I have finished with this subject and will turn to a last chapter, Chapter V, the acquisition of Belgian investments in foreign industrial enterprises.
Since 1940 according to their general policy in all occupied countries of Western Europe, the Germans concerned themselves with acquiring shares in Belgian financial enterprises abroad. The official German point of view emerges clearly from a letter dated 29 July 1941, from the Minister of Finance to the Military Commander in Belgium. I have submitted it under Number 187, in the document book (Document Number RF-187).
This conception of the right to acquire shares is certainly very far from the idea as laid down by the Hague Convention in respect to the right of requisition. It clearly shows the German leaders’ determination for enrichment at the expense of Belgium.
Thus, the Germans, since May 1940, sought to obtain influence in Belgian holding companies. Not being able to violate directly international laws, particularly Article 46 of the Hague Convention, they strove to influence the members of the executive boards through persuasion rather than by force.
In the course of a conference held on 3 May 1940 at the Reich Ministry of Economics, dealing with Belgian and Dutch capital which it would still be possible to acquire, it was decided that the Military Commander in Belgium should take all necessary measures to prevent, on the one hand, the destruction, transfer, sale, and illegal holding of all bonds and stocks of these countries and, on the other hand, to induce Belgian capitalists to hand over their foreign securities to the Germans. The minutes of this conference are found in the document book under Number RF-187 above.
To prevent the flight of any capital, an ordinance of 17 June 1940 was promulgated, subjecting to authorization the sending abroad of any securities and any acquisitions or disposal of foreign securities.
From 2 August 1940 the German leaders and the Defendant Göring himself took a definite stand on this point. In the course of the general remarks on economic plundering secret directives issued in this respect by the Defendant Göring were read to you. It is the document submitted under Number RF-105 (Page 97).
In spite of the German assurances and in spite of the wish of the occupying power to preserve the appearance of regularity, the German desire to absorb certain shares met with serious resistance. The occupation authorities several times had to resort to compulsion to conclude sales, in spite of the rights which they had reserved for themselves in the above cited decree of 27 August 1940. This was particularly the case with regard to the shares held by the Belgian Metal Trust in the electrical enterprises of Eastern Silesia and, still more clearly, the case regarding the shares of the Austrian Metal Company, which at that time were wanted by the Hermann Göring Works.
The Belgian ill-will increased as the German determination to pillage became more evident. In this report of 1 December 1942, Exhibit Number RF-191 (Document Number ECR-132), the German Commissioner with the National Bank very clearly denounces this resistance on the part of the Belgian market. Almost all acquisitions which could be realized by the Germans were settled by means of clearing (Page 98).
The balance of clearing capital credited to Belgium, to the amount of 1,000 million Belgian francs on 31 August 1944, represents a forced loan imposed upon Belgium without any legal or logical relation to occupation costs, unless it is the Germans’ will to hegemony.
Such a practice, contrary to the principles of international law and to the rules of criminal law of civilized nations, falls under Article 6(b) of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal and constitutes an act of pillage of public or private property such as is envisaged in the above-mentioned text.
Closely allied to the acquisition of shares and always within the framework of legality, the levies made by the German authorities on foreign, enemy, and Jewish property, should be pointed out to the Tribunal.
As to foreign property seized by the Germans, it must be mentioned that this measure was applied to French capital in Belgium in spite of numerous protests by the French Government. As to Jewish property, for the years 1943 and 1944, the figures are presented in Document Number ECH-35 (Exhibit Number RF-192).
With this I conclude the presentation of the economic spoliation of Belgium (Page 100).
The damage caused to Belgian economy in its principal branches have just been submitted to the Tribunal. The statistical data have been taken either from German reports or from official reports of the Belgian Government. The available estimates and figures are not yet sufficiently exact to fix the costs of war, the occupation and economic spoliation of Belgium; some losses and damages cannot be expressed in money. Among them, first of all, we must mention the privations resulting from the German commandeering of a large part of food supplies and from the particular situation of billeting and clothing. This purely material aspect of the question should not cause us to overlook the consequences of the occupation upon the public health (Page 103). For lack of statistical data, it is difficult to show precisely the final state of public health resulting from the particular circumstances.
One fact, however, must be remembered: The considerable increase in the number of persons who were eligible for special invalid diets. This number rose from 2,000 a month in 1941 to more than 25,000 a month in 1944. It had, therefore, increased more than tenfold, in spite of the rationing measures which became more and more severe.
This increase in nutritional aid given to sick persons deserves the attention of the Tribunal, less for itself and for its statistical interest, than because it is the indication of the increase of disease in Belgium. This increase is itself the result of the undernourishment of the population during the four years of occupation.
This deplorable state of affairs, however, had not escaped the attention of the occupation authorities, as appears from the letter of the Military Commander in Belgium already quoted which is found in the document book under Document Number RF-187:
“Regarding the food situation in Belgium, neither the minimum for existence for the civilian population is secured nor the minimum amount necessary for feeding heavy laborers who are employed solely in the interest of the German war economy.”
I shall not dwell on this. This undernourishment of the Belgian population has been the inevitable and the most serious result of the huge levies made by the occupation authorities who willfully disregarded the elementary requirements of an occupied country in order to pursue only the war aims of the Reich.
The lowering of the average standard of health and the rise in the death rate in Belgium from 1940 to 1945 may therefore be rightly considered the direct result of the spoliations committed by the Germans in Belgium in transgression of international law.
I have concluded the presentation on Belgium.
I would like to make a few brief remarks on the economic pillaging of Luxembourg (Page 106).
Supplementing the presentation on Belgium it is fitting to present to the Tribunal some details on the conduct of the Germans in Luxembourg. The Government of the Grand Duchy has submitted a general summary of its accusations which has been lodged with the Tribunal as Document Number UK-77 and in which an extract covering the crimes against property, the economic section, is in the document book under the Number RF-194.
The Germans, shortly after their entry into the Grand Duchy, proceeded to annex it in fact. This attitude, similar enough to that adopted towards the inhabitants of the Departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin, and Haut-Rhin, calls for some remarks.
As was their wont, one of the first measures they put into effect was the exchange of the Luxembourg money at the rate of 10 Luxembourg francs to 1 mark. This was the subject of the ordinance of 26 August 1940, to be found in the document book under Number 195 (Document Number RF-195). This rate of exchange did not correspond to the respective purchasing power of the two currencies. It constituted a considerable levy on the wealth of the inhabitants and especially assured the Germans of a complete seizure of the monies. It thus procured for them the means for seizing a considerable part of the reserves of raw materials and manufactured goods of the country. The purchases