18 Dec. 45
Occupied Eastern Territories, including the Baltic
States and the Ukraine, as well as to Hungary and Greece. I now offer in
evidence Document 153-PS, Exhibit USA-381, being a certified copy of a
letter from Rosenberg to the Reich Commissioner for the East and Reich
Commissioner for the Ukraine, dated 27 April 1942. The subject of the
letter is stated to be as follows: "Formation of a Central Unit for
the Seizure and Securing of Objects of Cultural Value in the Occupied
Eastern Territories." In the last paragraph of that document, I
quote:
"With the Commissioners of the Reich
a special department within Department II (political) will be set up
for a limited time for the seizure and securing of objects of cultural
value. This department is under the direction of the appropriate head
of the main group of the 'Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg for the
Occupied Territories.'"
THE
PRESIDENT: Perhaps this would be a good time to break off for 10
minutes.
[A recess was taken.]
COL. STOREY: Activities were initiated in Hungary as indicated by
Document Number 158-PS, Exhibit USA-382, which I now offer in evidence.
This was a copy of a message initialed by Utikal, Rosenberg's Chief of
Staff. The first paragraph of this document states:
"The Einsatzstab of Reichsleiter
Rosenberg for the Occupied Territories has dispatched a Sonderkommando
under the direction of Einsatzstabsführer Dr. Zeiss, who is
identified by means of his Service Book Number 187, for the
accomplishment of the missions of the Einsatzstab in Hungary outlined
in the Führer's Decree of I March 1942."
I
now offer into evidence Document Number 171-PS, Exhibit USA-383, which
is an undated report on the "Library for Exploration of the Jewish
Question." The fifth paragraph states:
"The most significant book
collections today belonging to the Library for Research on the Jewish
Question are the following ... "
The ninth item of the list which follows refers to "Book
collections from Jewish Communities in Greece (about 10,000 volumes)."
It was only natural that. an operation conducted on so vast A scale,
extending as it did to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,
Norway, Denmark, the Occupied Eastern Territories, the Baltic States,
the Ukraine, Hungary, and Greece, should call upon a multitude of other
agencies for assistance. Among the other agencies co-operating in the
plunder program were several of those which stand indicted here as
criminal organizations. The