I now quote from Page 8 of the English text, the last nine lines. The German text is at Page 18, lines 15 to 22:
“Thus it is not important, under any circumstances, to preserve what has existed; but what matters is a deliberate turning away from the existing situation and introducing Russian food resources into the European framework. This will inevitably result in an extinction of industry as well as a large part of the people in what so far have been the food-deficit areas.”
It is impossible to state this alternative in sufficiently hard and severe terms.
My next quotation is from the first 10 lines of Page 9 of the English text. The German text is at Page 19, lines 11 to 20:
“Our problem is not to replace intensive food production in Europe through the incorporation of new space in the East, but to replace imports from overseas by imports from the East. The task is two-fold:
“1. We must use the Eastern areas for overcoming the food shortages during and after the war. This means that we must not be afraid of drawing upon the capital substance of the East. Such an intervention is much more acceptable from the European standpoint than drawing upon the capital substance of Europe’s agriculture.”
Finally, I quote from the remainder of Page 9 to the end of the penultimate paragraph of the English text. The German text appears at lines 24 to 31 of Page 19:
“2. For the future New Order, the food-producing areas in the East must be turned into a permanent and substantial complementary source of food for Europe, through intensified cultivation and resulting higher yields.
“The first-named task must be accomplished at any price, even through the most ruthless cutting down of Russian domestic consumption, which will require discrimination between the consuming and producing zones.”
It is submitted, Your Honors, that this document discloses, on its face, a studied plan to murder millions of innocent people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder of millions of innocent people through starvation. It reveals a program of premeditated murder on a scale so vast as to stagger the human imagination. Major Elwyn Jones, of the British Delegation, will subsequently show that this plan was, in effect, the logical culmination of general objectives clearly announced by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. Each defendant in the box was fully aware of these general objectives when he committed the acts with which he is charged.
I next introduce in evidence a document no less damaging than the one I have just quoted. This document is Number L-221, which is Exhibit Number USA-317. This is a top-secret memorandum, dated 16 July 1941, of a conference at the Führer’s headquarters, concerning the war in the East. It seems to have been prepared by Defendant Bormann because his initials appear at the top of Page 1. It was captured by the United States Counter-Intelligence branch. The text of the memorandum indicates that the conference was attended by Hitler, Lammers, and Defendants Göring, Keitel, Rosenberg, and Bormann.
The exhibit is particularly important for the light it throws upon the conspirators’ plans to germanize conquered areas of the Soviet Union. It is important also for its disclosure of the utterly fraudulent character of the whole Nazi propaganda program. It shows how the conspirators sought to deceive the entire world; how they pretended to pursue one course of action when their aims and purposes were to follow precisely the opposite course.
I first quote from Page 1 of the English text, beginning at line 14 of Page 1 and continuing through to line 22 of Page 2. The German text is at Page 1, beginning with the last paragraph and continuing through to line 19 of Page 3. I quote:
“A. Now it was essential that we did not publicize our aims before the world, also there was no need for that; but the main thing was that we ourselves knew what we wanted. By no means should we render our task more difficult by making superfluous declarations. Such declarations were superfluous because we could do everything wherever we had the power, and what was beyond our power we would not be able to do anyway.
“What we told the world about the motives for our measures ought to be conditioned, therefore, by tactical reasons. We ought to act here in exactly the same way as we did in the cases of Norway, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In these cases, too, we did not publish our aims; and it was only sensible to continue in the same way.
“Therefore, we shall emphasize again that we were forced to occupy, administer, and secure a certain area; it was in the interest of the inhabitants that we provided order, food, traffic, and so forth, hence our measures. Nobody shall be able to recognize that it initiates a final settlement. This need not prevent our taking all necessary measures—shooting, desettling, et cetera—and we shall take them.
“But we do not want to make any people our enemies prematurely and unnecessarily. Therefore we shall act as though we wanted to exercise a mandate only. At the same time we must know clearly that we shall never leave those countries. Our conduct therefore ought to be:
“1) To do nothing which might obstruct the final settlement, but to prepare for it only in secret; 2) To emphasize that we are liberators.
“In particular: The Crimea has to be evacuated by all foreigners and to be settled by Germans only.
“In the same way the former Austrian part of Galicia will become Reich Territory. Our present relations with Romania are good, but nobody knows what they will be at any future time. This we have to consider, and we have to draw our frontiers accordingly. One ought not to be dependent on the good will of other people. We have to plan our relations with Romania in accordance with this principle.
“On principle, we have now to face the task of cutting up the giant cake according to our needs, in order to be able: First, to dominate it; second, to administer it; and third, to exploit it.
“The Russians have now ordered partisan warfare behind our front. This partisan war again has some advantage for us; it enables us to eradicate everyone who opposes us.
“Principles: Never again must it be possible to create a military power west of the Urals, even if we have to wage war for a hundred years in order to attain this goal. Every successor of the Führer should know security for the Reich exists only if there are no foreign military forces west of the Urals. It is Germany who undertakes the protection of this area against all possible dangers. Our iron principle is and has to remain: We must never permit anybody but the Germans to carry arms.”
I next quote from Page 3, lines 19 to 31 of the English text. In the German text this is at the last 13 lines of Page 5:
“The Führer emphasizes that the entire Baltic country will have to be incorporated into Germany.
“At the same time, the Crimea, including a considerable hinterland (situated north of the Crimea), should become Reich territory; the hinterland should be as large as possible.
“Rosenberg objects to this because of the Ukrainians living there.
“(Incidentally: It occurred to me several times that Rosenberg has a soft spot for the Ukrainians; thus he desires to aggrandize the former Ukraine to a considerable extent.)”
Departing from the text for just a moment, it may be noted parenthetically that this was the only aspect of the program outlined by Hitler at this meeting to which Rosenberg objected in any way. Resuming the quotation:
“The Führer emphasizes furthermore that the Volga colony, too, will have to become Reich territory, also the district around Baku; the latter will