"Non-Germans" Under the Third Reich (190 page)

18.
Decree of November 24, 1939, by the HSSPF Posen (ZS Polen, film 62, Bl. 0544 f.), which supplemented the secret decree of November 12 (Bl. 0547–0551); the Jews to be evacuated to the General Government were to be thoroughly searched: “Before the search … the Jews [were] invited to hand over [unauthorized objects] on pain of the severest punishment.” See also the instructions of November 24, 1939, and February 24, 1940, by the police president of Posen (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
). Regarding deportation to the Łód
ghetto, see the instruction of April 20, 1942, by the Łód
Oberbürgermeister (Ghetto Administration) (ZS Polen, film 257, Bl. 179), according to which the following articles “were to be put at the general disposal of the Ghetto Administration”: machines of all types, German reichsmarks, foreign currencies, coins of all types, precious stones, raw materials of all types; “utilization of household goods—used furniture, beds, crockery and other equipment, foodstuffs”—was “left to” the relevant commissioners.

19.
See Main Trustee Office East notice dated July 20, 1941, on the occupation of former Polish owners (
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1940, 169, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:195, no. 5): “It is fundamentally out of the question to refrain from confiscating property from the Poles, as this would prejudice later arrangements for the Polish question.”

20.
“… in order to permit Poles and Jews … so long as they remain economically active, to accumulate new assets” (an exception was the “new assets” of persons who had fled or had been deported), decree of November 13, 1940, by the head of the Main Trustee Office East (
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1941, 70, excerpts in
Doc. Occ
. 5:228 ff. n. 50).

21.
RGBl
. I, 355, with first and second implementing orders of January 24 and February 1, 1941 (
RGBl
. I 67 and 68).

22.
Decree of February 28, 1940, by the Reich minister for food and agriculture on the appointment of the Ostdeutsche Landbewirtschaftungsgesellschaft mbH as general administrator under the terms of the decree of February 28, 1940, IV B 5, 126 (
Mitteilungsblatt HTO
1940, no. 1, 13), with implementing provisions of February 26, 1941 (all the provisions referred to are also reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:215 ff.).

23.
Statement under oath by Kurt Kleindienst of August 6, 1947 (Nuremberg doc. NO-5246).

24.
Decree of September 29, 1939, by the head of the civil administration of Posen (
VOBl. für die besetzten Gebiete Polen
, no. 7/39).

25.
Statement under oath by Kurt Kleindienst of August 6, 1947 (Nuremberg doc. NO-5246); the sale of real estate began in 1942.

26.
Decree of March 27, 1940 (
RGBl
. I 549, also Nuremberg doc. NG-4612, reprint).

27.
See, for example, the report in the
Frankfurter Zeitung
of February 22, 1941, that of the more than four thousand textile factories in Łód
and Bielitz (Bielsko-Biała), only the “most competitive” were still in existence (Nuremberg doc. NO-3742). The machines were destroyed because no technicians were available to dismantle the equipment (protocol of a discussion in the Reich Ministry of Finance with representatives of the Main Trustee Office East on July 3, 1942, quoted by Łuczak,
Grabie
polskiego mienia
, 197 f.).

28.
Decree of January 21, 1940 (
RGBl
. I 255), in the version of the law of December 23, 1940 (
RGBl
. I 1533). Decree of September 28, 1939, by the head of the civil administration of Posen (
VOBl. Polen
, 12, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:65).

29.
Cf. the Foreign Office draft of March 29, 1940 (BA R 22/20977).

30.
Support contributions up to the value of the welfare rate from the confiscated assets for Poles and Jews were permitted without reference to the tax-free limit of RM 1,000, in order to relieve the public purse of this burden; cf. Main Trustee Office East decree of May 4, 1940 (
Mitteilungsblatt
1941, no. 6, 194 ff., 215; reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:237).

31.
Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Assets of December 3, 1939 (
RGBl
. I 1709).

32.
Unpublished decree by the
Reichsführer-SS
dated November 10, 1939 (Nuremberg doc. PS-17075;
Doc. Occ
. 5:205 ff.), and instruction of November 10, 1939, by the head of the Main Trustee Office East (reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:207); unpublished urgent circular of December 16, 1939, by the RFSSuChddtPol (207 ff.); instruction by the RFSS/RKF dated June 7, 1940 (212 ff.).

33.
Göring in his capacity of head of the Four Year Plan established the Main Trustee Office East, with headquarters in Berlin and Kraków and branches in Danzig, Posen, Zichenau, Kattowitz, and Warsaw, for the “administration” of the confiscated private and public Polish property (instruction of June 12, 1940, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:190 ff.), later followed by the creation of further branches. In some cases these branches came into being before the promulgation of the material seizure regulations, and in others at the same time. The Real Estate Company of the Main Trustee Office East, with headquarters in Berlin, was established for the management and exploitation of the houses and land that had been seized (Main Trustee Office East instruction of May 27, 1940,
Rechtsanzeiger
1940, no. 122, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:199); details will be found in the Main Trustee Office East decree of May 30, 1940 (
Doc. Occ
. 5:200 ff.); a separate limited real estate company was set up in 1942 for each trustee office district (corresponding to the structure of the Annexed Eastern Territories) (second Main Trustee Office East instruction of September 24, 1942,
Rechtsanzeiger
1942, no. 227, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:203 f.). The Main Trustee Office East was also authorized to make any further administrative rules relating to the confiscated property and had a say in all arrangements made by the technical ministries relating to the administration of Polish and Jewish assets, “in the interest of uniform interpretation” (letter dated January 5, 1940, from the Reich minister of the interior [Stuckart] to the supreme Reich authorities, BA R 43/II/694). Full details concerning the Main Trustee Office East will be found in Broszat, “Kompetenzen und Befugnisse der Hauptreuhandstelle Ost”; statement under oath by lawyer Edgar Hoffmann (Nuremberg doc. NO-5125).

34.
See the sources given in
Doc. Occ
. 5:188 ff.; the Main Trustee Office East issued numerous instructions relating to the treatment of confiscated real estate in particular; see, for example, the letter of December 6, 1943, from the Reich governor (head of the Trustee Office) to the district delegates of the NSDAP, Posen, regarding inventory of the real estate confiscated in the Posen district (Institute for Western Studies, Pozna
, doc. I-729).

35.
The respective Reich governors or
Oberpräsidenten
acted as heads of the trustee offices in the Annexed Eastern Territories (second instruction on the Main Trustee Office East of February 17, 1941, par. 1,
Rechtsanzeiger
1941, 151; reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:197 f.). Initially the Main Trustee Office East
alone
was authorized to manage confiscated property and to designate trustees (Main Trustee Office East instruction of June 12, 1940, sec. 3,
Rechtsanzeiger
1940, no. 139, reproduced in
Doc. Occ
. 5:190 ff.), but following the urgent circular of December 16, 1939, issued by the RFS-SuChddtPol (207 ff.), the offices of the
Reichsführer
-SS as head of the German police and as Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of German Nationhood were empowered to effect seizures of property (sec. 1 of the decree). The Main Trustee Office East for its part had empowered the offices of the Reich Forestry Administration (regarding forest land), the staff of
Generalmajor
Bührmann (armaments headquarters of the Wehrmacht) (regarding raw materials and semifinished and finished goods), and the Oberbürgermeister and
Landräte
(regarding house contents of Poles who had fled or had been deported) to declare seizures on its behalf but had reserved further individual powers for itself (sec. 2 of the decree). In addition there remained the power of the Gestapo to confiscate “property of enemies of the people and state,” although in the Annexed Eastern Territories this power was in no way anchored in the law (RSHA circular of January 21, 1941,
Befehlsblatt des RSHA
1941, no. 4, 14; quoted in
Doc. Occ
. 5:226 f. n. 48). The whole procedure was further complicated by the fact that although the Main Trustee Office East ordered seizures, the
execution
of the orders devolved exclusively on the Gestapo (see the regulations referred to in note 44).