“The regulations for the co-operation with the Armed Forces are issued by the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces in agreement with Reichsleiter Rosenberg.
“The necessary measures for the eastern territories under German administration will be taken by Reichsleiter Rosenberg in his capacity as Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories.”
This decree of Hitler’s was issued, as is clear from the document quoted, to all departments of the Armed Forces, the Party, and the Government.
But it is not 1 March 1942 which should be considered as the beginning of Rosenberg’s predatory activities. I shall submit several excerpts from a letter of Rosenberg to Reichsleiter Bormann in confirmation. The letter is dated 23 April 1941. This document was presented to the Tribunal on 18 December 1945 by the United States Prosecution, and it was accepted by the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-371 (Document Number 071-PS).
This document—which Your Honors will find on Page 4 of your document book—is interesting also for the fact that the plunder, referred to as “confiscation” in the letter, was carried out by the Defendant Rosenberg in close collaboration and contact, based on a written agreement, between the departments of Rosenberg and Himmler. I cite extracts from Page 1 of the Russian translation of this letter:
“I have”—wrote Rosenberg—“transmitted to you a photostatic copy of my agreement with the Security Police (SD), concluded with the express approval of Gruppenführer Heydrich.”
And further—you will find this on Page 5 in your document book:
“Questions bearing on works of art”—as stated in this letter—“were considered of secondary importance. Of primary importance was the Führer’s directive regarding the twice-issued order from the Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, for the occupied territories of the West, to the effect that all archives and all scientific property belonging to our ideological opponents, be placed at my disposal. This, too, was carried out on a wide scale and in close co-operation with the SD and the military leaders.”
The importance attached by the Hitlerite conspirators to Rosenberg’s predatory staffs is shown in Göring’s special circular of 1 May 1941, addressed to all Party, Government, and military institutions, which had been ordered to co-operate with the Einsatzstab Rosenberg. This document was presented by our American colleagues on 18 December of last year and accepted by the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USA-384 (Document Number 1117-PS).
Even at that time the scale on which the pillage was conducted was already enormous. As Rosenberg stated in his letter of 23 April 1941, at that time, that is, in April 1941, 7,000 cases of looted works of art had already been dispatched to Germany.
To conclude with this document I shall, with your permission, read one further brief quotation into the record. It consists of one paragraph only. You will find this paragraph on Page 6 of the document book:
“And thus”—wrote Rosenberg—“these problems practically solved themselves and the work has followed its own course. Here I would like to ask for a confirmation that these decisions, already adopted in the West, should, in the present circumstances, be rendered valid in the other occupied territories, or in those which are to be occupied.”
This document, in which pillage is referred to as “work,” proves that Rosenberg’s criminal activities were carried out in close contact with the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces; and, finally, that as early as April 1941 plans were being made for plundering the territories about to be occupied.
The speech of the Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R., General Rudenko, and the speech of the representative of the United States Prosecution, Mr. Alderman, defined what Rosenberg meant in his letter by “territories about to be occupied” at that time. That was the period of the practical realization of the evil Hitlerite schemes, planned in the so-called Plan Barbarossa, the period when the German fascist hordes were hurled against the frontiers of the Soviet Union, the period of the attack on the U.S.S.R.
Lastly, it is necessary to point out that, in April 1941, the Defendant Rosenberg placed Utikal at the head of all operational staffs, “the creation of which may become necessary during the course of this war.” In this connection Rosenberg referred to the “successful work” and to the “experience gained” by his operational staff in the western occupied territories and in the Netherlands.
This fact is confirmed by a certificate issued to Utikal, dated 1 April 1941, and signed by Rosenberg. The authenticity of this document—which bears Document Number 143-PS—was confirmed by Rosenberg at his interrogation on 26 September 1945. I present this document to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-371.
In reporting on the organization for the looting and destruction of cultural treasures, it is necessary to indicate yet another department which combined diplomacy with pillage. I have in mind the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R., General Rudenko, in his opening speech pointed out that the general pillage in the occupied regions of the U.S.S.R., carried out on the direct orders of the German Government, was directed not only by the Defendants Göring and Rosenberg and by the various “staffs” and “commands” subordinated to them; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, headed by the Defendant Ribbentrop, also participated through a “special formation.”
The creation of such a formation—the so-called “Ribbentrop Battalion”—and its practical activities in the looting of cultural treasures in the territory of the U.S.S.R. are testified to in a written statement of 10 November 1942 by Obersturmführer Dr. Förster, who was captured by Red Army units in the region of Mosdok. In this statement Förster likewise indicated the task of Rosenberg’s staff in the plunder or, as he expressed it, in the “withdrawal” of museum treasures and antiques. A certified photostat of this statement I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-157 (Document Number USSR-157).
It is stated in Förster’s statement, I read:
“In August 1941 while in Berlin, I, with the assistance of my old acquaintance from the University of Berlin, Dr. Focke, then employed in the press section of the Foreign Office, was transferred from the 87th Tank Destroyer Division to the special purpose battalion attached to the Foreign Office. This battalion had been created on the initiative of the Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ribbentrop, and was under his direction. The officer commanding the battalion is Major of the Waffen-SS, Von Künsberg.
“The task of the special purpose battalion was to seize and to secure, immediately after the fall of large cities, their cultural treasures and all objects of great historic value, to select valuable books and films, and finally to dispatch them all to Germany.
“The special purpose battalion consists of four companies. The first company is attached to the German Expeditionary Corps in Africa, the second company to Army Group North, the third to Army Group Center, and the fourth to Army Group South. The first company is located at present in Italy, in Naples, awaiting possible deployment to Africa. Battalion staff headquarters are in Berlin, Hermann Göring Strasse, Number 104. The confiscated material is stored in the premises of the Adler firm, in the Hardenbergstrasse.
“Prior to our departure for Russia, Major Von Künsberg transmitted to us Ribbentrop’s order, thoroughly to ‘comb out’ all scientific establishments, institutions, libraries, and all the palaces, to search all the archives, and to lay our hands on anything of a definite value.
“I heard from my comrades that the second company of our battalion had removed valuable objects from the palaces in the Leningrad suburbs. I myself was not there at the time. At Zarskoje Selo the company seized and secured the property belonging to the palace-museum of the Empress Catherine. The Chinese silk draperies and the carved gilt ornaments were torn from the walls. The floor of artistic ornaments was dismantled and taken away. From the palace of the Emperor Alexander antique furniture and a large library containing some 6,000 to 7,000 volumes in French and over 5,000 volumes and manuscripts in Russian, were removed.
“The