14 Dec.
45
document was found in the captured OKW files. Himmler
and Defendant Frank likewise were present at this meeting.
I initially quote from Page 1, lines 15 to 17, 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 Göring —
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 agricultural production from the new
eastern Gaue, disregarding questions of ownership."
I
next quote from 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 Government General will have to receive the
Jews who are ordered to emigrate from Germany and the new eastern
Gaue."
Finally, I quote the
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 —
" '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 (1,800 Jews). There have been evacuated 87,000 persons,
40,000 of these from Gdynia. From there also the numerous shirkers,
who are now looked after by welfare, will have to be deported to the
Government General. Therefore an evacuation of 20,000 additional
persons can be counted on for the current year.' "
Comparable
reports were made by other Gauleiter at the meeting. The figures that
were quoted, it may be noted, were only as of February 1940. The
forcible deportations, 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 Number 1918-PS, which is Exhibit Number
USA-304, affords striking proof of this fact; and I offer it in
evidence. This is a