14 Dec.
45
folkdom." By Section 9 of this decree, issued by
Defendant Göring confiscation of sequestrated property was
authorized "if the public welfare, particularly the defense of the
Reich, or the strengthening of German folkdom, so requires."
However, Section 1, Subsection 2, of the decree provided that property
of German nationals was not subject to sequestration and confiscation;
and Section 13 provided that sequestration would be suspended if the
owner of the property asserted that he was a German. The decree, on its
face, indicates very clearly a purpose to strip Poles, Jews, and
dissident elements of their property. It was, moreover, avowedly
designed to promote Germanism.
We ask the Court to take judicial notice of it. It is in the Reichsgesetzblatt.
Apparently some question arose at one point as to whether the decree
required that a determination be made in each case, involving the
property of a Pole, that the property was required "for the public
welfare, particularly in the interests of Reich defense or the
strengthening of German folkdom." The answer supplied by the
conspirators was firm and clear. In any case in which the property of a
Pole is involved, the "strengthening of German folkdom"
required its seizure. In this connection I offer in evidence document
Number R-92, which is Exhibit Number USA-312. This document, which is
dated 15 April 1941, bears the letterhead of the Reich Leader SS,
commissioner for the consolidation of German nationhood, and is
entitled, "Instruction for Internal Use on the Application of the
Law Concerning Property of the Poles, of 17 September 1940." This
document was captured by the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps. I quote
from Page 2, lines 11 to 14 of the English text. In the German text this
statement appears at Page 3, Paragraph 2, Subparagraph 2. I quote:
"The objective conditions permitting
seizure according to Section II, Subsection 2(a), are to be assumed
whenever, for example, the property belongs to a Pole, for the Polish
real estate will be needed without exception for the preservation of
the German folkdom."
In the
Government General Defendant Frank promulgated a decree on 24 January
1940 authorizing sequestration for the "performance of tasks
serving the public interest" and liquidation of "anti-social
or financially unremunerative concerns." The decree is embodied in
the Verordnungsblatt of the Government General, Number 6, 27
January 1940, Page 23; and we ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice
of it. The undefined criteria in this decree obviously empowered Nazi
officials in the Government General to engage in wholesale seizure of
property.