The Nuremberg Trials: Complete Tribunal Proceedings (V. 8). International Military Tribunal
Order Number 43761/41 of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the German Army, states:
“ ‘It is urgently necessary that articles of clothing be acquired by means of forced levies on the population of the occupied regions enforced by every possible means. It is necessary above all to confiscate woolen and leather gloves, coats, vests, and scarves, padded vests and trousers, leather and felt boots, and puttees.’
“In several places liberated in the districts of Kursk and Orel, the following orders have been found:
“ ‘Property such as scales, sacks, grain, salt, kerosene, benzine, lamps, pots and pans, oilcloth, window blinds, curtains, rugs, phonographs, and records must be turned in to the commandant’s office. Anyone violating this order will be shot.’
“In the town of Istra, in the Moscow region, the invaders confiscated decorations for Christmas trees and toys. In the Shakhovskaya railway station they organized the ‘delivery’ by the inhabitants of children’s underwear, wall clocks, and samovars. In districts still under the rule of the invaders, these searches are still going on; and the population, already reduced to the utmost poverty by the thefts which have been perpetrated continually since the first appearance of the German troops, is still being robbed.”
I omit the rest of the quotation from Mr. Molotov’s note and conclude with the last paragraph:
“The general character of the campaign of robbery planned by the Hitler Government, on which the German Command tried to base its plans for supplying its Army and the districts in its rear, is indicated by the following facts: In 25 districts of the Tula region alone the invaders robbed Soviet citizens of 14,048 cows, 11,860 hogs, 28,459 sheep, 213,678 chickens, geese, and ducks, and destroyed 25,465 beehives.”
I omit the remainder of this quotation which gives an inventory of all property, cattle, and fowl confiscated by the invaders from 25 districts of the Tula region.
Your Honors, the notes which I have read, mention only a few of the innumerable crimes and cases of plunder committed by the Hitlerites on Soviet soil.
With the permission of the Tribunal I shall now present several German documents from which you will see how the German commanders and officials themselves described their soldiers’ behavior. Later I shall read candid statements by the German fascist leaders saying that German soldiers and officers must not be hindered in their marauding activities. It is natural that under these conditions the moral disintegration of the German fascist armies should reach its culminating point. Things reached such a point that the Hitlerites begin to plunder each other, thereby proving the truth of the well-known Russian proverb, “A thief stole a cudgel from a thief.”
May I now quote from the document which I present to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-285. This is an extract from a report of the German District Commissioner of Zhitomir to the Commissioner General of Zhitomir dated 30 November 1943. You will find the document to which I refer on Page 93 in the document book. I read:
“Even before the German administration left Zhitomir, troops stationed there were seen to break into the apartments of Reich Germans and to appropriate everything that had any value. Even the personal luggage of Germans still working in their offices was stolen. When the town was reoccupied it was established that the houses where the Germans lived were hardly touched by the local population, but that the troops just entering the town had already started to loot the houses and business premises. . . .”
I read the second excerpt from the same document:
“The soldiers are not satisfied with taking the articles they can use, but they destroyed some of the remaining items; valuable furniture was used for fires, although there was plenty of wood.”
Now I shall read into the record an excerpt from a report of the German District Commissioner of the town of Korostyshev to the Commissioner General of Zhitomir. The members of the Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 94 of the document book.
“Unfortunately the German soldiers behaved badly. Unlike the Russians they broke into the storehouses even when the front line was still far away. Enormous quantities of grain were stolen, including large quantities of seed. That might have been tolerated in the case of combat units. . . . Upon the return of our troops to Popelnaya, the warehouses were again broken into immediately. The ‘Gebiets- und Kreislandwirt’ nailed up the doors again, but the soldiers broke in once more.”
I read into the record other excerpts from the same document:
“The Kreislandwirt reported to me that the dairy farm was plundered by retreating units; the soldiers carried away with them butter, cheese, et cetera.”
And the second excerpt:
“The co-operative store was plundered before the eyes of the Ukrainians. Among other things the soldiers took with them all the cash in the store.”
Then the third excerpt:
“On the 9th and 10th of this month the guards of the field gendarmerie were posted at the co-operative store in Korostyshev. These guards could not repel the onslaught of the soldiers. . . .”
And the last excerpt:
“Pigs and fowls were slaughtered to the most irresponsible degree and taken away by the soldiers. . . . The appearance of the troops themselves can only be described as catastrophic.”
In these towns; Your Honors, is the conduct of the German soldiers depicted by a German commissioner in his official report.
There is no doubt that this description is an objective one, especially since it is supplemented by an official report of the German Ukrainian company for supplying agriculture in the Commissariat General, addressed to the Commissioner General of Zhitomir. This is how the report describes the results of a raid by German soldiers on the company’s premises, “. . . The office was in a horrifying and incredible condition.” Second excerpt:
“. . . A 20-room private house at Hauptstrasse Number 57 had an appalling appearance. Carpets and stair carpets were missing, and all the upholstered armchairs, couches, beds with spring or other mattresses, chairs, and wooden benches.”
I skip a few lines:
“The condition of the living rooms generally is almost indescribable.”
I omit two more excerpts from the document.
Such, Your Honors, is the heartcry of the German brigands of the company for the economic adoption of the Ukraine, who themselves complain of the brigands in the German Army.
In order to show that it was not only in Zhitomir and Korostyshev that such things took place, I shall quote yet another report, this time by the Commissioner of the Kazatinsky district, which contains the following statement, “. . . The German soldiers stole food, cattle, and vehicles.” This laconic but significant introduction is followed by no less significant details:
“Threatening him with a pistol, the corporal demanded the keys of the granary from the District Commissioner. . . . When I said that the key was in my pocket, he yelled, ‘Give me the key.’ With these words he pulled out his pistol, stuck it against my chest, and shouted, ‘I’m going to shoot you—you are a shirker.’ He followed up this remark by a few more specimens of invective, thrust his hand into my pocket and grabbed the key, saying, ‘I am the only person who gives orders here.’ This occurred in the presence of numerous Germans and Ukrainians.”
The chief of the main department, Dr. Moisich, relates the same story in a report to the Commissioner General of Zhitomir, dated 4 December 1943. All these documents are being presented in their original form to the Tribunal.
I shall now, Your Honors, proceed to read excerpts from the official reports and communiques of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union for the investigation and establishment of crimes committed by the German intruders and their accomplices. In order to save time, I ask the Tribunal to permit me to read only a few excerpts from these documents, and to give you the contents of the rest in my own words.
The report of the Extraordinary State Commission