened. I now shall read into the record Paragraph 2, beginning with the second subparagraph:

“The Hitlerites drew into their orbit all the separatist and
chauvinistic elements, as for instance, Pavelich’s Ustasha; the
Zbor, a movement headed by Ljoteč; the MFRO (the Macedonian
fascist movement), headed by Vanca Mihajlovič; and organized
them as terrorist organizations with headquarters in Berlin. On
the other hand, acting through their agents, Prince Paul,
Stojadinovič, Cvetkovič, and Ćincar-Marcovič, they attracted the
pan-Serbian centralists and turned them into a terrorist group
which, from the vantage points of governmental authority, was
‘peacefully’ to deliver Yugoslavia into slavery by adhering to
the Tripartite Pact.”

Further, the report emphasizes the fact that, while organizing numerous branches of the Fifth Column, the Hitlerites continually gave newer and more perfidious assurances about their ostensibly friendly intentions with regard to Yugoslavia. This is discussed in Paragraph 3 on Page 5 of the Russian text; our Document Number USSR-36. You will find this passage, Your Honors, on Page 357 of the document book:

“3. At the time when both the Hitlerite Government and the Party
were so thoroughly and with such versatility preparing their
conspiracy to invade and occupy Yugoslavia, Hitler seized every
opportunity to declare to the whole world, on behalf of the same
Government, the same Party, and the whole of Germany, that
Yugoslavia could count on them as devoted friends.”

On 17 January 1938, that is, some weeks before the occupation of Austria, Hitler had a meeting with the then Prime Minister of Yugoslavia at which the Defendants Göring and Von Neurath were present. The original document from which I shall quote certain passages was submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number TC-92. The extract which I shall quote further on as documentary evidence, is dated 4 December 1945. You will find it on Page 411 of the document book.

On 4 December 1945 a printed collection of German documents dealing with the conflict with Yugoslavia and Greece was offered to you in evidence. In the listing of documentary evidence it is referred to as Document Number TC-92.

On Page 68—and you will find it as I have already stated on Page 411 in your document book, as Document Number 28 of that collection—we have a transcript of the conversations which took place during the conference of 17 January 1938. I consider there is no need to read the entire document into the record. I shall limit myself to the following three remarks made by Hitler on that occasion, “As regards Yugoslavia, Germany is highly interested in the existence of a strong Yugoslavia.” Somewhat later in the course of the same conversation Hitler spoke the second sentence, “Whatever may happen there, Yugoslavia’s present boundary will remain as inviolable as the border on the Brenner is today.” In addition Hitler, at this meeting, made the following statement, “. . . the German nationality group in Yugoslavia was loyal to the Yugoslav Government. . . .”

On 30 January 1939, some weeks before the occupation of the Czechoslovak Republic, Hitler made the following declaration about Yugoslavia in his speech before the Reichstag—this quotation is to be found on Page 412 in your document book:

“. . . a state which since the Great War has more and more
attracted the attention of our people, in Yugoslavia. The
respect which the German soldier felt for that valiant people in
the past, has grown ever stronger and developed into sincere
friendship. . . .”

The fascist conspirators considered it useful to include this speech as Document Number 32 in the book from which I just have quoted and presented to the Tribunal as Document Number TC-92.

On 1 June 1939, that is, before the fascist attack on Poland, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, whom the official report of the Yugoslav Government calls a Hitlerite agent, paid a visit to Hitler. On this occasion, Hitler stated in Berlin—you will find the passage on Page 413 in your document book:

“. . . Germany’s friendship with the Yugoslav nation did not
spring up suddenly. It was deepened and strengthened by the
tragic complications of the World War.”

Then, after having made a few more statements which are of no interest to the Tribunal, he continued:

“I am all the more confident that now when, as a result of the
historic events, we have become neighbors with common frontiers
established forever, the friendly relations between Germany and
Yugoslavia, trustful and steadfast, will not only secure lasting
peace between both our peoples and countries, but moreover will
serve as a calming element for our nervous, excitable
continent.”

I repeat once more that I quote from the book, Document Number TC-92.

In his next customary speech after the defeat of Poland, before the Reichstag on 6 October, Hitler reassured Yugoslavia of his love of peace and of his friendly attitude in the following words:

“. . . after the annexation had taken place, I assured
Yugoslavia in the same manner that her frontier with this
country shall be regarded as inviolable by Germany from this
moment on, and that we want to live in peace and friendship with
her. . . .”

I am now going to read into the record a few paragraphs from Subparagraph 2 on the first section of the report of the Yugoslav State Commission for the investigation of the crimes perpetrated by the aggressors. The excerpts in question begin with Paragraph 3, on Page 6 of Exhibit Number USSR-36 (Document Number USSR-36). In your document book it is Volume I, Section I.

Thus, Hitler regularly gave assurances about friendly relations with Yugoslavia and about the inviolability of her boundaries while, at the same time, his band of conspirators and enslavers were already tightening the ring of war around Yugoslavia. When Yugoslavia was completely surrounded by Hitler’s Panzer divisions, and when the government of the Centralist Fifth Column of Prince Paul, Cvetovič, and Maček was ready to join the Tripartite Pact on 25 March 1941, that is, 10 days before the attack on Yugoslavia, the Defendant Ribbentrop stated as follows—on Page 413 of your document book you will find it, in Document Number 2450-PS:

“Germany herself—and I solemnly state this—has neither
territorial nor political interests in this region.”

The Tribunal has already been handed a certified extract from Document Number 72 of the above-mentioned German book.

An official note from the Reich Government of the same date reads as follows—you will find this on Page 415 of the document book:

“Mr. Prime Minister: On behalf and on the direction of the
German Government, I have the honor to report to Your Excellency
as follows:

“In connection with today’s adherence of Yugoslavia to the
Tripartite Pact, the German Government affirms its resolution to
respect at all times the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of Yugoslavia. . . .

“Signed, Joachim von Ribbentrop.”

The culminating point in the execution of the breach of faith so cunningly prepared by the fascists is the following statement made by Hitler on 6 April 1941, that is, at the moment when the perfidious and treacherous attack on Yugoslavia had already begun. It is under Document Number TC-92 in your book of documents, on Page 414:

“The German people feel no hatred towards the Serbian people.
Above all, the German people see no reason to start a war
against the Croats and Slovenes; they want nothing from these
peoples.”

Certified excerpts have been handed to the Tribunal from the documents of the German book already quoted on Pages 1 and 4.

At the same time when he was speaking in this manner, the occupation, annexation, and dismemberment of the Yugoslav State was already taking place. Soon after began the bombing of undefended cities, towns, and settlements; forcible evictions; deportations to camps; punitive expeditions; and hundreds of other acts that were a part of the planned extermination of the Yugoslav people, which resulted in the death of 1,650,000 Yugoslav men, women, and children.

On the question of the preparation for the attack on Yugoslavia and the individuals who directly supervised this crime, we have at our disposal two very valuable pieces of evidence.

The first is the original affidavit of the German General Löhr. Prior to and at the time of the aggression against Yugoslavia, he was in command of the 4th Air Fleet. It was precisely his air units which carried out the raids on Belgrade. He is undoubtedly a man well acquainted with the course of operations and its leaders.

On 24 May 1945 General Löhr was taken prisoner by the Yugoslav forces. During interrogations to which he was subjected between 24 May and 6 June 1945 he states—you will find the respective excerpts on Page 416, as excerpts from our Document Number USSR-253 (Exhibit Number USSR-253). We submit the originals of these excerpts to the Tribunal:

“I and my staff went on March 26 to Sofia as the campaign
against Greece was about to begin.

“On the following day, 27 March 1941, the _coup d’état_ took
place in Yugoslavia. I was called unexpectedly to Berlin, where
I received orders from Reich Marshal Göring to prepare for air
operations against Yugoslavia. . . .

“After this, preparations against Yugoslavia were begun. At my
first meeting with Göring I was not told of the date of the
beginning of the war against Yugoslavia. At Vienna, I received a
written order in which the beginning of the operations was fixed
for 6 April.”

Passing over the rest of the statement, I proceed to read into the record excerpts from the minutes of the interrogation of the former Field Marshal of the German Army, Friedrich Paulus. In accordance with the wish of the Tribunal, we submit the original of this interrogation.

Friedrich Paulus was interrogated on 12 January 1946 by the Chief Prosecutors of the U.S.S.R. His testimony is registered with us as Exhibit Number USSR-182 (Document Number USSR-182). You will find the passage quoted on Page 419 of your document book. My colleagues of the Soviet Delegation will probably revert to this document when dealing with subsequent matters. I shall therefore merely quote that part which refers to the preparations for the attack on Yugoslavia.

“It was clear to both German and Hungarian officers that these
military preparations must have been based on the preparation of
military collaboration between Germany and Hungary.”

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, the Tribunal understand that the first interrogatory to which you refer—General Löhr’s—which is contained in Document Number USSR-253, is an official document?

COL. POKROVSKY: Yes.

THE PRESIDENT: The official document of your Government. The other interrogatory to which you refer, of Field Marshal Paulus, is not an official document, is it?

COL. POKROVSKY: The minutes of the interrogation of Field Marshal Paulus have been compiled in compliance with all legal standards of procedure applying to such interrogations by judicial organizations in the U.S.S.R. He is interrogated as a witness with the warning that he must tell the truth, in accordance with Articles 95 and 92 of our penal code. These documents, in the U.S.S.R., are considered as absolutely official documents, of full probative value, to be submitted to the Tribunal when necessary.

THE PRESIDENT: Could you tell us where the interrogatory was made?

COL. POKROVSKY: Paulus was interrogated in person in Moscow, on 12 January 1946. This, Sir, must have been pointed out at the beginning of the interrogation.

THE PRESIDENT: The date is on the document, but not the place. Go on, Colonel.

COL. POKROVSKY: With your permission, I shall continue my quotation from the minutes of the interrogation of Field Marshal Paulus, submitted to you:

“It was clear to the Hungarians that Germany’s assistance was in
order to prepare the Hungarian Army in good time and in advance
for future combined military operations, thus incorporating an
ally into its ranks.

“With the later attack on Yugoslavia, which followed this, there
was no need for special explanations as to the object of these
military preparations.

“It was clear that armed forces were being made ready for war
with the U.S.S.R., as the attack on Yugoslavia was part of the
operational plan for the attack on the U.S.S.R.

“With the defeat of Yugoslavia, the right flank, which was to be
formed at the beginning of military operations against Russia,
was secured.”

I shall leave out one paragraph which deals with another subject, and continue to quote:

“The preparation of the combined German-Hungarian attack on
Yugoslavia was entrusted to me. On 27 or 28 March 1941 I was
called before Hitler at the Reich Chancellery where, besides
Hitler, Keitel, Jodl, Halder, and Brauchitsch were present.
Halder met me with the following words:

“‘The Führer has decided to attack Yugoslavia in order to
eliminate the threat to the flank during the offensive against
Greece and to seize the main Belgrade-Nish railway line which
runs in a southerly direction. But the main objective of the
attack on Yugoslavia is to have our right flank secure when
later on the Plan Barbarossa shall be carried out.

“‘Your task is to go to Vienna immediately in my special train,
and to transmit the orders and explain the situation to Field
Marshal List (12th Army Group), General Von Kleist (Panzer
group), and Colonel Von Witzleben (Chief of Staff of the 2d
Army), who have been called there.

“‘From Vienna, you are to proceed to Budapest and there to
co-ordinate with the Hungarian General Staff the strategic
employment of the German forces on Hungarian territory and the
participation of the Hungarian forces in the invasion of
Yugoslavia.’”

The participation of Hitlerite generals of the very highest rank in the treacherous attack on Yugoslavia simply does not fit, in any way at all, into the execution of purely military tasks only.

I shall read one more document into the records, Document Number 1195-PS. You will find it in your document book on Page 423.

On 9 January 1946 four lines were read here from the second section. The time has now come to read it in full:

“Copy. Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, Operational Staff,