I do wish, however, to offer one document, a statement, to establish the deaths of 4 million Jews in camps, and deaths of 2 million Jews by the State Police in the East, making a total of 6 million, Document 2738-PS. This is a statement -- Adolph Eichmann, Chief of the Jewish Section of the Gestapo is the source of the figures quoted - made by Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, Deputy Group Leader of the Foreign Section of the Security Section, AMT IV, of the RSHA. Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, in affidavit form, made the following statement, and I quote from page 2:
"Approximately 4 million Jews had been killed in the various concentration camps, while an additional 2 million met death in other ways, the major part of which were shot by operational squads of the Security Police during the campaign against Russia."
May I, in conclusion, emphasize that the captured documents in evidence are, almost without exception, from the official sources of the
THEPRESIDENT (Interposing): Major Walsh.
MAJOR WALSH:Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT:You only read that one statement, but where does the person who made the affidavit got his information from?
MAJOR WALSH:I shall be pleased to read that in there, sir. I made the statement that Eichmann was the source of the information given to Dr. Wilhelm Hoettl, one of his assistants, and on page 1 it says:
"According to my knowledge, Eichmann was at that time the leader of the Jewish Section of the Gestapo, and in addition to that he had been ordered by Himmler to get a hold of the Jews in all the European countries and to transport then to Germany. Eichmann was then very much impressed with the fact that Rumania had withdrawn from the war in those days. Moreover, he had come to me to got information about the military situation which I received daily from the Hungarian Ministry of War and from the Commander of the Waffen-SS in Hungary. He expressed his conviction that Germany had now lost the war and that he personally had no further chance. He knew that he would be considered one of the main war criminals by the United Nations, since he had millions of Jewish lives on his conscience.
I asked him how many that was, to which he answered that although the number was a great Reich secret, he would tell me since I, as a historian, would be interested, and that he would probably not return anyhow from his command in Rumania. He had, shortly before that, made a report to Himmler, as the latter wanted to know the exact number of Jews who had been killed."
It was on the basis of this information, sir, that I read the following quotation:
THE PRESIDENT:The Tribunal will adjourn now.
(Whereupon at 1245 hours the hearing of the tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1400 hours).
Official Transcript of the International Military Tribunal, in the matter of:
The United States of America, the French Re public, The United Kingdom of Great Bri tain and Northern Ireland, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, against Hermann Wilhelm Goering, et al, Defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 14 Dec ember, 1945, 1400-1700, Lord Justice Lawrence, presiding.
THE PRESIDENT:The motion that was made this morning on behalf of the Defendant Kaltenbrunner is denied and the affidavit is admitted and will not be stricken from the record. But the Tribunal wished me to say that it is open to the Defendants' counsel, in accordance with the Charter and the Rules, to make a motion, in writing, if they wish to do so, for the attendance of Pfaffenberger for cross-examination and to state in that motion the reasons therefore.
DR. KURTKAUFFMANN (Counsel for Defendant Kaltenbrunner): I am here on a similar question, This question deals with the case of Pfaffenberger, and I beg for two reasons that the evidence of Dr. Hoettl be crossed off, that which was incorporated into the record this morning -- to have it stricken from the record, in other words.
Dr. Hoettl, as far as I know, is in Nurnberg.
THE PRESIDENT:One minute. Do you understand that the Tribunal has just denied the motion that you made this morning?
DR. KAUFFMANN:I cannot hear, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT:I asked you whether you understood that the motion you made this morning had been denied by the Tribunal?
DR. KAUFFMANN:Yes, I understood that correctly.
THE PRESIDENT:What is your motion now?
DR. KAUFFMANN:I would like to ask to have the evidence given by Dr. Hoettl stricken from the record for this reason, and which depends on several other reasons than given to me this morning in the Pfaffenberger case.
As we can see, or as follows from the affidavit, Dr. Hoettl was interrogated on the 26th of November, that is about three weeks ago and, as I further heard, Dr. Hoettl is under arrest here in Nurnberg. There is no delay to be expected if we ask this witness be brought before the Court.
This man had a significant position in the SS and sometime ago, in writing, I asked to have him brought in as a witness.
I am convinced that he has a wealth of important evidence and material which he can reveal to the Court, The declaration of Dr. Hoettl is infinitely important. The death of millions of people is involved. His evidence is based on certain results. These things were shown to us according to hearsay and I am of the opinion that the case will look entirely different and that the Tribunal will not direct me later on, after weeks or months, to bring this witness into Court.
MAJOR WALSH:If the Court please: Dr. Hoettl's affidavit, Document 2738-PS, was in part read into the record this morning for the sole purpose of showing the approximate number of Jews, according to his estimates, that had met death at the hands of the German State, No other portion of his testimony was referred to and the evidence offered was only for the sole purpose of establishing his estimate of the number. His position in the Party and in the State, as well as the position of Adolf Eichmann, the source of his information, was also stated for the record.
I believe that Dr. Hoettl, if he is desired for any other purpose by the Defense, may be called by the Defense, but the Prosecution had no other purpose in utilizing his evidence.
THE PRESIDENT:Do you wish to add anything more?
MAJOR WALSH:That is all I have, sir.
THE PRESIDENT:The Tribunal makes the same ruling in this case as in the case of Pfaffenberger, namely that the affidavit is admitted in evidence but that it is open to Defendants' counsel to make a motion, in writing, for the attendance of the witness for cross-examination and to state in that motion the reasons for it.
MAJOR WALSH:During the morning session, the Court requested certain information concerning documents that had been offered and accepted in evidence. I refer to Document 1061, the report, "The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More." This report, I am told, was prepared for presentation at a meeting of the SS Police Leaders, to be held on 18 May, 1943. This is indicated on page 45 of the translation before the Court.
This document was captured by the Seventh United States Army and delivered by them to the G-2 of the United States Forces in the European Theater. In turn, they were delivered to Colonel Storey of the United States Prosecutors Staff some months ago.
THE PRESIDENT: Major Walsh, I think the Tribunal also wished to know whether you could tell us to whom the report had been made?
MAJOR WALSH:The report, sir, according to the teletypes, the daily teletypes sir, were addressed to the higher SS and Police Fuehrer, SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Police Kruger or his deputy.
THE PRESIDENT:Thank you.
MAJOR WALSH:The Court further inquired about Document L-53 and I have obtained some information concerning this document. This document was captured by T-Force of the Counter-Intelligence Corps Detachment No. 220, found among the German records at Weimar, Germany, sometime prior to 10 May, 1945.
THE PRESIDENT:L-53 you said, didn't you?
MAJOR WALSH:L-53, yes, sir.
The Court further inquired concerning this document, the meaning of the letters "W.B." I regret that I have been unable to obtain definite information as to the meaning of "W.B.", but it has been suggested to me that it might mean West-Bund or Western Ally, because it is used in connection with the capture, the destruction of all prisoners before capture by either the W.B. or the Red Armies, and I presume that it may mean West-Bund.
The slaughter of the Jews in Europe cannot be expressed in figures alone; for the impact of this slaughter is even more tragic to the future of the Jewish people and mankind. Ancient Jewish communities with their own rich, spiritual, cultural and economic life, bound up for centuries with the life of the nations in which they flourished, have been completely obliterated. The contribution of the Jewish people to civilization, the arts, the sciences, industry and culture, need not, I am sure, be elaborated upon before this Tribunal. Their destruction, carried out continuously, deliberately, intentionally and methodically by the Nazis, represents a loss to civilization of special qualities and abilities that cannot possibly be recouped.
I have not attempted to recount the multitudinous and diabolical crimes committed against the Jewish people by the State which these Defendants ruled, because, with sober regard for contemporary and historical truth, a detailed description of some of these crimes would transcend the utmost reaches of the human faculty of expression.
The mind already recoils and shrinks from the acceptance of the incredible facts already related. Rather, it is my purpose to elucidate the pattern, the successful and successive stages, the sequence and concurrence of the crimes committed, the predetermined means to a preordained end.
Yet, these cold, stark, brutal facts and figures, drawn largely from the Defendants' own sources, and submitted, in evidence before this Tribunal, defy rebuttal.
From conception to execution, from Party Program of 1920 to the gloating declarations of Himmler and the Defendant Frank in 1943 and 1944 the annihilation of the Jewish people in Europe was man-nade - made by the very men sitting in the Defendants' box, brought to judgment before this Tribunal.
Before closing, may I acknowledge with appreciation, the untiring services of that group of the Staff of the United States Prosecution, through whose painstaking search, analysis and study, this presentation of evidence was made possible: Captain Seymour Krieger, Lt. Brady Bryson, Lt. Frederick Felton, Sgt. Isaac Stone and Mr. Hans Nathan.
COLONEL STOREY:If the Tribunal please:
The next presentation, concerning Germanisation and spoliation in occupied countries, will be presented by Captain Sam Harris.
CAPTAIN SAM HARRIS:May the Tribunal please:
Documents relating to the Nazi program of Germanisation and Spoliation have been assembled in a document book bearing the letter "U". These document books are now being distributed for the use of the members of the Tribunal. I ask your Honors to note that the tabs on the side of the document book are numbered 1 to 30. The index sheet at the front of the book keys these numbers to the Ec and PS number of our exhibits.
For your Honor's convenience, we have also numbered the pages in each exhibit in pencil at the upper right hand corner of each exhibit.
The documents which we shall introduce were collected by Lt. Kenyon, who sits at my right, and by Doctors Darenberg and Jacoby. Without their untiring efforts, the presentation would not have been possible.
Evidence has already been introduced by Mr. Alderman, to prove that the Defendants conspired to wage aggressive war. It has also been proved that the desire for "Lebensraum" was one of the chief forces motivating the conspirators to plan, launch and wage their wars of aggression.
We propose, at this time, to present evidence disclosing what the conspirators intended to do with conquered territories, called by them "Lebensraum", after they had succeeded in overpower the victims of their aggressions.
We have broadly divided this subject into two categories:
Germanisation and spoliation. When we speak of plans to Germanise, we mean plans to assimilate conquered territories politically, culturally, socially and economically into the German Reich. Germanisation, we shall demonstrate, meant the obliteration of the former national character of the conquered territories and the extermination of all elements which could not be reconciled, with the Nazi ideology. By spoliation, we mean the plunder of public and private property, and in general, the exploitation of the people and natural resources of occupied countries.
We propose, with the permission of your Honors, to introduce, in all, 30 documents. These documents lay bare some of the secret plans of the conspirators to Germanize, to plunder, to despoil, and to destroy. They do not, of course, tell the whole story of all the conspirators' plans in this field. In some instances, proof of the plan is derived from the acts committed by the conspirators, but these few documents are particularly illuminating with respect to the conspirators' plans for Poland, Czeche-Slovakia and Russia, and they indicate the outlines of carefully conceived plans for the rest of Europe. Others who follow will fill in this outline by showing a series of outrages committed on so vast a scale that no doubts will exist that they were committed according to plan.
Poland was, in a sense, the testing ground for the conspirators' theories upon "lebensraum" and I turn to that country first.
The four western provinces of Poland were purportedly incorporated into Germany by an order of 8 October 1939. This order, which was signed by Hitler, Lammers and Defendants GOERING, FRICK and HESS, is set forth in "Reichsgesetzblatt", 1939, Part I, p. 2042, and we ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice thereof. These areas of Poland are frequently referred to in correspondence between the conspirators as "incorporated Eastern territories". The remainder of Poland which was seized by the Nazi invaders was established as the Government General of Poland by an order of Hitler, dated 12 October 1939.
By that same order, defendant Hans FRANK was named Governor General of the newly-created Government General, and defendant SEYSS-INQUART was name Deputy Governor General.
This order is set forth in "Reichs gesetzblatt", 1939, Part I, p. 2077, and we ask the Tribunal also to take judicial notice of it.
The plans with respect to Poland were rather complicated and I be lieve that the significance of specific items of proof may be more readily apparent if, in advance of the introduction of documents, I am permitted briefly to indicate the broad pattern of those plans.
We submit that the documents wer are about to introduce on Poland show the following:
First: The conspirators specifically planned to exploit the people and material resources of the Government General of Poland in order to strengthen the Nazi war machine, to impoverish the Government General, and to reduce it to a vassal state.
At a later stage, plans were formulated for creating islands of German settlements in the more fertile regions of the Government General in order to engulf the native Polish population and accelerate the process of Germanisation.
Second: The incorporated area of Poland which was deemed to be a part of the German Reich, was to be ruthlessly Germanised.
To that end, the conspirators planned:
(a) To permit the retention of the productive facilities in the incorporated area, all of which, of course, would be dedicated to the Nazi war machine.
(b) They planned to deport to the Government General many hundreds of thousands of Jews, members of the Polish intelligentsia, and other non compliant elements.
We shall show that the Jews who were deported to the Government General were doomed to speedy annihilation.
Moreover, since the conspirators felt that members of the Polish intelligentsia could not be Germanized and might serve as a center of resistance against their new order, they too were to be eliminated.
(c) They planned to deport all able-bodied Polish workers to Germany for work in he Nazi war machine. This served the two-fold purpose of helping to satisfy the labor requirements of the Nazi was machine and preventing the propagation of a new generation of Poles. Nr. Dodd has already produced abundant proof on this tonic, and I shall do not more than refer to it.
(d) They planned to mould all persons in the incorporated area who were deemed to possess German blood, into German subjects who would religiously adhere to the principles of National Socialism. To that end, the conspirators set up an elaborate racial register. Those who resisted or refused to cooperate in this program were sent to concentration camps.
(e) They planned to bring thousands of German subjects into the incorporated area for purposes of settlement.
(f) and finally, they planned to confiscate the property - particular ly the farms - of the Poles, the Jews and all dissidend elements. The confiscation of the property of Jews was part of the conspirators' larger program of extermination. Confiscation like wise served three additional purposes: (1) it provided land for the new German settlers and enabled the conspirators to reward their adherents: (2) dispossessed Polish property owners could be shipped to Germany for work in the production of implements of war; and (3) the separation of Polish farmers from their wives furthered the plan to prevent the growth of a new generation of Poles We turn now to the specific items of proof.
I first offer in evidence Document No. EC 344-16, which is USA Exhibit No. 297. This document is a report of an interview with defendant FRANK on 3 October 1939, and was found among the files of the OKW which were assembled in bulk at the Fechanheim Document Center. This particular document was included in a large report prepared in the OKW by one Captain Varain at the direction of General Thomas, then Chief of the Military Economic Staff of the OKW. I quote from the first 19 lines of page 3 of the English text.
The German text appears on p. 29, lines 25-36 and p.
30, lines 1-6. The report states, and I quote:
"In the first interview which the chief of the Central Division and the liaison officer between the Armament Department Upper East and the Chief Administrative Officer (subsequently called Govenor General) had with Minister FRANK on October 3, 1939 in Posen, FRANK explained the directive, and the economic and political responsibilities which had been conferred upon him by the Fuehrer and according to which he intended to administer Poland.
According to these directives, Poland can only be administered by utilizing the country through means of ruthless exploitation, deportation of all supplies, raw materials, machines, factory installations, etc.
, which are important for the German war economy, availability of all workers for work within Germany, reduction of the entire Polish economy to absolute minimum necessary for bare existence of the population, closing of all educational institutions, especially technical schools and colleges in order to prevent the growth of the new Polish intelligentsia.
"Poland", defendant FRANK stated, (and this is a quotation), "Poland" shall be treated as a colony:
the Poles shall be the slaves of the Greater German World Empire'". I should like also to quote from the last 6 lines of the English text.
In the German text, it is lines 18 to 23 of page 30.
Defendant Frank further stated, and I quote:
"By destroying Polish industry, its subsequent reconstruction after the war would become more difficult, if not impossible, so that Poland would be reduced to its proper position as an agrarian country which would have to depend upon Germany for importation of industrial products."
As further proof of the defendants' plan to plunder and despoil the Government General of Poland, I next offer in evidence Document No. EC 410, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No. 298. In addition to the proof of the defendants' plans to plunder and despoil the Government General, this document demonstrates the difference in treatment which the conspirators planned for the incorporated area of Poland and the Government General. It is a copy of a directive issued and signed by defendant GOERING on 19 October 1939, and was likewise found among the captured OKW files. I quote from lines 1 to 19 on page 1 of the English text. In the German text, it is all of page 1 and the first line of page 2. Defendant GOERING's directive states, and I quote:
"In the meeting of October 13th, I have given detailed instructions for the economical administration of the occupied territories.
I will repeat them here in short: 1. The task for the economic treatment of the various administrative regions is different depending on whether a country is involved which will be incorporated politically into the German Reich or whether we deal with the Government General, which, in all probability, will not be made a part of Germany.
In the first mentioned, territories the reconstruction and expansion of the economy, the safeguarding of all their production facilities and supplies must be aimed at, as well as a complete incorporation into the Greater German economic system at the earliest possible time.
On the other hand, there must be removed from the territories of the Government General all raw materials, scrap materials, machines etc.
, which are of use for the German war economy.
Enterprises which are not absolutely necessary for the meager maintenance of the naked existence of the population must be transferred to Germany, unless such transfer would require an unreasonably long period of time and would make it more practical to exploit these enterprises by giving them German orders to be executed at their present location."
Once the Government General had been stripped of its industrial potential, the defendants planned to leave the country desolate. Not even the war damage was to be repaired. This is the clear import of the documents previously introduced, and is likewise made clear by Document No. EC 411, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No. 299. I offer this document in evidence. This is a copy of an order dated 20 November 1939, by defendant HESS, in his capacity as Deputy Fuehrer. This document was also found in the captured OKW files. I quote the English and German texts in their entirety. Defendant HESS stated, and I quote:
"I hear from Party members who came from the Government General that various agencies, as, for instance, the Military Economic Staff, the Reich Ministry for Labor, etc.
, intend to reconstruct certain industrial enterprises in Warsaw.
However, in accordance with a decision by Minister Dr. FRANK, as approved by the Fuehrer, Warsaw shall not be rebuilt nor is it the intention of the Fuehrer to rebuild or reconstruct any industry in the Government General."
Turning from the defendants' program of economic spoliation in the Government General to their program of deportation and resettlement, I next offer in evidence Document No. 66-PS, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No. 300. This is a secret report prepared by the Academy of German Law in January 1940, upon plans for the mass migration of Poles and Jews from incorporated areas of Poland to the Government General, and for the forcible deportation of able-bodied Poles to Germany. This document was obtained from the Ministerial Collecting Settlement at Kassel, Germany.
The date does not appear in the English translation, but it is clearly set forth in the cover page of the original document as January 1940. Before quoting from this document, I ask first, that the Tribunal take judicial notice of the decree of 11 July 1934, embodied in the "Reichsgesetzblatt", Part I, p. 605, 11 July 1934, which provided that the Academy of German Law would be a public corporation of the Reich under the supervision of the Reich Ministers of Justice and the Interior, and that its task would be (quote):
"To promote the reconstruction of German legal life, and to realize, in constant close collaboration with the competent legislative organizations, the National Socialist program in the entire sphere of the law."
Second, before quoting from the aforementioned report of the Academy of Law, I should like to offer in evidence Document No. 2749-PS, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No. 301. This is the title page of the publication of the Academy of German Law for 1940. It is offered for the purpose of showing that defendant FRANK was the president of the Academy of German Law during the period that the above-mentioned secret report of the Academy was made. The document specifically states, and I quote:
"Reich Minister Dr. Hans FRANK, President of the Academy for German Law:
7th year 1940."
Now, if I may ask your Honors to turn to Document No. 661-PS, I should first like to quote lines 6 to 24 of page 1 of the English text. In the German text, these extracts appear at page 6, lines 6 to 10; and line 22, page 6 to line 4, page 7. I quote:
"For the carrying out of costly and long-term measures for the increase of agricultural production, the Government General can at the most absorb 1 to 1,5 million resettlers, as it is already over-populated.
....... By further absorption of 1.6 million resettlers, the 1925 Reich census figure of 133 inhabitants per square kilometer would be reached, which practically because of already existing rural over-population and lack of industry would result in a double over-population.
This figure of 1.6 million will barely suffice to transfer from the Reich:
The Jews from the liberated East (over 600,000), parts of the remaining Jews, preferably the younger age groups from Germany proper, Austria, Sudetengau and the Protectorate (altogether over 1 million)".Continuing the quotation, the report goes on with respect to transfer from the Reich, and I continue to quote:
"The Polish intelligentsia who have been politically active in the past, and potential political leaders;the leading economic personalities, comprising owners of large estates, industrialists and businessmen, etc.
;
the peasant population, so far as it has to be removed in order to carry out by strips of German settlements the encirclement of Polish territories in the East."
Next, I quote the last paragraph on page 1 of the English text. The German text is at page 8, lines 3-10:
"In order to relieve the living space of the Poles in the Government General as well as in the liberated East, one should remove cheap labor temporarily by the hundreds of thousands, employ them for a few years in the old Reich, and thereby hamper their native biological propagation.
(Their assimilation into the old Reich must be prevented)."
Finally, I quote from the last paragraph of page 2 of the English text. In the German text it is the last 5 lines of page 40:
"Strictest care is to be taken that secret circulars, memoranda and official correspondence which contain instructions detrimental to the Poles are kept steadily under lock and key so that they will not some day fill the White Books printed in Paris or the U.S.A."Your Honors will recall, from your own experiences, the vicious propaganda campaigns conducted by Nazi Germany to discredit the Polish books when they made their appearance in countries friendly to Poland.
The last paragraph from this document which I have just read gives the lie to that whole Nazi propaganda campaign.
The plans for the deportation of thousands of innocent people, which are set forth in the document from which I have just quoted, were not mere theories spun by lawyers. They represented, as the next three documents to be offered in evidence will show, a program which was in fact, ruthlessly executed.
I next offer in evidence Document No.2233-PS-G the Frank Diaries 1939, from 25 October to 15 December, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No.302.
This document was obtained from the 7th Army Documentation Center at Heidelberg. I quote from the last paragraph of page 1, carrying over to the first two lines of page 2 of the English text. In the German text, the statements appear at page 19, lines 19 to 28. Defendant FRANK stated, and I quote:
"The Reichsfuehrer SS" -- meaning Himmler -- "wishes that all Jews be evacuated from the newly gained Reich territories. Up to February approximately 1,000,000 people are to be brought in this way into the General Government. The families of good racial extraction present in the occupied Polish territory (approximately 4,000,000 people) should be transferred into the Reich and individually housed and thereby be uprooted as a people."
I next offer in evidence Document No. EC-305, which is U.S.A. Exhibit No. 303. This exhibit is the top secret minutes of a meeting held on 12 February 1940 under the chairmanship of Defendant Goering on "questions concerning the East." The document was found in the captured OKW files. Himmler and Defendant Frank likewise were present at this meeting.
I initially quote lines 15 to 17 of page 1 of the English text. These extracts are found in the front page, lines 1 to 8 of the German text. The minutes state, and I quote:
"By way of introduction, the General Field Marshal " -- meaning Defendant Goering -- "explained that the strengthening of the war potential of the Reich must be the chief aim of all measures to be taken in the East."
I next quote the first two lines of the last paragraph on page 1 of the English text. The German text appears at page 2, lines 2 to 4.
"agriculture:
The task consists of obtaining the greatest possible agriculture production from the new Eastern Gaus disregarding questions of ownership."
I next quote from the first sentence of the second paragraph of page 2 of the English text.
This is at page 3, lines 22-24 of the German text.
"Special questions concerning the Government General:
The General Government will have to receive the Jews who are ordered to emigrate from Germany, and the New Eastern Gaus."
Finally, I quote paragraph numbered 2 under Roman numeral II of page 2 of the English text. These statements appear in the German text at page 4, lines 3-19.
"The following reported on the situation in the Eastern territories:
'2. Reichsstatthalter Gauleiter Forster (who said, continuing the quotation) The population of the Danzig/West Prussia Gau (newly acquired territories) is 1.5 million, of whom 240,000 are Germans, 850,000 well-established Poles and 300,000 immigrant Poles, Jews and asocials (1800 Jews). 87,000 persons have been evacuated, 40,000 of these from Gotenhafen.
From there, also the numerous shirkers, who are now looked after by welfare, will have to be deported to the General Government.
Therefore, an evacuation of 20,000 further persons can be counted on for the current year."
Comparable reports were made by other Gauleiters at the meeting. These figures, it may be noted, were only as of February 1940.
The forcible deporta-
tions which are reported in the exhibits from which I have just read, did not involve merely ordering the unfortunate victims to leave their homes, and to take up new residences elsewhere. These deportations were accomplished, according to plan, in an utterly brutal and inhuman manner. Document No. 1918-PS, which is USA Exhibit No. 304, affords striking proof of this fact, and I offer it in evidence. This is a speech delivered by Himmler to officers of the SS on a day commemorating the presentation of the Nazi flag. It is contained in a compilation of speeches delivered by Himmler, which was captured by counter English, French and US Army. The exact date of the speech does not appear in the exhibit, but its contents plainly show that it was delivered sometime after Poland had been overrun. I quote from the second to the eighth lines of page 1 of the English text. In the German text, this quotation appears at page 52, lines 2 to 10. In this speech Himmler said, and 1 quote:
"Very frequently the member of the Waffen-SS thinks about the deportation of this people here.
These thoughts came to me today when watching the very difficult work out there performed by the Security Police, supported by your men, who help them a great deal.
Exactly the some thing happened in Poland in weather 40 degrees below zero, where we had to haul away thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands; where we had to have the toughness.
.... you should hear this but also forget it again - to shoot thousands of leading Poles -"I repeat the latter part of the statement:
" Where we had to have the toughness.... you should hear this but also forget it again - to shoot thousands of leading Poles." Such Poles from the incorporated area as managed to survive the journey to the Government General could look forward, at best, to extreme hardship, and exposure to every form of degradation and brutality. Your Honors will recall Defendant Frank's statement contained in Document No. EC 344-16, now USA Exhibit No. 297, which was introduced a short while ago, that the Polish economy would be reduced to the absolute minimum necessary for the bare existence of the population.