The German Resettlement Trustee Company (DUT)

[David Thompson]

This is another documentary research thread. Here is the first in a series of documents on this "enterprise":

Letter from Defendant Keppler to Reich Leader SS Himmler, 3 November 1939, concerning establishment of the DUT and the proposed members of the supervisory board and Himmler's approval of Keppler's proposals, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 597-598.

Translation of Document No-2407, Prosecution Exhibit 1369.

[Stamp]
Personal staff of the Reich Leader SS
Central Archives
Secret Document No. 347.

Wilhelm Keppler,
State Secretary for Special Assignments in the Foreign Office.
Berlin W 8, Wilhelmstr. 74-76, Tel.: 110013.
3 November 1939

[Shorthand note]: Dear Keppler, Many thanks for your letter. I am in agreement with your proposals.

To Reich Leader Himmler,
Berlin SW 11,
Prinz Albrechtstr. 8.

Dear Himmler!

My best thanks for the letters signed by you [Dir], concerning the establishment of the German Resettlement Trustee Company [Deutsche Umsiedlungs-Treuhandgesellschaft m. b. H., commonly referred to as the "DUT"], Berlin. The foundation will presumably take place this afternoon. Enclosed I am sending you a list of persons intended as [(Handwritten) Taken care of by discussion with SS Major General Wolff (Initial K. (Keppler).] members of the supervisory board [Aufsichtsrat] which is made out in line with our discussion. The only question yet to be decided upon is whom I should name as deputy chairman of the supervisory board. In my opinion either SS Lieutenant General Lorenz or SS Colonel Greifelt come under consideration, especially since I do not wish to favor a member of the various Ministries with this trust. [Werner Lorenz and Ulrich Greifelt were both defendants in the RuSHA case, Volumes IV and V, this series. Greifelt was appointed deputy chairman of the supervisory board. Lorenz became a member of the supervisory board.]

May I ask you for a prompt reply.

Again my heartiest thanks for the confidence you have shown in me.

Heil Hitler!
Yours,
[Signed] Keppler.

****************************************

Enclosure

[Stamp]
Personal Staff Reich Leader SS,
Received 4 November 1939
Journal: AR 633/3.
To : RF.

List of Members of the Aufsichtsrat of the Deutsche UmsiedlungsTreuhandgesellschaft m.b.H., Berlin:

Dr. Hugo Berger, Ministerial Direktor in the Reich Ministry of Finance, Berlin W 8, Wilhelmplatz.

George Christians, Deputy Director of the Foreign Trade Office of the Foreign Organization of the NSDAP, Berlin--Wilmersdorf, Westfaelische Str. 1.

Ulrich Greifelt, SS Colonel, Personal Staff of the Reich Leader SS, Berlin-Halensee, Kurfuerstendamm 142.

Hans Kehrl, General referent in the Reich Ministry of Economics, Berlin W 8, Behrenstr. 43.

Wilhelm Keppler, State Secretary for Special Assignments in the Foreign Office, Berlin W 8, Wilhelmstr. 76.

Dr. jur. Erhard Kroeger, Leader of the Ethnic Germans in Latvia, Riga.

Werner Lorenz, SS Lieutenant General, Director of the Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans, Berlin W 35, Tiergartenstr. 18a.

Dr. Fritz von Twardowski, Minister, Foreign Office, Berlin W 8, Wilhelmstr. 76.

Dr. Ernst Hellmut Vits, Member of the Vorstand of the Deutsche Revisions- und Treuhandgesellschaft, Berlin W 8, Jaegerstr. 10-11.

Hermann Waldhecker, Member of the Reich Bank Directorate, Berlin C 111, Jaegerstr. 34.

Hellmut Weiss, President for German Culture in Estonia, Reval.

[Handwritten] Approved.
[Initials] H. H. [Heinrich Himmler

[David Thompson]

Articles One and Two of the Bylaws of the DUT (Gesellschaftsvertrag), in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. p. 599.

Translation of Document Keppler 102, Keppler Defense Exhibit 196.

[All the extracts from the by laws which were offered in evidence by the defense are reproduced here. This document was taken from "Collection of the Working Rules of the DUT," a printed handbook containing numerous directives and materials on the DUT.]

I. Name, location, duration: The company is named "German Resettlement Trustee Company."

It has its seat in Berlin. The period of its existence is not limited.

II. Character of the enterprise: The purpose of the enterprise is the settlement of problems referring to property resulting from the resettlement of Reich national and ethnic Germans from foreign countries to the Reich territory. In this connection the company shall observe the interstate agreements concluded with regard to the resettlement and see to it that the obligations with regard to property arising from these agreements to the DUT, its branch establishments, subsidiaries, or participations are met. It is its special task -- directly or indirectly, via subsidiaries to be established or participations acquired--to take over the trusteeship over the property of the resettled Reich nationals and ethnic Germans which was left behind in the countries in which they had lived up to then; all liquidation measures connected therewith, and the transfer measures to the Reich territory, as well as the payment of the liquidation proceeds to the persons entitled thereto. In addition, it is its task to administer the funds placed at its disposal by the Reich offices for giving advances and allowances to the resettlers and to occasion payments from these funds. So far as the purpose of the company requires, it can found branch establishments within Germany and in foreign countries, establish subsidiaries as well as acquire participations. Within this scope of duties, the company is entitled to carry out all transactions and adopt all measures that seem necessary or useful for achieving the purpose of the company.

[David Thompson]

Extracts From the Annual Report of the DUT for the Business Year 1939, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 600-602.

Partial Translation of Document No-3836, Prosecution Exhibit 1370.

German Resettlement Trustee Company, Berlin, 1939. Report for the Business Year 1939.

Members of the Supervisor Board:

Wilhelm Keppler: SS Major General, State Secretary for Special Duties in the Foreign Office (Chairman), Berlin.

Ulrich Greifelt: SS Brigadier General, Personal Staff Reich Leader SS, Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism (Deputy Chairman), Berlin.

Dr. Hugo-Fritz Berger: Ministerial Director in the Reich Ministry of Finance, Berlin.

George Christians: Deputy Chief of the Foreign Commerce Office of the Auslandsorganisation of the NSDAP, Berlin.

Hans Kehrl: Generalreferent in the Reich Ministry of Economics, Berlin.

Dr. jur. Erhard Kroeger: SS Colonel, Chief of the Advisory Office for Immigrants (Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans), Poznan.

Werner Lorenz: SS Lieutenant General, Chief of the Repatriation Office for Ethnic Germans, Berlin.

Dr. Fritz von Twardowski: Minister, Foreign Office, Berlin.

Dr. Ernst Vits: Member of the board of directors of the German Revision and Trustee Company, Inc. [Deutsche Revisions- un Treuhand-Aktiengesellschaft], Berlin.

Hermann Waldhecker: Reich Bank Director, Berlin.

Dr. Hellmuth Weiss: President of the Cultural Administration in Esthonia, Reval.

Members of the Management [Geschaefsfuehrung]: Dr. Karl Schmoelder, Berlin; Dr. Kurt Kleinschmitt, Berlin; Dr. Ferdinand Bang, Poznan; Helmuth Duelfer, Riga; Dr. Heinrich Wollert, Reval.

The German Resettlement Trustee Company was founded on 3 November 1939 and began functioning a few days later. At about the same time, German Trustee Administrations were established in Latvia and Estonia. The chiefs of management in these organizations are local members of our company.

The functions of our company are, on the one hand, matters pertaining to the winding up and transfers of property left by the resettlers in the country of origin. On the other hand, the taking care of the reinstatement of the resettlers in the new settlement territories of the Reich in respect to all economic matters. A suitable organization had to be especially and urgently established, to make it possible to provide the resettlers, for the transitional period until they started to work, with advance loans on their property which they had left behind, subsidies, transitional monies when they were being assigned their own housing, and finally with funds for the building up of a new living, as well as advice and taking care of their economic problems.

During the short period of time from the start of our organization until the end of the year all these tasks could in all respects be brought nearer to their solution. In Poznan, the central point of resettlement of the settlers from the north and east of Europe, a branch was established immediately upon the foundation of our company. The preparations for the establishment of further branches in Innsbruck and Danzig still could be made before the end of the year, so that these branches have in the meantime also been established and have taken up their work. In order to procure reconstruction credits on a big scale -- sparing the Reich budget resources--a credit of 100 million reichsmarks has been provided through an agreement with a banking syndicate.

By the end of the year, 2.60276623 million reichsmarks were paid out to the resettlers in subsidies and transitional monies from the funds put at our disposal. Furthermore, reconstruction credits of 64766.23 reichsmarks could be granted. In the new year, activity in this field has become of a much bigger scope.

At the end of the year, we had in Berlin, 91; in the Poznan branch, 54; and in the Innsbruck branch, 2 staff members.

At the beginning of the new year, Dr. Alfred Kulemann, Berlin, joined the management.

Assets/Balance:

Cash Reserve: a. Cash balance (German and foreign currency): RM 6558.79; b. Outstanding credit on Reich Bank endorsement and Post Office checking account: RM 23562.67. Total: RM 30121.46.

Our own securities: Interest bearing treasury bonds of the Reich: RM 247375.

Short term claims against credit institutions of indisputable indemnity and liquidity: RM 1.92481720 million.

Debitors:

Advance loans and subsidies to resettlers: RM 2.50276523 million;
Reconstruction credits from our own funds: RM 64766.23;
Other debitors: RM 12339.22.

Interest holders: RM 781660.

Business and office expenditures: RM 2.0.

Outstanding deposits of the original capital: RM 750000.

Items pertaining to bookkeeping: RM 100.00.

Total: RM 6.31394634 million.

Berlin, 31 December 1939, German Resettlement Trustee Company. The Management: Dr. Kleinschmidt, Dr. Schmoelder.

31 December 1939, Liabilities:

Reich Leader SS, Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism (current accounts): RM 4.29849633 million.

Other monies raised in the inland: RM 166750.18.

Other creditors: RM 790897.67.

Transferred liquidation proceeds: RM 50312.50.

Original capital: RM 1.0 million.

Items pertaining to bookkeeping: RM 7489.66.

Total: 6.31394634 million.

[David Thompson]

Letter from the DUT Main Office to the Branch Office of the DUT at Kattowice, 26 May 1941, transmitting a memorandum concerning the treatment of persons registered in Groups 3 and 4 of the German People's List, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. p. 603.

Translation of Document No-5356, Prosecution Exhibit 1372.

German Resettlement Trustee Company
Berlin W 8
26 May 1941.

To the German Resettlement Trustee Company Branch Katowice,
Johannstrasse 10.
Quote in Reply: I/Dr. Kl/Wg.

Subject: Treatment of persons registered in groups 3 and 4 of the German People's List.

For your preliminary information we send you a copy of a memorandum [This memorandum, Document No-5357, Prosecution Exhibit 1373, is reproduced immediately below.] on a discussion of fundamental importance at the office of the Reich Commissioner [for the Strengthening of Germanism]. The results are not definitive as yet because the instructions are still being worked on at the office of the Reich Commissioner.

Amicably,
Heil Hitler,
German Resettlement Trustee Co.
[Illegible Signature]
[Stamp] 29 May 1941.

1 enclosure,
[Stamp] Enclosure 707.

[David Thompson]

Memorandum of Kleinschmidt, 19 May 1941, concerning a conference on the transfer from Poland to Germany of persons under Polish influence but qualified for Germanization and of Ethnic-German renegades who have opposed Germanism in the past, and the handling of their property, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 604-607.

Translation of Document No-5357, Prosecution Exhibit 1373.

I/Dr. Kl/Wg.

Subject: Treatment of persons registered on the German People's List [deutsche Volksliste] Groups 3 and 4.

(Group 3: Persons under Polish influence, but qualified for Germanization.

Group 4: Disloyal racial Germans who were opponents of Germanism [Deutschtum] in the past.)

On 16 May 1941 a conference was held at the office of the Reich Commissioner, with attorney Goetz presiding, in which representatives from all delegates of the Reich Commissioner with the Reich Governors and from the SD participated. Subject of the discussion was the draft for a circular decree devised by the legal department of the Reich Commissioner on the treatment of the property of persons falling under group 3 or 4 of the German People's List in the newly acquired eastern territories.

Basis of the discussion is the political tendency to transplant the above-mentioned groups of persons, whose Germanism cannot be considered permanently strengthened, from the newly acquired eastern territories to the old Reich [Altreich]. The persons concerned are racial Germans
[Personen deutschen Volkstums] but whose attitude and activities in the past professed them rather to be opponents than followers of Germanism. The Reich Leader SS proceeds from the principle that German blood should not get lost under any circumstances. On the contrary, one should attempt to Germanize [einzudeutschen] those persons and, above all, their children and grandchildren and thus to preserve them to Germanism. For this purpose it is necessary on the one hand to transplant these persons to the old Reich for Germanization and, on the other hand, to have them give up their real estate in the newly acquired eastern territories, but receive a proper compensation in order to start a new living in the Reich.

While there can be no doubt that persons of group 4 have to be transplanted from the newly acquired eastern territories an partly already have been transferred, the transplanting of persons of group 3 is not possible because of war conditions (battle of production transportation difficulties). It cannot be surveyed when and how soon the transplanting of group 3 can be carried out. On the other hand, the Reich Commissioner wants to establish already now clear directives far this group in order to reassure these people and to let them know what they have to expect. It must be taken into account that in many cases the confiscation of the property of persons of group 4 and also of group 3 was already ordered on the basis of the decree for Poles [Polenverordnung].

The discussion of the principles laid down in the draft by the legal department of the Reich Commissioner had in detail the following results:

A. Group 4.--The factual and legal status of persons who have been, or will be, registered in the German People's List as group 4 is less of a problem than of those who come under group 3. Concerning their property status, the consequences to be taken are simpler and clearer.

1. Agriculture.--As far as the agricultural property of persons of group 4 is concerned, the confiscation has taken place in favor of the Reich Commissioner on the basis of the decree for Poles. For the registration of property, the SS Real Estate Offices [SS Bodenaemter] and/or other representatives of the Reich Commissioner are competent. The farms will be confiscated. The utilization takes place according to regulations issued by the Reich Commissioner by an office still to be charged with it. Possibly the German Settlement Company [Deutsche Ansiedlungsgesellschaft (DAG)] will be called on to do it. The equivalent will be credited to special accounts of the Reich Commissioner. The further handling of these assets will be regulated later on. If, in an exceptional case, confiscation should not yet have taken place, it will be subsequently carried out.

2. Trade sector.--Here the confiscation--if already carried out--has also been made on the basis of regulation of 17 September 1940 in favor of the Main Trustee Office East [Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (HTO)]. The Main Trustee Office East is the competent agency also for utilization. What is confiscated remains confiscated. What is not yet confiscated will not be confiscated. The proceeds of the utilization by the HTO will be held there on special blocked accounts at the disposal of the Reich Commissioner. Here the question comes up, how it works out, if such an enterprise is utilized through transfer to a resettler by way of clearing certificates. The representative of the HTO, attorney Pfennig, backed the point of view that in such cases, for the purpose of the establishment of the blocked account, no settlement certificate may be issued, but payment must be made in cash. The undersigned however has stressed emphatically the point of view that a payment in cash is out of question. If already at the time of the creation of the clearing certificates it was found useless to furnish a Reich agency, namely the Main Trustee Office East, with Reich budget funds for the purpose of paying the factories, this in my opinion applies all the more in this case. A payment in cash would only have the result that the Reich
Commissioner would pay himself with budget funds via the blocked accounts at the Main Trustee Office East. To use cash amounts for this purpose is even less reasonable than the sale to resettlers in the utilization of other Main Trustee Office East enterprises.

B. Group .--The basis for estimating the property of the members of group 3 is the theory that only a gradual emigration within an undetermined period, and thus only a gradual utilization of property, is possible.

1. Agriculture.-- Due to confiscation, the farms belonging to persons of group 3 are partially under public management. In view of the battle for production, there was general agreement about the necessity and expediency to cancel public management. Its principle shall be formulated in such a manner that it may be applied. In practice, the representative of the Reich Commissioner shall, in agreement with the Ostland, decide in each case on the abolition of public management. De jure, the confiscation as such remains in existence, but in practice does not become effective if public management has not been applied so far, or if public management is abolished. In the case it is abolished, the commissioned administrators are recalled and the persons concerned will be reinstated in their farms. However, as far as resettlers have been put into such farms, they shall remain. In these cases the proprietor will not be reinstated.

2. The sector and urban real estates.-- In principle, the administration by commissioner is to be abolished, with two important exceptions. First exception -- a resettler is appointed commissioned administrator. If a resettler has been put in who is unable to obtain another factory, the resettler is to have priority and the factory is to be managed by him as a commissioner, with sale to the resettler to follow. The representative of the Reich Commissioner shall decide hereupon in agreement with the HTO and the DUT. Second exception -- armament factories. Here the commissioned administration shall be kept on principle and the proprietor shall not be put in again.

3. Compensation procedure--As far as confiscated factories of members of group 3 have already been utilized, or as far as they are still to be utilized in the above-mentioned exception cases where administration by commission is to be abolished, the proprietor remains limited to the amount of the sale, which is put on blocked account. In all other cases it is planned to leave to the proprietor a limited chance of a free sale. Also to this point details will be set down in the directives. The amount of compensation is to be fixed by the Reich Commissioner in accordance with the re-Germanization purpose. On principle, real estate including accessories and trade enterprises is to be offered for sale to the agency appointed by the Reich Commissioner. If the sale is not negotiated within a limited time, the plan is to decree a legal transfer to the Reich Commissioner, respectively the office appointed by him.

The entire property of the members of group 3, not represented by real estate or trade enterprises, is not subject to the measures provided for in the decree of 17 September 1940, or the decree of 12 February 1941 (confiscation, etc.). In the interest of Germanization, the persons concerned shall have full protection for their property, while the sale of immovable property becomes a necessary consequence of the resettlement to the old Reich.

Concerning all other details, the directives of the Reich Commissioner--a draft of which we will receive in the near future--can be cited. For the DUT it is important that we probably will be directly concerned with the acquisition of trade enterprises for the Reich Commissioner, because it is intended, insofar as this has not already been done through the HTO [Main Trustee Office East], to utilize these enterprises again for the Strengthening of Germanism. If an enterprise has been confiscated by the HTO on the basis of the decree of 17 September 1940 and if, within the above-mentioned exceptions from the abolition of the administration by commissioner, such an administration remains, this enterprise will be utilized by the HTO in the usual manner In such a case a participation by the DUT will be possible only if perchance these enterprises will be bought by resettlers. Berlin, 19 May 1941.

Signed: Dr. Kleinschmidt [Kurt Kleinschmidt was one of the business managers of the DUT. An affidavit by him, Document Keppler 172, Keppler Defense Exhibit 197, is reproduced later in this section]

[David Thompson]

Letter from SS Major General Greifelt to Defendant Schwerin von Krosigk, 10 September 1941, concerning arrangements for the resettlement of Bessarabian-German resettler families in the Protectorate on confiscated and other types of property, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 608-609.

Translation of Document No-5012, Prosecution Exhibit 1335.

IV--42-4/7, 7/1941/Bg
10 September 1941.

Subject: Settlement of Bessarabian-German resettlers in Koschatek, and on estates in Melnik district provided for settlement.

Reference: Telephone conversation of my Main Department Chief, Hiege, with Oberregierungsrat Franken on 8 September 1941.

Enclosure: One. [The enclosure was not part of the document offered in evidence.]

To the Reich Minister of Finance, Berlin W 8, Wilhelmplatz 1/2.

With reference to paragraph VI of the Fuehrer decree, dated 7 October 1939, I am informing you that I shall first settle about 100 families of Bessarabian-German resettlers [Bessarabische Umsiedlerfamilien] in the Protectorate, in the district of Melnik, in agreement with the Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia.

The "Outlines for the Settlement of Bessarabian-Germans in the Protectorate for Bohemia and Moravia," as personally approved by the Reich Protector--copy of which is enclosed for your attention--will be put into operation.

The Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia has put several estates in the Melnik district at the disposal of this settlement, which consist of about 3000 hectares of agricultural and wooded areas. Allocation of further 1000 hectares of agricultural land for settlement of resettlers may be expected.

The above-mentioned approximate 3000 hectares available at present are former Jewish property, enemy property, property of enemies of the State, government property, property of the Bureau of Lands [bodenmtseigenem Besitz], and Czech-Aryan property and are contained in the proceedings "Koschatek, Melnik district."

The value of the property as left behind in their homeland by the Bessarabian-German resettlers is to be compensated in full by the earning power of the new farms to be established. Orderly winding up of the Koschatek settlement, however, will not be accomplished without considerable irretrievable grants by the Reich, due to prevailing circumstances.

The Bureau of Lands, Prague, recently informed me that the Secret State Police had meanwhile seized in favor of the Reich some real estate from property of enemies of the State and earmarked for resettlers. According to information given by the bureau of Lands, Prague, more confiscations of property of enemies of the State are to be expected, which also would be included into the Koschatek procedure.

With regard to paragraphs 10 and 11 of the "Outlines for the Settlement of Bessarabian-Germans in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia," an early clarification is required about the purchase price to be paid for real estate belonging to enemies of the State.

According to your decision, the High Command of the Army will receive through me, free of charge, farmland from confiscated former Polish and Jewish property for the establishment of training grounds. You decided the same regarding the transfer of experimental farms to the Reich University Posen [Poznan]. I therefore assume that disposal of real estate from property of enemies of the State in favor of resettlers will, in the present case, also be without payment of purchase price but rather that registered mortgages are to be taken over. I would appreciate a speedy decision.

As Deputy:
Signed: Greifelt
SS Major General.

[David Thompson]

Express letter from Defendant Lammers to Keitel, Himmler, Defendant Stuckart, and three Gau Leaders, 22 July 1942, giving notice of a forthcoming conference With Hitler on questions of resettlement, compulsory military training, and citizenship in Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 610-611.

Translation of Document NG-3022, Prosecution Exhibit 1022.

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Rk. 527 B g.
Please use this reference mark number in future further correspondence.
Berlin W 8, 22 July 1942, Voss Strasse 6.
At present: Field Headquarters.
All mail only to be sent to the Berlin address.
[Stamp] Secret,
[Illegible handwriting.]

[Stamp] Express Letter.

To: Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, Wehrmacht Operational Staff.

Herr Himmler, Reich Leader SS
Command Post
Headquarters of the Reich Leader SS
Personally.

The Reich Minister of the Interior. Attention: State Secretary Dr. Stuckart, Reich Ministry of the Interior; Gauleiter Buerckel, Chief of Civil Administration in Lorraine, Saarbruecken, Hindenburgstrasse 15; Gauleiter Robert Wagner, Chief of Civil Administration in Alsace, Strasbourg (Alsace), Brandgasse 19; Gauleiter Simon, Chief of Civil Administration in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Adolf Hitler Strasse 35.

Dear Reich Leader!

In the near future, the Fuehrer, in a joint conference with the gentlemen listed at the beginning of this letter, wishes to discuss the question of a possible resettlement of families of Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg in the Reich, the Government General, or in the Occupied Eastern Territories, as well as the questions connected with the introduction of general compulsory military service and the granting of citizenship in Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg.

I should like to request that you hold yourself in readiness for is conference. As soon as the Fuehrer has set a date for it, I shall let you know without delay.

Heil Hitler!
Yours truly,
[Signed] Dr. Lammers.

[David Thompson]

Memorandum by Dr. Stier, 7 August 1942, Concerning a Conference on 'General Directions for the Treatment of Deported Alsatians' Attended by Representatives of the Land Office and Settlement Staff, Strasbourg, the Office for the Repatriation of Ethnic Germans, the Reich Security Main Office, and the DUT", in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 611-614.

Partial Translation of Document R-114, Prosecution Exhibit 1298.

Berlin
7 August 1942
I-1/7 Els. 4 Dr. St/Ha.
Memo on meeting of 4 August 1942.

Subject: General directions for the treatment of deported Alsatians.

Present: Staff Headquarters, [Of the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism]: SS Captain Dr. Stier, SS Captain Petri, Government Counsellor Hoffmann, Dr. Scherler, SS Second Lieutenant Foerster.

SS Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Hinrichs, Chief of Land Office and Settlement Staff, Strasbourg.
SS Major Brueckner, Office for the Repatriation of Ethnic Germans.
SS Captain Hummitsch, Reich Security Main Office.
SS Second Lieutenant Dr. Sieder, Race and Settlement Main Office.

Dr. Labes, DUT.

I. State of deportation in Alsace: The starting point of the conference was a report on the deportation effected so far and further plans for resettlement in Alsace.

1. The first expulsion action [Ausweisungsaktion] was carried out in Alsace in the period from 7/1940 to 12/1940. In the course of it, 105000 persons were either expelled or prevented from returning. They were in the main Jews, gypsies, and other foreign racial elements, criminals, asocial, and incurably insane persons, and in addition, Frenchmen and Francophiles. The patois population was combed out by this series of deportations [Aussiedlungswelle] in the same way as the other Alsatians.

II. 1. Referring to the permission the Fuehrer had given him to cleanse Alsace of all foreign, sick, or unreliable elements, Gauleiter Wagner has recently pointed out the political necessity of a second deportation action which is to be prepared as soon as possible.

The following classes of people are to be affected by this measure:
a. Colored persons and their offspring; Negroes and persons of colored blood; Gypsies and their offspring; Jews, from half-Jews on; Mixed Jewish marriages.

b. People of foreign race and their offspring.

c. The patois population.

d. Asocial persons.

e. Incurably insane persons.

2. The following persons are designated for immediate deportation by order of the Reich Governor:

a. Families whose children have shirked their labor services and prospective military service by fleeing to France. So far 8 families have been discovered in which this situation applies.

b. Resettlement [Umsiedlung] of special cases in the interior of the Reich for purposes of Germanization; for example, families or individuals who celebrated the French National day, 7/14/1942, in a manner deliberately hostile to German ideas and the present day State. There are about 20 of these persons.

c. In special cases as a means of punishment, for example, individuals who have been designated by the Security Police as unfit to live in Alsace and suitable for deportation. These a persons who, though racially of value, have been at some time previously in a concentration camp for grave offenses against the German nation. The number of these persons is estimated at 150 heads.

d. The following are scheduled for further deportation: Members of the patois group. The Gauleiter wishes to retain only such persons in the present patois area as adhere to Germanism in their customs, in their language, and in their general attitude with regard to cases under headings [paragraphs II 1] a to d above. It is to be noted that the problem of race will be given first consideration, and this in such a manner that persons of racial value will be deported to Germany proper and racially inferior persons to France.

Part B: The representatives of the SS Main Offices present were united in this opinion:

I. In order to ensure a uniform terminology, the following expressions will be used in future:

a. Shifting [Absiedlung] means--removing persons from districts in which they have hitherto lived, while keeping them within the Reich.

b. Evacuation [Evakuierung] means expelling persons from the Reich.

c. Resettlement [Umsiedlung] means--removing racial Germans from foreign areas in order to bring them within the Reich.

II. 1. The Gauleiter's plans for evacuation can be approved in principle, since they confine themselves in fact to a class of persons whose presence in the Reich would be insupportable for racial and political reasons.

2. The shifting of the patois population should, as a rule, be deferred until the end of the war, except insofar as it concerns persons who cannot be tolerated in Alsace because of their political activity.

3. The shifting of persons mentioned under headings [section A] I and IIa should be approved in principle. It should be noted that the class of persons affected is limited to those cases whose immediate expulsion (Abschiebung) is absolutely necessary. There is a general agreement on the view that more persons may be expected to try to escape to France, when compulsory military service is introduced. The families of such persons will have to be shifted in the same way as those of shirkers of labor service, Unless the family is actually not an accessory to the escape of its member. If the fled individual has not lived with his family, his guardian is to be shifted instead of the family.

A distribution is to be made with regard to the relatives of shirkers of labor or military service, according to whether the guilt of the family is greater or lesser. In order to differentiate sharply between measures for Germanization and measures of punishment, it is provided that at first they be dealt with in camps by the Security Police. Type and duration of this treatment will depend on the conduct of the family. At the conclusion of this penal imprisonment, the family is to be released and handed over for Germanization. It is conceivable that in special cases the Germanization may be started at once. Persons politically tainted to a lesser degree may be settled in west or central Germany, but as a general rule east of the Rhine. The worse the political record and the francophile conduct of a person, the farther away from his old locality is he to be settled. It is to be made clear to the shifted persons that their being shifted was the necessary consequence of their relative's escape, but their further treatment depends on the conduct of the shifted family members themselves.

4. For use in deciding whether a person is to be shifted or evacuated, and as a basis for subsequent settlement and treatment, there should be drafted (in addition to racial and political screening) a general assessment of his work and conduct. A person specially qualified for this task is to be charged with making this assessment.

5. The property of shifted persons shall be dealt with in substantially the same way as the property of members of section 4 of the German Ethnic List. Personal chattels are, as a rule, to be left in the possession of the shifted persons. Under the existing law, the remainder of the property would have to be confiscated and handed over to the Chief of the Civilian Administration. Efforts should be made to have this property transferred to the Reich Leader SS in his capacity as Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism. Prospects of compensation for property if good conduct is shown, should as a rule, be given. This compensation will be granted according to conduct and degree of re-Germanization, after a certain period of probation. The estate of the shifted persons is to be charged with appropriate expenses for removal and transport. In the case of paupers these expenses, like those of the other measures for shifting or evacuation, must be borne by the Reich Commissioner.

[David Thompson]

Extracts from the Table of Organization of the Central Office of DUT as of 1 January 1943, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 615-619.

Partial Translation of Document No-4265, Prosecution Exhibit 1371.

German Resettlement Trustee Company.
Berlin W 8,
Mohrenstrasse 42-44
Telephone: 1651/61.

Table of Organization of the Central Office

As of 1 January 1943.

Offices: Danzig, Innsbruck, Katowice, Marburg, Poznan, Strasbourg.
Field Offices: Zagreb, Bolzano, Bucharest, Paris.
Liaison Offices: Belgrade, Bialystok, Lvov, Lublin, Reval, Riga, Vienna.
Branch Offices: Fulnek, Kauen, Klagenfurt, Lodz, Luxembourg, Metz, Rann, Zamosc, Zichenau.
Business Offices: (of the DUT, Bolzano) Brixen, Bruneck, Merano, Sterzing, Tarvis, St. Ulrich.
Representatives: Krakow, Prague.

I. [Symbols: (ttt) Manager; (tt) Prokurist; (t) Agent.] Management.
II. Administrative Departments.
III. Special Staff Departments.
III/1. Legal and Distribution Division:

Director Dr. Weber (tt): Management.

R. A. Eichholz (t): Rules for credits, pensions, alimonies, legal questions and commitment matters concerning industry, trade register, notary affairs.

R. A. Dr. Nicolai (t): Granting of resettlement rights, Reich Germans non-resettlers, legal and commitment matters concerning movie houses and shipping business, assignment matters concerning dependants, offenses, legal questions of the personnel and supply offices.

R.A. Wilde (t): Legal and assignment questions connected with city real estate industrial concessions, questions of taxes. Special questions, for instance--The Effect of City Planning on Resettlement.

A. G. Rt. Dr. Labes (t): Legal and assignment questions in commerce. Legal questions pertaining to Enemy Property Custodian.

R. A. Dr. Sander (t): Legal questions in the field of loans. Legal and assignment questions for artisans.

R. A. Dr. Schmitz: Principles for work of DUT. Questions of succession.

Kremzow (tt), Schottmann (tt): Assignment questions connected withresettlement from Estonia and Latvia.

Steege (tt): Assignment questions for resettlers from Volhynia, Galicia, and Narev Regions.

Schadt (tt): Assignment questions for resettlers from the Government General.

v. Pusch (tt): Assignment questions for resettlers from Bessarabia, North Bucovina.

R. A. Dr. Adler (t): Assignment questions for resettlers from Dobruja-Southern Bucovina.

III/11 R. A. Dr. Nicolai (t): Legal questions of resettlement for (unreadable) resettlement to Estonia and Latvia.

III/12 R. A. Wilde (t): Legal questions in A-cases. ["A-cases" refers to "Altreich cases" or cases of resettling persons within the borders of prewar Germany, often called the "Altreich" or "Old Reich." See the expIanation given in the extracts from the testimony of defendant Keppler reproduced later in this section.] Acquisition of Polish and Jewish real estate in consequence of an A-case.

III/13 R. A. Dr. Sander (t): Special assignment in action.

III/31 Settlement Division Balticum: Schottmann (tt), Kremzow (tt): Chief of Department; Kremzow (tt): Agricultural settlement; Brosinsky (t): General property accounting; Luft (t): Municipal real estate settlement interest depreciation payments; R.A. Engelmann: Private pensions, continuous payments, organization properties, charitable contributions; Rohrbach: Furniture settlement, debts: Putnin: Furniture settlement, animals; Fr. Keydel: Furniture settlement; Walter: Life insurance, burial funds.

III/32 Settlement Division Russia (Volhynia-Galicia-Narev territory): Steege (tt): Chief of Department; Fechner (t) & Orth (t): Deputies: Fechner, cash settlement; Orth Payment-in-Kind settlement; Backhaus (t): Agricultural, municipal, and trade settlement, A-cases; Wittmann: Country real estate "O-cases" ["O-cases" refers to "Ost" or East cases, or cases of resettling persons in German-occupied areas in the East. See the explanation given in the extracts from the testimony of defendant Keppler reproduced later in this section.]; Regener: Municipal real estate O-cases; Unruh: Trade business O-cases; Rohde: Settlement for cash, luggage damages, horses, furniture settlement; Schoene: Life insurance, PKO and savings accounts, securities, Raiffeisenkassen; Seelhoff: Property information, interest depreciation payments.

III/33 Settlement Division--Bessarabi--Northern Bucovina: Beneke (t): Chief of Department;

Stetina: Debts, claims, furniture and household utensils, legacy regulations; Blumer: Cash; Seifert: A-Case settlement; Anderson: Valuables, gold coins, documents, securities, life insurances; Westphal: R-cases, "wild" returnees.

IV. Department Individual Countries.

IV/51 Division Hungary: R. A. Dr. Adler (t): Chief of Department.

IV/61 Division Bessarabia-Northern Bucovina: v. Pusch (tt): Chief of Department; Freyberg (t): Property index and property information.

IV/61 Division Bessarabia-Northern Bucovina, Division for Special Problems: R. A. Herrmuth (tt): Chief of Department.

IV/62 Division Volhynia-Galicia-Narev-Territory: Steege (tt): Chief of Department; Fechner (t); Backhaus (t).

IV/7 Division Bulgaria: R. A. Dr. Adler (t): Chief of Department.

IV/71 Division Greece (Herakleion) R. A. Dr. Adler (t): Chief of Department.

IV/8 Division Laibach: Schadt (tt): Chief of Department; von der Borch (t): Deputy.

IV/81 Division Transplanting Lower Styria/Upper Krain: Schadt (tt): Chief of Department; von der Borch (t): Deputy.

IV/9 Division France: A. G. Rt. Dr. Labes (t): Chief of Department.

IV/91 Division Transplanting Alsace, Lorraine, and Luxembourg: Dr. Ziersch (tt): Chief of Department.

IV/1O Division Serbia: R. A. Herrmuth: Chief of Department.

IV/A 1 Division Africa: R. A. Dr. Nicolai (t): Chief of Department.

IV/A 2 Division Croatia: Schadt (tt): Chief of Department; R.A. Dr. Haas: Deputy.

IV/A 21 Division Transplanting of Croatian Nationals from Lower Styria: Schadt (tt): Chief of Department; R. A. Dr. Haas: Deputy.

IV/A 3 Division America: R. A. Dr. Nicolai (t): Chief of Department.

IV/A 4 Division Slovakia: R. A. Herrmuth (tt): Chief of Department.

V Baltic Division (Estonia-Latvia): R. A. Schoeler (tt): Chief of Department.

V/1 L. Division Latvia Property Evaluation: Schulz (t); Intelmann (t).

V/2 E. Division Estonia Property Evaluation: Eichfuss (t); Beermann (t); Sternheim (t); Yberslandt (t).

Berlin, 4 January 1943.
185/107 1/1943.500.

[David Thompson]

Letter from Defendant Lammers to Himmler, 4 June 1943, Transmitting Frank's Report on resettlement to Hitler, and Requesting Himmler's Opinion in Order to Submit an Objective Picture to Hitler, in Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10. Vol. 13: United States of America v. Ernst von Weizsaecker, et al. (Case 11: 'Ministries Case'). US Government Printing Office, District of Columbia: 1952. pp. 620-624.

Partial Translation of Document No-2202, Prosecution Exhibit 1328.

[Handwritten] XI a/52
[Initials] H. H. [Heinrich Himmler]
Berlin W 8, 4 June 1943
Vosstrasse 6, at present in field quarters. Mail is to be addressed exclusively to the Berlin address.

The Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery,
Reich Chancellery
491 D g. Rs.

Top Secret.

To the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism, Reich Leader SS Himmler.

Subject: Division of competence between the Reich Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germanism and the general administration in the Government General.

Dear Reich Leader!

Enclosed I send you copy of request by the Governor General to the Fuehrer, asking for the Fuehrer's decision regarding a division of competence between the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism on the one hand and the general administration on the other.

The application is mainly concerned with the problem of resettlement. It has been reported to me that your deputy, SS Lieutenant General and Lieutenant General of Police Krueger, declared (at a meeting on 31 May 1943, which took place in the Krakow Castle with the Governor General presiding) that the resettlement of ethnic Germans in the Government General, and the expulsion of Poles connected with it, had been discontinued on your orders. I conclude therefrom that the complaints [Ausfuehrungen] of the Governor General on this question can be regarded as settled.

I would, all the same, be grateful for your opinion regarding the remaining differences of opinion, summarized on the last three pages of the application, in order to enable me to give the Fuehrer an objective picture of the facts when I report to him on this matter.

Heil Hitler!
Yours faithfully,
[Signed] Dr. Lammers.

Copy enclosed with Reich Chancellery 491 D
Secret
Krakow
25 May 1943.
The Governor General, Chief of Office 13/43 Rs--22.
[Stamp] Top Secret.

The lack of a decision on the basic question in which way and how the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism in the Government General is to carry out his measures and aims forms the deplorable cause for continuous alarm in the whole of the territory entrusted by you to my administration, and carries with it the danger, demonstrated in practice, that the public authorities are working parallel or against each other; the danger of a tedious fight about questions of prestige; and in general, great damage to the respect for German authority and to the total success of the exploitation of the territory for an increase of the German economic and war potential.

In your decree concerning the institution of a State Secretariat for Security Matters in the Government General of 7 May 1942, you made it my duty to ask for your decision, via the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, in case of a difference of opinion arising with the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism respecting the whole of the work. In my endeavor not to increase your immense responsibilities and burden of work without the most pressing necessity, I tried till today in every way conceivable to bring about a settlement with the offices of the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism and with the Reich Commissioner himself. Since these attempts have not led to a satisfactory result, I feel that I shall only be able to achieve the absolutely necessary clarification in one of the most important spheres of work in the Government General by way of a basic decision given by you yourself, and therefore I beg you, my Fuehrer, to give your benevolent underStanding to my wish to have the matter cleared up, considering the grave significance of local developments.

At the top of all the outstanding questions between the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism and myself is, because of its far-reaching political implications, the problem of the settlement of ethnic Germans in the Government General and the expulsion of the local population necessarily connected with it. If I may say so, the basis for my attitude in this question is the consciousness that it is one of the most honorable and most urgent tasks of the German leadership to create a home in the eastern territories conquered by the German sword and blood for the ethnic Germans who had been withdrawn from the spaces formerly under alien domination. But to me it seems necessary to weigh carefully the question whether this aim should be realized in the middle of the fight for the existence of the German people, which means that we have to accept grave disadvantages in the economic and other spheres, or whether it would not be more expedient to postpone the execution of these measures to a date when it will be possible to carry out the necessary basic preparations for the introduction of ethnic German resettlers without being hindered by difficulties caused by the war, and without the loss of the important economic contributions made by the territory envisaged for resettlement, to the detriment of the German war effort.

According to my own conviction, the reason for the complete destruction of public order is to be found exclusively in the fact that the expelled persons were in some cases given only 10 minutes, in no case more than 2 hours, to scrape together their most necessary belongings to take with them. Men, women, children, and old people were brought into mass camps, frequently without any clothing or equipment; there they were sorted into groups of people fit for work, less fit for work, and unfit for work (especially children and aged persons) without regard to any family ties. All connections between the members of families were thus severed, so that the fate of one group remained unknown to the other. It will be understood that these measures caused an indescribable panic among the population affected by the expulsion, and the result was that approximately half of the population earmarked for expulsion, fled. They fled, in their despair, from the expulsion district and have contributed considerably to the increase of groups of bandits which existed for some time in the Lublin district, and which act with continuously increasing audacity and force. This movement has extended like waves, also to the inhabitants of those rural districts which were not--in any case not yet--intended to be affected by the expulsion. In the course of these events it has even happened that the newly settled ethnic Germans, forced by losses inflicted on them by bandit actions, frequently banded together into armed troops and procured for themselves from the surrounding villages with alien populations--on their own initiative and by force of arms--the necessary implements for their farms.

This chaotic situation was further aggravated by retaliatory measures by the police in the Lublin district to forestall additional attacks on ethnic German villages. These retaliatory measures consisted, among other things, in mass shootings of innocent persons, especially of women and children and also of aged persons, between the ages of 2 and over 80. Experience has taught that these measures have only a slight deterrent effect on these bandits who are frequently under Bolshevist leadership.

But they increase the exasperation and the hatred of the innocent ones affected, including those parts of the population which fear that in future they might be affected by similar measures; and thus now, active followers for the resistance movement, led by the Polish intelligentsia and ample propaganda material directed by the extremely active Bolshevist agitation, are played into their hands.

The consequences of this semi-rebellious state of affairs, caused by the expulsion measures in the Lublin district, especially in the Zamosc area and vicinity, made themselves felt throughout the whole of the territory entrusted to me. I am proud of the fact that in 3 years of German administration of this territory under my authoritative influence, hardly any sacrifices of German lives has had to be made, in spite of having to carry out numerous measures necessitated by circumstances. In the short period from the beginning of the expulsions, carried out against my will, considerable and deplorable casualties have occurred among the German people settled here, among the police, and the Wehrmacht, as well as among the civil administration personnel.

In connection with the execution of the resettlement plan described by me, the point of view has often been maintained that all humanitarian considerations must be completely neglected. May I give the assurance that I, too, share this view utterly and completely. I know the hardship and ruthlessness of total war as well as anybody, and I know from my own experience the unspeakable sufferings inflicted by alien oppressors on those fellow-countrymen who professed their Germanism. I decided to make this description solely and exclusively because I can see consequences grow out of the described events which must seriously endanger the conditions necessary for final victory. That I think. I have made clear. I therefore ask You, my Fuehrer to decide under due consideration of the facts submitted, whether the resettlement of ethnic German peasants and of townspeople in the Government General is to be continued--

a. Despite an enormous deficit in agricultural production which is certain to be the result, which cannot be borne by the food situation in greater Germany.

b. Despite the fact that the development of the security situation during the last months is forcing us to the conclusion that the important territory, entrusted to me, through which the supply route led from the Reich to the East Front, cannot be kept content even by the hardest means of pressure if resettlement continues, and that we are threatened with sabotage, revolt, and dissolution of public order with all their consequences to the conduct of the war.

My Fuehrer! The total order to administer the Government General, given to me in October 1939, is still in force. Today I still shoulder the total responsibility for the territory entrusted to me by this honorable order. Without a clarification of the competencies of the Reich Commissioner for Strengthening of Germanism, for which I ask, any further effective work will be impossible.

Heil to you, my Fuehrer!
Yours
[Signed] Frank.

3 Enclosures. [The enclosures were not a part of the exhibit offered in evidence.].

[walterkaschner]

David:

Thanks so much for making this fascinating material available on the forum. I had read of the differences between Frank and Himmler on this issue, but it is good to have the original documentation at hand.

Regards, Kaschner

[David Thompson]

Thanks, Walter. It's always a treat to hear from you.

[smetanin albert]

from SSO Kulemann