I skip the last paragraph and pass on to the next page:
“Looting, spoliation, and carrying away of works of art, libraries, and collections from Poland.”
The excerpts are on Pages 207 and 208 of the document book.
“On 13 December 1939 the Gauleiter of the Warthegau issued an order that all public and private libraries and collections in the incorporated territories were to be registered. Upon completion of registration, libraries and book collections were confiscated and transported to the ‘Buchsammelstelle.’ There special experts carried out a selection. The final destination was either Berlin or the newly constituted State Library (Staatsbibliothek) in Posen. Books which were considered unsuitable were sold, destroyed, or thrown away as waste paper.
“The best and largest libraries of the country were victims of the organized looting in the Government General. Among them were the university libraries in Kraków and Warsaw. One of the best, though not the largest, was the library of the Polish Parliament. It consisted of about 38,000 volumes and 3,500 periodical publications. On 15 and 16 November 1939 the main part of this library was transported to Berlin and Breslau. Ancient documents, such as, for instance, a collection of parchments—the property of the central archives—were also seized.
“The Diocesan Archives in Pelilin, containing 12th century documents, were burned in the furnaces of a sugar refinery.
“The first art treasure removed from Poland was the well-known altar of Veit Stoss from the Kraków Cathedral. It was taken to Germany on 16 December 1939. The Defendant Frank issued a decree concerning the confiscation of works of art.”
I skip a few paragraphs and pass on to the last paragraph on Page 221:
“Three valuable pictures were removed from the galleries of the Czartoryski in Sieniawa. Frank seized and kept them until 17 January 1945, and then transferred them to Silesia, and thence, as his personal property, to Bavaria.”
National monuments:
“In the process of destroying everything that was connected with Polish history and culture, many monuments and works of art were destroyed and demolished.
“The monument of the eminent Polish King, Boleslaw, the Valiant, in Gniezno, was first wound round with ropes and chains with a view to throwing it off its pedestal. After an unsuccessful attempt, acetylene was used: the head was cut off and the pedestal broken in pieces. The same fate befell the monument of the Sacred Heart in Posen, the monuments to Chopin, the poet Slowacki, the composer Moniuszko, the Polish national hero Kósciuszko, President Wilson, the greatest Polish poet Mickiewicz, and many others.”
To the report of the Polish Government is attached a list of public libraries, museums, books and other collections sacrificed to plunder and looting. These lists of objects are available on Pages 254 and 255 of the document book. In the first list we find the names of 30 libraries and in the second 21 museums and collections of works of art which were plundered and destroyed. I shall not read these lists in full, but shall mention only some of the museums and collections which were a subject of national pride and constituted the treasure of the Polish State.
The following objects became the booty of the fascist vandals: The treasure house of the Wawelski Cathedral in Kraków, the Potocki Collection in Jablonna, the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, the National Museum in Kraków, the Museum of Religious Art in Warsaw, the State Numismatic Collections in Warsaw, the Palace of King Stanislaw-August in the Lazienkowski Park, the Palace of King Jan Sobieski in Willanow, the collection of Count Tarnowski in Sukhaya, the Religious Museum in Posen, and many others.
The Hitlerite invaders also plundered monasteries, churches, and cathedrals. On Page 43 of the report of the Polish Government, corresponding to Page 223 of the document book, there are final notes by the Polish Primate, Cardinal Hlond. They concern a written communication from Cardinal Hlond to Pope Pius XII. I shall read into the record only two paragraphs of these concluding notes. I quote:
“Monasteries have been methodically suppressed, as well as their flourishing institutions for education, press, social welfare, charity, and care of the sick. Their houses and institutions have been seized by the army of the Nazi Party.
“Then the invaders confiscated or sequestrated the patrimony of the Church, considering themselves the owners of this property. The cathedrals, the episcopal palaces, the seminaries, the canons’ residence, the revenues and endowments of episcopates and chapters, the funds of the seminaries, all were pillaged by the invaders.”
I omit the end of Page 29 and pass on to Page 30: Yugoslavia.
The destruction of the national culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia was carried out by the Hitlerites by various means and methods. I shall not, Your Honors, enumerate them in detail. These means and methods are already known.
In Yugoslavia the same thing occurred as in Poland and Czechoslovakia. We need only stress that, in the destruction of the culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia, the German fascist occupants showed great ingenuity and utilized the vast experiences acquired in other countries occupied by them. The system of destruction of the national culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia starts with attack and pillage and ends with mass murder, camps, and the ovens of the crematories.
In the report of the Jugoslav Government, presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-36, there are quoted a large number of facts and documents which establish, without any possibility of doubt, the criminal deeds of the defendants. But even these numerous facts quoted in the report do not exhaust all the crimes committed by the Hitlerites. The report of the Yugoslav Government quotes only typical cases as examples. I shall cite a few excerpts from this report. These excerpts, Your Honors, are on Page 303 of the document book. I quote:
“Immediately after the invasion of Slovenia, the Germans started to fulfill their plans, thought out long beforehand, to germanize the ‘annexed’ territories of Slovenia.”
And further, on Page 307:
“The occupiers closed all the schools in Slovenia, exiled all the Slovene teachers, destroyed all Slovene libraries and books, and forbade the use of the Slovene language, which was considered as an act of sabotage.”
The German barbarians destroyed and plundered not only schools and libraries, they also destroyed universities and broadcasting stations, cultural establishments, and sanatoria. On Page 23 of the report, corresponding to Page 278 of the document book, we find, for instance, the following facts concerning Belgrade. I quote:
“Without any military need, the Germans premeditatively destroyed and burned a great number of public buildings and cultural institutions, such as the New University, the People’s University ‘Koloraz,’ the first high school for boys, the second high school for girls, the ancient royal palace, the broadcasting station, the Russian Home of Culture, the sanatorium of Dr. Jivkovich, and so forth. In the university building valuable and highly important collections of scientific works and research matter were destroyed.”
As is established by the report of the Jugoslav State Commission, which is Document Number J-39(a), and which I submit under Exhibit Number 364, Page 313(a) of our document book—the Hitlerites razed to the ground the National Library in Belgrade and burned hundreds of thousands of books and manuscripts, which constituted the basic stock of Serbian culture. They completely destroyed 71 and partially destroyed 41 scientific institutes and laboratories of Belgrade University. They razed to the ground the State Academy of Art, and they burned and looted thousands of schools.
I omit the end of Page 31 and pass on to Page 32. Your Honors will find this passage on Page 303 of the document book.
During the 4 years of German domination, the people of Yugoslavia experienced great sufferings and sorrow. The Germans looted the economic wealth of the country and caused great material damage. But the damage they caused to the culture of the